
Class . 

Book 



GOPYRICHT DEPOSU 




JOSEPH SOLD 




. 



Royal Treasury; 



or, 

JEWELS OF THE BIBLE. 

BEING A. 

Pas(inatin| j^arraf i\te of tfye Marvellous and fpfyrillin^ Gvtents in v Sacred 
{Hstor^ from tl?e Creation of tfye 09orld. 

COMPRISING 

THE SUBLIME STORY OF THE GOSPELS ; A VIVID PANORAMA OF PATHETIC, TRAGIC 

AND CAPTIVATING SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE LIVES OF THE GREAT 

PROPHETS, APOSTLES, AND FOUNDERS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ; 

GLOWING DESCRIPTIONS OF HEROES AND MARTYRS, 

WITH ENTRANCING VISIONS OF THE 

CELESTIAL CITY. 

INCLUDING 

LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS ; JOSEPH AND THE ROYAL HOUSE OF EGYPT ; WANDERINGS 

IN THE WILDERNESS ; HOLY WARS AND CONQUESTS ; JERUSALEM AND ITS 

MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE ; THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT ; PARABLES 

AND MIRACLES ; GETHSEMANE AND THE CROSS ; THE GOLDEN 

DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY, ETC., ETC. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

C^.F=XIVjPs.TIlSrG BIBLE STORIES F"OK. THE YOUNG. 

BY yf 

HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP, D.D., 

Author of "Wonders of the World," "Earth, Sea and Sky," 
" Crown Jewels," etc., etc. 



Embellished With moi*e than Thtfee Hundred ^upetfb Engf&Vingg 



AND OTHER CELEBRATED ARTISTS. /l^ YOFCO/ VQ^ 

/> copyright** 



SEP281889q 

^SlNGTcX. 



NATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPAN 

PHILADELPHIA, PA., CHICAGO, ILL., AND ST. LOUIS, MO. 






Entered according to Acl of Congress, in the year 1S89, by 

HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



PREFACE. 



ROYAL TREASURY ; or, JEWELS OF THE BIBLE, contains all the captivating 
features which give immortal interest to the Scripture narrative. It is rich in vivid descrip- 
tions, gems of inspired thought, scenes that thrill the heart, and records of strange adventure 
and romance which have more power to entrance than the creations of fiction. 

The narrative begins with the new earth and heavens, and portrays the sublime work of 
creation, over which " the morning stars sang together." The expulsion of our first parents 
from the floral bowers of Eden ; the first murder which stained with blood the virgin world ; 
the mighty deluge that rolled its dark waters over mountain summits, and engulfed in awful 
destruction the inhabitants of the earth ; the lonely ark of Noah, riding upon the billows of 
the "vasty deep;" and the sudden overthrow of the visionary tower of Babel — these, with 
other momentous events, form the first part of this very attractive volume. 

Then follow the great transactions recorded in the history of the Hebrews, such as 
Abraham offering his son; Isaac meeting the fair maid Rebecca; Jacob reconciled to his 
brother Esau ; the thrilling story of Joseph at the court of Pharaoh ; and the finding by the 
Egyptian princess of the babe in the rushes, that was destined to become one of the most 
majestic heroes of the Old Testament. 

The wanderings of Israel in the wilderness are depicted — the woes that fell upon plague- 
stricken Egypt ; the miraculous passage of the Red Sea ; the triumphant song of Miriam 
and the Jewish maidens ; the awful scenes surrounding cloud-capped Sinai ; and the death 
of Moses on Nebo, when, according to Jewish legend, the winds wailed, and the earth xried, 
■' We have lost the Holy One !" 

The period of Joshua and the judges is treated in the same masterly manner. Portrayed 
in vivid colors, the reader sees the falling walls of Jericho ; brave Gideon, with his wonderful 
fleece and dauntless little army ; valiant Jephthah fulfilling his rash vow ; mighty Samson, 
rending the lion's jaws, carrying the massive gates of Gaza, and heaving from their sockets 
the gigantic pillars of the Philistine temple. 

The fascinating story of Ruth, gleaning in the fields of Boaz and becoming the ancestress 
of David and his greater Son, is told in all its simple beauty and pathos. 

Towering up in rugged proportions, that strange man Saul comes into view, and then 
David, the ruddy shepherd boy, appears with the sling that carries swift death to boastful 
Goliath. Exchanging the shepherd's staff for the kingly sceptre, the dazzling glory of the 
Hebrew nation bursts upon us, and the line of .illustrious kings commences. 

Very thrilling are the events during the^ reigns of David and Solomon, including the 
rebellion of Absalom and the grief of his heart-broken father; the building of that most 
famous of all edifices, the Temple at Jerusalem ; and the visit of the beautiful Queen of 
.Sheba to the court of Solomon. 

Then, with the swiftness of the whirlwind, the prophet Elijah appears. The reader 

(i) 



ii PREFACE. 

beholds one of the most striking figures in history. He follows this mysterious prophet to 
the brook Cherith and the poor widow's home at Sarepta; sees his triumphant defeat of 
Baal's prophets on Carmel, and then the chariot of flame which bears him through the cloven 
heaven beyond mortal sight. He beholds the sweet face of the little Jewish captive in 
Syria, and sees her haughty master, Naaman, at the door of Elisha, and rising from the 
waters of Jordan, healed of his leprosy. 

He finally comes to the charming story of Queen Esther, her patriotic devotion and over- 
throw of Hainan's fiendish plot. The no less interesting story of Job follows, his sudden afflic- 
tions, his sympathizing friends, and their renowned discussions on the problems of human life. 

All the prominent features of the Psalms and Proverbs are fully described. The helpful 
sayings of the wise man are mingled with the songs of the sweet singer of Israel. 

We have next the spirited account of the captivity; the grandeur of ancient Babylon, 
and the startling dreams and fiery handwriting which terrified her kings ; the brave, invincible 
Daniel, himself more than a kingdom, whom neither lion's den nor fiery furnace could appall ; 
and at length the capture of the proud city by the army of Cyrus. The magnificence of 
ancient Nineveh is described, together with the visit of that strange prophet, Jonah, and also* 
the modern excavations which have given a resurrection to the buried city. 

The valorous exploits of Judas Maccabeus, that patriotic hero who achieved the inde- 
pendence of the Hebrew nation, are told in glowing language. 

But the reader has not yet reached the climax ; he is yet to stand upon the loftiest summit. 
Coming to the Life of Christ, which is complete in all its peerless beauty, he beholds the 
Child Wonderful in Bethlehem's manger ; the white-robed chorus singing peace and good- 
will; the adoring shepherds and Persian sages, and all the graphic and illustrious scenes 
connected with the baptism of Christ; His temptation in the wilderness; the calling of the 
Galilean fishermen ; the parables, which, like windows, let in celestial light; and the stupen- 
dous miracles which healed the sick, hushed the wild tempest, and even rent the tomb ! His 
myriad deeds of compassion ; His sweet words of love ; His calm majesty in persecution and 
suffering; His .radiant glory of transfiguration; His agony in the garden and death upon the 
cross, when even mute nature felt the pang and was moved to sympathy — all this, and vastly 
more which cannot here be stated, is fully depicted. 

The reader will find a peculiar charm in the resplendent history of the Apostles — the 
labors, sufferings and sublime sacrifices of those noble men, "of whom the world was not 
worthy." He is dazzled by the bright light that falls upon majestic Paul, and traces the 
brilliant career of this great Apostle to the Gentiles. He keeps company with the Apostle 
in his missionary journeys; hears his midnight song in the dungeon at Philippi; his burning 
words as he faces Roman governors ; the clanking of his chains as he stands before King 
Agrippa, and his grand speech on Mars' Hill, that masterpiece of sacred eloquence. 

The teachings of the apostles are followed by the vision of John in Revelation, with its 
majestic imagery and beautiful descriptions of the heavenly Jerusalem. No Raphael nor 
Angelo ever gave the world such paintings in colors as are here given in inspired words. 
Then comes one of the most interesting .and attractive parts of the volume, consisting of 
Biographies of the Great Men of the Bible and Captivating Bible Stories for the Young. 

The work embraces the most interesting of all subjects, forms in itself a library of choicest 
information, and an exhaustless source of entertainment, such as was never attempted in any 
other book. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 

The Work of Creation — Life and Beauty — The First Man — The Garden of Eden — The First Woman 
— Perfect Happiness — The Tempter — Death and Woe — The World Cursed — Banishment from 
Eden — Cain and Abel — Keeping Sheep and Tilling the Ground — A Quarrel — Abel is Slain — 
Flight of Cain — The Land of Nod — The First Household — Long Life — Seth and his Family — A 
Race of Evil-Doers — A Flood Threatened — Noah Commanded to Build an Ark — A Preparation 
of One Hundred and Twenty Years for the Flood — Entering the Ark — The Terrible Deluge — 
Sending Forth the Dove — Horrors of the Flood — Waters Subside — A Memorable Sacrifice — The 
Second Beginning of the World — The Rainbow — Promise not to Send Another Deluge . 17 

CHAPTER II. 

ABRAM AND LOT. 

Land of Shinar — Site of Ancient Babylon — A High Tower — The Language Confused — The People 
Scattered — Hills of Ruin — Nimrod — A Mighty Hunter — Abram — Abram's Wife — Land of Ca- 
naan — Trying to Read the Stars — Ur of the Chaldees — The Father of Abram — Story about Idols 
— Abram Directed to Leave his Country — A Wonderful Promise — Abram's Moral Courage — 
Sarah's Beauty — Sarah Taken by the King of Egypt — Lot and his Family — Pitching the Tent 
Toward Sodom — Invasion by the Assyrians — Judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah — Lot Rescued 
—Fate of Lot's Wife— The Dead Sea 30 

CHAPTER III. 

TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 

Birth of Isaac — Sarah's Anger on Account of Ishmael — Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away — Peace in the 
Tents of Abraham — Command to Sacrifice Isaac — The Old Man's Faith — Death of Sarah — Sep- 
ulchre of Machpelah — Abraham Seeking a Wife for Isaac — The Fair Rebekah — A Hearty Recep- 
tion — A Happy Marriage 40 

CHAPTER IV. 

JACOB AND ESAU. 

One Hundred Years in the Land of Canaan — Death of Abraham — Peculiarities of Jacob and Esau — 
Isaac in a Strange Land — Wells of Water — Hostility of the Philistines — Prosperity of Isaac — 
Esau Loses his Birthright — Jacob Leaving Haran — Vision at Bethel — Rachel — Serving Fourteen 
Years for a Wife — Birth of Joseph — Jacob's Riches — Jealousy on Account of Jacob's Prosperity 
— A Charge of Theft — Friendly Meeting of Jacob and Esau — Wrestling with the Angel — Death 
of Rachel — Jacob's Return to Isaac . . . . . . . . -47 

CHAPTER. '.V. 

THE THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 

Founders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel — Jacob's Fondness for Joseph — A Coat of Many Colors — 
Joseph's Dream — Hostility of Joseph's Brethren — A Caravan of Arabian Merchants — Joseph 
Sold into Egypt — Interpreting Dreams — Joseph Made Ruler — Providing for Famine — Ornaments 
of Gold — Riding in a Chariot of State — Monuments of Stone — The Nation Crying for Bread — 

(iii) 



iv CONTENTS. 

Jacob Sends his Sons to Egypt — Meeting the "Lord of the Country" — Jacob's Sons Accused 
of Being Spies — An Affecting Scene — Taking Back the Money — Singular Customs — The Silver 
Cup — Joseph Making Himself Known — Jacob Meeting his Son . . . . -53 

CHAPTER VI. 

EARLY LIFE OF MOSES. 

Oppression of the Hebrews — Pharaoh's Order to Slay the Male Children — The Little Life-Boat — 
Finding Moses — A Motherly Princess — Tradition Concerning Moses — A Good Sister — Miriam's 
Device for Saving her Brother — Moses at the Court of Egypt — The Smiter Smitten—Moses in 
Flight 66 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE DELIVERER OF ISRAEL. 

The Burning Bush — Glad Tidings for the Hebrews — The Great Lawgiver and Leader — Demand that 
Pharaoh Shall Release the Hebrews — A Stubborn King — Wonders Performed by Magicians — 
Plagues — Terrible Calamities — Death of the First-Born — Mercy for Israel — The Destroying 
Angel — The Blood-Mark on the Doorpost 72 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 

A Hasty Departure — Fleeing Toward the Red Sea — The Waters Divide for the Hebrews — Pharaoh's 
Host Overwhelmed — Miriam's Song — Music and Thanksgiving — Moving Toward Sinai — Bitter 
Waters of Marah — Halt at Elim — Murmuring Against Moses — Bread from Heaven — No Water — 
A Fountain Bursting from a Rock — Meeting Enemies — A Battle with Amalek — Moses and Jethro 
— The Solemn Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . .81 

CHAPTER IX. 

SUBLIME SCENES AT SINAI. 

The Prophet on the Mountain — The Divine Appearance — Forty Days and Nights Within the Cloud 
— Moses Supposed to be Lost — The Golden Calf — Jewels for the Idol — The Ten Commandments 
— The Hebrews Pressing Forward — Death of Aaron — The Brazen Serpent — Og, the Giant of 
Bashan 94 

CHAPTER X. 

BALAAM AND THE ANGEL. 

The King of Moab — Balak and Gold — An Angel in the Path — Plots and Snares — Divine Anger — 
Trouble with the Midianites — Victors and Spoil — Number of Israelites — Joshua Appointed to 
Succeed Moses — The Lawgiver's Last Address — Affecting Words — Threatenings Against Diso- 
bedience — The Death-Song — Forty Years of History — Moses on Pisgah — Death at the Age of 
One Hundred and Twenty — A Rare Man . . . . . . . . -103 

CHAPTER XL 

ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND. 

Mourning for Moses — Crossing the Jordan — The Fall of Jericho — Setting up a Memorial — Attack 
upon the Town of Ai — Sin of Achan — Deception of the Gibeonites — Sun and Moon Standing 
Still— Pushing on the Conquest — Death of Five Kings — Jabin, King of Hazor — Joshua's Bril- 
liant Successes — The Captured Cities # ... • . . . no 

CPIA'PTER XII. 

JOSHUA DIVIDING THE LAND. 

Petty Kings of Canaan — Driving Out the Enemy — Caleb's Claim — Othniel — Surveying the Land — 
The Distribution — Cities of Refuge-*-Sending Back the Two Tribes and a Half— A Suspicious 
Transaction — An Ancient Hero — Joshua's Successful Mission . . . . . .116 



CONTENTS. v 

CHAPTER XIII. ' 

REMARKABLE HEBREW WOMEN. 

Capture of Jerusalem — Story of a Hebrew Woman — Tribe of Dan — Justice Resisted — Eighty Years 
of Peace and Safety — Ruth and Naomi — Famine at Bethlehem — Moab — Naomi and her Daugh- 
ters in Affliction — Ruth's Affection — Gleaning in the Harvest Field — Ruth Wedded to Boaz — 
Israel Delivered by Deborah — A Song of Triumph 123 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A MAN OF VALOR. 

The Midianites — Caves and Strongholds — A Deliverer — The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon — A 
Marvelous Fleece — Let Baal Plead for Himself — Getting an Army — Cowards not Wanted — The 
Valiant Three Hundred — Gideon Destroying Idols — The Avenger — Abimelech Slain — Jephthah's 
Rash Vow — A Father's Sacrifice — The Hebrew Judges 131 

CHAPTER XV. 

MARVELOUS FEATS OF SAMSON. 

Human Sacrifices — Ephraim in Arms — Birth of Samson — Samson's Enormous Strength — The Damsel 
of Timnath — Samson Slays a Lion — Guessing a Riddle — Foxes and Firebrands — The Philistines 
Take Revenge — Samson Betrayed — The Giant Breaks the Fetters — Locks of Hair Shorn Off — 
Grinding in a Prison House — Samson Shakes Down the Philistine Temple . . .141 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE PROPHET SAMUEL. 

Eli, the High-Priest — Hannah's Prayer — The Child Brought to the Temple — A Remarkable Boy — 
The Voice in the Temple — A Prophet and Judge — Excitement in the Hebrew Camp — Ark Taken 
by the Philistines — Fall of an Idol — Judgment upon Ashdod — The Ark Returned — A Severe 
Judgment — Samuel's Great Influence — A King Desired — The People Discontented — A Divine 
Protest 149 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 

Clamoring for a King — Saul, the Son of Kish — Samuel Anoints Saul — Head and Shoulders Above 
Others — " Long Live the King ! " — Saul's Great Victory — Thunder and Rain — Agag Spared — 
The Son of Jesse — A Comely Person — David and Goliath — The Maiden's Song of Triumph — 
Saul's Anger — David and Jonathan — A Timely Escape — The Priests Slain — Saul Spared by 
David — The King of Gath — Saul and the Witch of Endor — Defeat in Gilboa . . .155 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

KING DAVID. 

David at Hebron — A Bloody Battle — David Proclaimed King — A Marvelous City — David's Mighty 
Men — Extent of Territory — Dazzling Magnificence — The Warrior King — A Rough Diamond — ■ 
An Extraordinary Crown — Absalom — Plot to Obtain the Throne — A Traitor — Absalom's Death 
— David's Grief — Poem by Willis — A Famine — Seventy Thousand Men Perish — Joab's Revenge 
— Numbering the People — The King Sleeps with his Fathers — David's Prosperous Reign . 175 

CHAPTER XIX. 

SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 

David's Successor — Solomon Offers Sacrifices — Seeking Wisdom — The Two Mothers — A Sagacious 
Judgment — An Illustrious Reign — Royal Magnificence — An Embassy from the King of Tyre — 
Tyrian Presents for Solomon — Building the Temple — Immense Number of Workmen — Trans- 
porting Stones and Wood — Style of Architecture — The Ark and Furniture — Superb Decorations 



vi CONTENTS. 

— Dedication of the Temple — Costly Sacrifices — The King's Treasures— Solomon's Gorgeous 
Throne — How Wealth was Employed — Fine Horses and Horsemen — Solomon's Renown — Visit 
from the Queen of Sheba — The Splendor Tarnished — " Vanity of Vanities " . . . 190 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 

King Rehoboam — Two Kingdoms — Idolatry and National Corruption — King Asa — Ahab Comes to 
the Throne — Infamous Jezebel — Elijah's Sudden Appearance — The Prophet at the Brook — Fed 
by Ravens — The Widow of Sarepta — Fire on Mount Carmel — Baal's Prophets Overthrown — 
Fleeing from Jezebel — Elijah at Horeb — The Still, Small Voice — Ahab's Warning — The King 
Alarmed — A Prophet Imprisoned — Elisha — "The Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen 
Thereof" ............... 208 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE YOUNG HEBREW CAPTIVE. 

Elisha's Miracles — The Children of Bethel — Army of Israel Crossing the Jordan — A Human Sacrifice 
— Death in the Enemy's Camp — Palace and Temple Plundered — Befriending a Poor Widow- 
School of the Prophets — The Captive Maid — Naaman Visits Elisha — Dipping in the Jordan — 
Naaman Cured of Leprosy ............ 222 

CHAPTER XXII. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN HOST. 

A Royal Marriage — King of Damascus — Sennacherib's Vast Army — Judah Invaded — Prophecy of 
Isaiah — Destruction of Sennacherib's Host — Lord Byron's Poem — Great Display of Wealth — 
Death of Hezekiah — Manasseh's Evil Reign — A Wicked Ruler — The Captive King — Young 
Josiah — Imposing Ceremonies — Startling Words — Celebrating the Passover — Jehoahaz Loses his 
Crown — A King in Disguise — Old Abominations — Death of Josiah — The Coming Downfall — 
Babylon on the March ............. 230 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 

Seventy Years of Exile — The Hebrew Land Despoiled — The Chaldeans at Jerusalem — The Temple 
Plundered — Persian Kings — Exiles Returning — King Cyrus — Crossing the Desert — Marrying 
Foreign Women — A Magnificent Feast — Esther Chosen Queen — Queen Vashti Dethroned — 
Hainan's Anger — Horrid Massacre Decreed — Esther Risks Her Life — Haman Erects a Gallows 
— Jews Saved from Death — Feast of Purim — A Hebrew Patriot — Nehemiah Rebuilds Jerusalem 
— Ezra Reading the Law ............ 241 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

JOB AND HIS FRIENDS. 

Land of Uz— A Famous Man — Large Flocks— Satan Arrives — Job's Dreadful Afflictions — Seven 
Days' Mourning — Job Charged with Wickedness — Job's Answer — Job Reproached byEliphaz — 
A Remarkable Book ............. 264 

CHAPTER XXV. 
THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 
Hebrew Songs — David and his Harp — The Shepherd of Israel — Green Pastures — Choral Service — 
Sweet Melodies — Stringed Instruments — A Grecian Legend — Religious Processions — Ancient 
Trumpets — Sacred Lyrirs — Songs of Solomon — Book of Proverbs — Wise Sayings — Water as an 
Emblem — An Ancient Well-Sweep — A Novel Sight — Swinging Bucket — The Babbler — Egyptian 
Asp — Lions — Storks — Strange Superstition ......... 270 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE WEEPING PROPHET. 

Objections to Prophesying — Pleading Youth and Inexperience — Jeremiah Carried to Egypt — Disor- 
ders in the Kingdom of Judah — Jeremiah's Patriotism — The Roll of Prophecies — A Sad Prophet 
— Lofty Thought — Simple Language — Jerusalem's Calamity — Zedekiah Taken Captive — Deeds 
of Cruelty — Invasion by the Babylonians — Resisting the Chaldseans — Terrible Effects of the 
Siege — Murder and Flight — Gedaliah — Horrible Barbarity — Renowned Tyre — Cedars of Leb- 
anon — Costly Sails for Ships — Corn of Judsea — Oil of Palestine — Ornaments of Dress — 
Utensils and Gewgaws — "Wool of the Wilderness" — Slaves and Vessels of Brass — Beau- 
tiful Circassians — Fall of Tyre . . 301 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

DANIEL IN BABYLON. 

Four Young Hebrews — Pulse and Water — Hale and Hearty on Simple Diet — Belief in Astrology — 
Divination by Flying Birds — A Startling Dream — Daniel Interprets the Dream — The Image of 
Gold — Idolatry Commanded — The Fiery Furnace — Miraculous Deliverance — Dream of a Tree — - 
The Glory of Babylon — Wonderful Hanging Gardens — The King Stricken with Insanity — Rea- 
son Restored — Belshazzar's Tyrannical Reign — The King Terrified — Weighed and Found Want- 
ing — Babylon Overthrown — Striking Fulfilment of Prophecy — The Den of Lions — Daniel's Great 
Age — The Prophet's Last Days — Daniel's Visions — A Mysterious Visitor — Body Like 
Beryl — Face the Appearance of Lightning — Voice Like the Sound of Many Waters — The 
Prophet Overawed — Touched by the Angel — Message from Above — Directed to Trust in 
the God of Israel — " Be Strong,. Yea, Be Strong" — The Vision Vanishes . . . 317 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

JONAH AT NINEVEH. 

Joash Repairs the Temple — Amaziah's Reign — The Threshing Floor — Amaziah's Arm}' — Brilliant 
Victories — An Insulting Letter — Prophecies of Jonah — A Famous City — Important Discoveries 
— Exploits of Sennacherib — Nineveh's Overthrow — Destruction by Fire — A Magnificent City — 
Assyrian Sculptures — Prophecy of Nahum — Invading Army — Chariots and Horsemen — 
Cavalry of Media — Inhabitants Slain by the Sword — Chief Places Set on Fire — Story of 
Nineveh's Ruin — Predictions Strikingly Fulfilled — An Empire Dug from its Sepulchre . 334 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 

The Young Macedonian — Alexander at Tyre — Privileges Granted to Jews — Conquests of the Greeks 
— A Man Unlike all Others — Attempt to Seize the Sacred Treasures — Terror in Jerusalem — Fall 
of Heliodorus — Treachery Suspected — Crime Avenged — A Murderer Punished — Jerusalem 
Stormed and Captured — Temple of Olympian Jove — Undaunted Heroism — Mad Antiochus — 
Magnificent Achievements — Religious Zeal — Maccabaean War of Independence — A Bold Con- 
fessor — Marvelous Triumphs — A Camp on Fire — Conquerors Rejoicing — Exploits of the Macca- 
bees — Elephants in Battle — One in White Clothing — Horrid Massacre — Swift Punishment — 
Death of Judas Maccabseus — A Patriot and Hero — Rival Rulers — A Priest-Prince — Terrible De- 
struction — Jonathan Put to Death — Independence Secured — A Renowned High-Priest — Family 
Murders — Contending for the Holy City — Patriots and Martyrs — A Roman King . . 344 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 

The Fulness of Time — Imperial Rome — King Herod — Mary Visited by an Angel — Marriage Cus- 
toms — Elizabeth Congratulated — A Song of Praise — Birth in a Stable — Humble Surroundings — 
The Angelic Chorus — Chapel of the Herald Angel — Adoration of the Shepherds — Strange 
Legends — The Name of Jesus — Impressive Scene in the Temple — The Star in the East — Herod 
Decrees Murder — The Galilean Peasant — Wise Men Presenting their Gifts — Journey to Jerusa- 
lem — The Jewish Doctors — The Child Jesus in the Temple — The Teacher and the Taught 



viii CONTENTS. 

— "How is it that ye Sought Me?" — The Father's Business — Jesus Again at Nazareth — 
Filial Obedience — Increasing in Wisdom and Stature — Sacred Palestine . . . 369 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 

John the Baptist — Preparing "the Way of the Lord" — Jesus Baptized in the Jordan — The Voice 
from Heaven — Temptation in the Wilderness — John's Testimony to Jesus — Philip and Nathan- 
ael — The First Miracle — Jesus at Cana — The Marriage Feast — Jealousy of John's Disciples — 
Jacob's Well — The Woman of Samaria — Water of Life — A Son Restored to Health — Jewish 
Worship — Excitement at Nazareth — A Remarkable Prophecy — Deliverance for Captives — Hos- 
tility Excited — Jesus Escapes from His Foes — The City of Capernaum .... 386 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
JESUS IN GALILEE. 

Capernaum — A Sabbath in the Synagogue — Casting Out an Evil Spirit — An Impressive Spectacle — - 
Tender Contpassion — The Unsuccessful Fishermen — A Multitude of Fish — The Peopl : Aston- 
ished at Christ's Teaching — The Leprosy — An Outcast Restored — Difficulties Overcome — The 
Paralytic Cured — Receipt of Custom — Matthew Called — Pool of Bethesda — Sabbath Ob- 
servance — Plucking the Ears of Corn — The Man with a Withered Hand — Herod Antipas — A 
Malicious Plot — Ceremonial Cleansings — The Law of Traditions — The Pharisees Offended — 
Jesus in the Throng — The Twelve Chosen — Sermon on the Mount — A Roman Soldier — Startling 

Miracles 403 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 

Social Customs of the Jews — Jesus Reclining at Supper — A Woman with a Box of Ointment — A Sin- 
ner Forgiven — Jesus Cures a Demoniac — The Fowls and Lilies — Divine Providence — Fall of the 
Siloam Tower — Parable of the Sower — Parable of the Tares — A Beautiful Jewel — Parable of the 
Goodly Pearl — Jesus on the Sea — " Peace, be Still ! " — Casting out Demons — Dwellers in Tombs 
— Astonished Swineherds — Eating with Publicans and Sinners — Feast Made by Matthew — 
Fault-Finding Pharisees — "They that be Whole Need Not a Physician" — Concerning 
Fasting — Children of the Bridechamber — New Wine and Old Bottles — Skin Bags . . 429 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

WONDERFUL WORKS. 

A Ruler of the Synagogue — Piteous Appeal for Help — The Woman with an Issue of Blood — The 
Touch of Faith — The Woman Cured — Jesus at the House of Jairus — The Daughter's Death — 
"Little Maid, Arise!" — The Cry of Two Blind Men — "Let there be Light!" — Failure to 
Perform Miracles — The Blessing of Peace — Patient Endurance — The Purim Festival — Vengeance 
on Herodias — Herod Perplexed — Feeding the Multitude — The Shore of Galilee — The Waiting 
Throng — Barley Loaves and Fishes — An Impressive Miracle — Boat in the Tempest — A Voice in 
the Storm — Loyalty of the Disciples — Visiting the Gentiles — Coasts of Tyre and Sidon — An 
Agonizing Petition — The Victory of Faith — The Dumb Speak — Hearing Restored — Giving Sight 
to a Blind Man — Taking the Man by the Hand — "I See Men as Trees Walking" — An- 
other Touch — Perfect Sight — The Man Sent to his own House — Directed to Tell No One 
— Jesus Avoids the Herod ian Towns — No Sympathy with Idolatry 444 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 
Simon Bar Jona — Peter Reprehends his Master — A Severe Reproof — The Transfiguration — A Strange 
Glory — Paying Tribute — Ambitious Disciples — Children of the Kingdom — The Forgiven Servant 
— The Man Born Blind— The People Amazed — The Parents Questioned — The True Sabbath — 
The First Confessor — True and False Shepherds — The Good Samaritan — Return of the Seventy 
— The Mustard Seed — The Lost Sheep — The Prodigal Son — The Compassionate Father — Beauty 
of the Parable — The Shadow of Doom — When the Son of Man Should Come— The Slave of 



CONTENTS. ix 

Mammon — Prudent Foresight — Thrift Commended — A Shrewd Scheme — The Greater Riches — 
Open Derision — The Law of Divorce — Chief Seats — Dives and Lazarus — An Impassable Gulf — 
Approaching Conflicts — Love and Forgiveness — Prayer for Faith — Master and Servant — The 
New Kingdom — Days of Trouble — Startling Predictions — Sons of Thunder — Priests and Lepers 
— A Happy Company — Pharisee and Publican — The Sisters of Bethany — A Joyous Festival — 
Christian Patriotism ............. 464 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 

Lazarus Sick — Appeal to Jesus — Devotion of Thomas to Christ — Jesus at the Tomb — Death Van- 
quished — The Resurrection and the Life — Scene at the Sepulchre — "Lazarus, Come Forth ! " — 
Another Outbreak of Hostility — Jesus and the Little Ones — The Disciples Rebuked — An Eager 
Inquirer — The Rich Young Man — An Unexpected Answer — The Camel and the Needle's Eye — 
A Striking Parable — Laborers in the Vineyard — The Eleventh Hour — The Mother of Zebedee's 
Children — Places of Honor — A Strange Request — Jesus at Bethany — Entry into Jerusalem — 
Symbols of Suffering — The Publican Zaccheus — " Hosanna in the Highest" — Fruit-Bearing — 
Withered Fig-Tree — A Cunning Snare — Questioners Confounded — Responses of the Two Sons 
— The Husbandman and Vineyard — The Beloved Son — Parental Affection — The Wedding Gar- 
ment — Plain Truths — The King's Son — Who the Herodians Were — A Fresh Attack — Roman 
Taxes — Cunning Hypocrites — Husband and Wife — Imperial Caesar — Jerusalem's Doom — Christ 
Weeping over the City — True and False Giving — Contempt for the Poor — The Widow's Mite — 
Splendor of the Temple — Not One Stone Left Upon Another — Seeking a Sign — The Sudden Ap- 
pearing — The Ten Virgins — The King and his Servants — The King's Return — A Sacred Trust — 
The Approaching Passion — The Mount of Olives — A Historic Spot ..... 499 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

The Last Passover — Judas — Peter's Rash Refusal — An Act of Humility — Startling Announcement — 
Peter Warned — The Sifting of Satan — The Base Denial — "The Stranger and His Friend " — A 
Beautiful Discourse — The Heavenly Comforter — The Cross and Crown — An Impressive Prayer — 
Christ's Love for His Disciples — Agony in the Garden — Jesus Betrayed — The House of the High- 
Priest — Charged with Blasphemy — False Witnesses — Peter's Denial — Remorse of Judas — Accused 
of Sedition — Jesus Before Pilate — "Art Thou the King of the Jews? " — Pilate's Great Question 
— Barabbas Released — Jesus Scourged — Pilate Alarmed — " Crucify Him ! " — Lingering Torture 
— The Cross and its Victim — Devoted Women — Jesus Prays for His Enemies — The Two Thieves 
— Startling Phenomena — Burial in Joseph's Tomb — The Sepulchre Guarded — The White Mes- 
senger — The Stone Rolled Away — Walk to Emmaus — Jesus on the Shore of Galilee — Peter 
Questioned — Joyful Revelation — A Gracious Blessing — The Great Commission . .540 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE APOSTLES AT JERUSALEM. 

One Hundred and Twenty Disciples — Joseph and Matthias — Casting the Lot — The Feast of Pente- 
cost — The Tongue of Fire — Three Thousand Converts — A United Band — " Rise Up and 
Walk ! " — The Cripple Cured — Peter and John Arrested — A Generous Giver — Barnabas — Lying 
Punished — Death of Sapphira — Escape from Prison — Choosing Deacons — First Christian Martyr 
— Stephen Assailed — Stephen's Vision — Saul at the Martyrdom — Rapid Progress of the Church 
— Conflict and Glory — The Martyr Spirit — Baptism of Blood — Triumph Born of Suffering 
— Christianity Changing the Face of the Earth — The Rose in the Wilderness — Stephen's 
Strange Fate — Rough Road to the Gate of Pearl — Sweet Peace After Stormy Conflict — The 
Cost and the Reward 569 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 

A Man of Tarsus — Gamaliel — Philip and the Ethiopian — Baptism of the Eunuch — Saul Struck Blind — 
A Visit from Ananias — Keble's Poem on Saul — The Apostle's Life in Danger — Saul at Tarsus 
— Dorcas — A Remarkable Vision — Peter at Csesarea — Cornelius — Good News for all Men — Peter 



CONTENTS. xi 

from Dr. Guthrie — Value of a Friend — Power of Sympathy — Objects of Charity — Reward of 

Well-Doing — Birds Rescuing Their Mates — The Golden Rule — Entertaining Angels — The Master 
Virtue — Faith Needs to be Trained — Faith and Works — The Boat and Two Oars . . 639 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE VISION OF JOHN. 

Remarkable Book — The Beloved Disciple — Zebedee and Salome — Early Years of John — A Son of 
Thunder — Put in Charge of the Virgin Mother — Peter's Ardent Nature — John's Missionary 
Field — Tradition Concerning John — A Christian Confessor — Persecution and Banishment — Sin- 
gular Legends — The Soaring "Eagle" — Closing Scene — The Angelic Messenger — Messages to 
the Churches — Patience Commended — Stern Reproof — The Celestial Throne — Terrible Phe- 
nomena — Sounding the Trumpets — War in Heaven — Vision of the Glorified — Vials of Wrath — ■ 
Great Babylon — The White Horse—" Faithful and True" — The Old Serpent— Second Death — 
Gog and Magog — New Jerusalem — River of Life — The First and the Last — Who Are Blessed — 
The Quick Coming — Amen 655 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE: 

COMPRISING LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS, PROPHETS AND APOSTLES. 

Adam — Garden in the East— A Companion — Mother of the Human Race — Good and Evil — Eating 
Forbidden Fruit — Hiding Among the Trees — Noah — World's History Before the Flood — Fright- 
ful Wickedness — Deluge Sent — Noah Builds an Ark — Vast Destruction — Ark on the Billows — 
The Dove and Raven — Divine Protest Against Murder — A Heavy Curse — Shem, Ham and 
Japheth — Abraham — Terah and his Three Sons — Abram and his Wife — Removing from Ur to 
Haran — Abram's ('all — Mighty Kingdom of the Pharaohs — Lot's Unwise Choice — Destruction 
of the Cities of the Plain — Battle of the Kings — Promise of a Numerous Posterity Repeated — 
The Furnace and Lamp — Birth of Isaac— Command to Sacrifice the Only Son — Remarkable 
Faith — Hagar and Ishmael — Visit from Three Angels — Isaac— -On the Altar of Burnt-Offering — 
In Search of a Wife — The Damsel at the Well — Two Great Nations — Jacob — A Famous Hunter 
— The Mess of Pottage — Cunning Deception — Blessing Upon Esau — The Gate of Heaven — 
Jacob Serving for a Wife — The Wrestling Angel — Death and Burial of Rachel — Joseph — Dis- 
liked by his Brethren — Joseph's Coat — A Strange Dream — Sold Into Egypt — The Young Ruler 
of a Nation — Joseph Visited by his Brethren — A Joyful Meeting — Death of Joseph — Moses — A 
Cruel Decree — The Ark of Bulrushes — Pharaoh's Daughter — The Child Found — Forty Years at 
the Court of Egypt — Keeping the Flocks of Jethro — Called to be a Prophet — The Divme Name 
— Miraculous Signs — Message to Pharaoh — Plagues of Egypt — Exciting Events — Fleeing from 
Egypt — Scenes in the Wilderness — Entering the Promised Land — Last Look from Pisgah — 
Joshua — Successor of Moses — Destruction of Ai — Story of Achan — A Man of Decision — Samson 
— Great Strength — An Unfortunate Marriage — Great Slaughter — The Secret of Samson's 
Strength — Honor to Dagon — A Temple Overthrown — Samuel — An Illustrious Mother — Home 
in the Temple — A Midnight Vision — Consecration of Saul — A Renowned Seer— Schools of the 
Prophets — David — A Shepherd-Boy — A Rich Country — Ruler of Israel — Goliath of Gath — The 
Sling and Pebbles — One Greater than Saul — The Hebrew Minstrel — Saul's Madness — Brave 
Men — Jerusalem Founded — Royal Power and Glory — A Clouded Life — "The Young Man Ab- 
salom" — Last Words — Solomon — Attractive Appearance — King Hiram — Queen of Sheba — 
Royal Wealth — The Temple's Magnificence — Elijah — A Remarkable Character — Impressive 
Scene on Carmel — Elijah on Mount Horeb — The Prophet's Translation — Isaiah — Cheering 
Promises — Remarkable Prophecies — Daniel — Fiery Furnace — A Kingdom Lost — Harmless Lions 
— Daniel's Integrity — Nehemiah — Rebuilding Jerusalem— Temple Restored — Sabbath Observ- 
ance — Peter — Voice in the Wilderness — Public Ministry of Jesus — Saved from Drowning — Pen- 
tecost— Multitude of Converts — Delivered from Prison — Old Legend — James the Great — Zeal- 
ous Disciples — A Bigoted Ruler — Philip — A Friendly Reproof — Bartholomew — Frank Con- 
fession — Matthew — An Unpopular Publican — Thomas — A Doubter — Preaching the Gospel — 
James the Less — Simon the Zealot — Jude — Matthias — Mark — Luke — Companion of Paul — A 
Celebrated Historian — Barnabas — Stephen — Timothy — Titus — John the Baptist . .671 



xii CONTENTS. 

BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 

The Fall of Our First Parents — Adam and Eve Driven Out of Paradise — After the Banishment from 
Paradise — Sacrifice of Cain and Abel — Death of Abel — Building the Ark — Leaving the Ark — 
Noah's Thank-Offering — Noah Curses Ham — Tower of Babel — The Promised Land — God's 
Promise to Abraham — Leaving Sodom — Jacob's Departure for Canaan — Wrestling with the 
Angel — Destroying the Tables of the Law — Death of Moses — Joshua Dividing the Land — Jeph- 
thah and his Daughter — Samson and the Lion — Samson Shorn of his Strength — The Giant's 
Death — Ruth and Boaz — David and Jonathan — Saul and the Witch — Elijah — The Chariot and 
Horsemen — Daniel Among Lions — Judith and Holofernes — John the Baptist — Birth of Christ — 
Flight into Egypt — Jesus in the Temple — Woman of Samaria — Miracles of Healing — Peter on 
the Water — Good Samaritan — The Prodigal — Blessing Children — Washing the Disciples' Feet — 
A Traitor — The Crucifixion — "He is Risen" — The Ascension — Paul and Barnabas — Seventh 
Seal — The New Jerusalem — The River that Flows from Beneath the Throne . . . 769 




Biwtijjl^nmj; 



Adam and Eve Driven Out of Paradise 

Tragic Death of Abel 

Animals Entering the Ark . 

Return of the Dove to the Ark . 

Noah's Sacrifice 

Building the Tower of Babel 

The Egyptian King Taking Sarah 

Fleeing from Burning Sodom 

Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert 

Abraham Offering Isaac 

Isaac Welcoming Rebekah 

Jacob's Vision of Angels 

Meeting of Jacob and Esau 

Joseph's Dream .... 

Joseph Sold into Egypt 

Joseph Making Himself Known . 

Embalming the Body of Joseph . 

Moses in his Little Life-Boat 

Moses before Pharaoh's Daughter 

The Burning Bush 

Aaron's Rod Changed to a Serpent 

The Plague of Locusts 

The Mark of Blood upon the Door-Post 

The Destroying Angel 

Miraculous Passage of the Red Sea 

Miriam's Song of Triumph 

Smiting the Rock 

Holding Up the Hands of Moses 

Meeting of Moses and Jethro 

Worshipping a Strange God 

Moses with the Tables of the Law 

Moses Rehearsing his Song to the Hebrews 

Balaam Met by the Angel . 

Balak's Sacrifice 

Moses Viewing the Promised Land 

The Fall of Jericho . 



PAGE 
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in 



PAGE 

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still . 114 
Joshua Dividing the Land by Lot . . 117 

Fleeing to a City of Refuge . . .118 

Joshua Sending Back the Tribes . . .120 

The Harvest Field of Boaz . . .124 

Ruth Gleaning . . . . .126 

Ruth . 128 

Gideon's Fleece . . . . 132 

Gideon Destroying the Idols of Baal . . 134 

Abimelech Slain by his Armor-Bearer . 137 

Samson Slaying the Lion . . . . 143 

Samson and Delilah . . . . . 145 

Samson Grinding in the Prison-House . . 147 

The Child Samuel in the Temple . . 150 

Welcoming the Return of the Ark . . 153 

Storm in the Harvest Season . . . 157 

David Anointed by Samuel . . . 159 

David at the Brook 161 

David Slaying Goliath . . . -163 

Saul Attempts the Life of David . . .165 

David and Jonathan ..... 167 
David Spares the Life of Saul . ' . .169 
Saul Searching for David . . . -171 

The Hagarites Expelled by the Reubenites . 173 
David's Three Mighty Men . . . 177 

David Proclaimed King . . . . 179 

The Nurse Fleeing with Mephibosheth . 182 

David Pardoning Absalom . . . 185 

David Instructing Joab to Number the 

People 188 

Solomon's Coronation .... 191 

The Judgment of Solomon . . . 193 

Hiram of Tyre Sending Presents to Solomon 195 
Magnificent Temple of Solomon . .197 

The Ark and Furniture of the Temple . 199 

Fire from Heaven at the Temple Dedication 202 

(xiii) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Queen of Sheba at the Court of Solomon 207 
King Asa Destroying Idols at Kidron . . 209 

Elijah and the Widow of Sarepta . .211 

Elijah Visited by an Angel . . 215 

Elijah Casting his Mantle on Elisha . .216 
Elijah and Ahab in Naboth's Vineyard . 218 

The Translation of Elijah . . .220 

The Children of Bethel . . . 223 

Naaman's Captive Maid . . . .226 

Naaman at the Door of Elisha . . .228 

Sennacherib Slain by his Sons . . -231 

Hezekiah Exhibiting his Treasures . . 233 

King Josiah Destroying the Idols . . 235 

Shaphan Reading the Law before Josiah . 237 
Death of King Josiah .... 239 

King Cyrus Bringing Forth the Vessels of 

the Lord's House . . . . -243 
Artaxerxes Giving the Letter to Ezra . . 244 

Queen Vashti Refusing to Obey the King . 247 
Queen Esther Touching the King's Sceptre . 250 
Mordecai Refusing Homage to Hainan . 252 

Ahasuerus Orders the Execution of Haman . 255 
Celebrating the Feast of Purim . . . 257 

Nehemiah Collecting Money . . . 259 

Building the Walls of Jerusalem . . 260 

Job Receiving the Tidings of his Ruin . 266 

Job and his Comforters .... 268 
Harvest Scene in Ancient Palestine . .271 

Going Forth to Labor . . 273 

Ancient Musical Instruments . . -275 

Jewish Captives in Babylonia . . -277 

The Sweet Singer of Israel . . .278 

" He Heapeth up Riches, and Knoweth not 

Who Shall Gather Them " . ■ . .281 

The Good Wife 283 

"A Little Child Shall Lead Them " . .285 
Proverbs . . . • . . .287 

Proverbs . . . . . . 289 

Proverbs . , . . . . .291 

Proverbs ....... 292 

Proverbs ....... 294 

Proverbs . 296 

Proverbs 298 

Proverbs ....... 300 

Ancient Jerusalem ..... 302 

Zedekiah Carried Away Captive . . 304 



Jeremiah Buying his Kinsman's Field 

Jeremiah Warns the Remnant 

The Moabites Taken into Captivity 

The Prophet Ezekiel .... 

The Capture of Tyre 

The Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace 

Daniel Interpreting the Dream . 

Belshazzar Seeing the Handwriting 

Daniel Interpreting the Writing . 

Babylon Taken by Cyrus 

Daniel Touched by the Angel 

Jonah Cast into the Sea 

Jonah Preaching at Nineveh 

Royal Palace at Nineveh 

Selling the Children of Jewish Captives 

Assyrian Winged Bull 

Repulse of Heliodorus in the Temple 

Punishment of Antiochus . 

Angel Sent to Deliver Israel 

Jonathan Destroying the Temple of Dagon 

The Annunciation .... 

Birth of John the Baptist . 

Writing the Name on the Tablet 

The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds 

Adoration of the Shepherds 

The Offering of Purification 

The Wise Men Presenting Gifts 

Christ in the Temple 

Jesus of Nazareth .... 

The Temptation on the Mountain 

Driving Money-Changers from the Temple 

The Woman at the Well 

Healing the Nobleman's Son 

Deliverance for the Captive 

Attempting to Cast Jesus Down from the 

Brow of the Hill .... 
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes 
Jesus Teaching by the Seaside • . 
The Final Call of Peter 
Healing the Palsied .... 
Healing the Impotent Man at the Pool 
Christ and his Disciples in the Corn-Fields 
Priests Take Counsel with the Herodians 
Jesus Healing the Multitude 
Sermon on the Mount 
The Widow's Son Restored to Life 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Sowing the Good Seed 






PAGE 

433 


Sowing Tares . . . 
Finding Hidden Treasure 




435 
437 


The Pearl of Great Price . 




439 


Jesus Eats with Publicans and Sinners . 




442 


Healed by Touching Christ's Garment 
Christ Raising fhe Daughter of Jairus 
Christ Feeding the Multitude 


445 
447 
452 


Peter Saved by Jesus .... 
The Syro-Phcenician Woman 




457 
459 


Jesus Leads the Blind 




461 


Teaching Humility by a Little Child 
The Cruel Servant 




466 
468 


Healing the Man Born Blind 




47i 


The Good Shepherd . 




473 


The Good Samaritan . 




475 


Finding the Lost Sheep 
The Prodigal's Return 




473 
480 


The Parable of the Prodigal 




482 


The Unjust Steward 

The Parable of the Unjust Steward 




4S4 
486 


The Rich Glutton and Lazarus, the Be. 
Lazarus at the Rich Man's Gate 


Jg ar • 


490 
493 


The Importunate Widow 

Mary and Martha 

Christ Blessing Little Children . 






495 

497 
502 


Hiring Laborers for the Vineyard 
Salome's Request for her Sons 
Zaccheus Called by Jesus 
Christ's Entry into Jerusalem 
The Withered Fig-Tree 






506 
508 
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5 12 
5U 


Responses of the Two Sons 

The Speechless Guest 

The Parable of the Vineyard 

The Tribute Money . 

Christ Weeping over Jerusalem 

The Widow's Mite 






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5 2 3 

525 
527 


The Virgins 






• 53i 


The Parable of the Ten Virgins 
The Talents 






• 533 

• 535 


The Parable of the Talents 

The Last Supper 

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet 






537 

• 54i 

• 543 


Christ in the Garden 
Christ Carrying His Cross . 
The Crucifixion . 






• 549 

• 555 

• 559 



The Angel at the Tomb 

" He is Risen " ... 

Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate 

Martyrdom of Stephen 

The Conversion of Saul 

Ananias and Saul 

Deliverance of Peter from Prison 

Paul Commanding the Cripple to Stand Up 

Paul and Barnabas at Anlioch 

Paul Writing his Epistles in Prison 

Macedonian Christians Bringing their Gift 

to Paul 

Paul on Mars' Hill 

Ancient Corinth 

Paul Preaching at Ephesus . 

Paul Parting from the Elders of Ephesus 

Paul's Address Before the Council 

Paul Before Felix 

Ancient Ships .... 

Paul Bitten by a Serpent 

Ancient Rome .... 

" I Am Now Ready to be Offered " 

" Doomed to the Death " . 

Bear Ye One Another's Burdens . 

The Strong Supporting the Weak 

Angels Unawares 

Faith .' 

The Apostle John at Patmos 

Vision of the Golden Candlestick 

The Angel with the Book . 

The Angels with the Vials 

The River of Life 

The Separation of Abram and Lot 

Hagar at the Fountain 

Death of the First-Born of Egypt 

Consecration of Aaron and his Sons 

Inhabitants of Ai Witnessing the Defeat of 

their Army .... 
The Stoning of Achan 
Ancient Jewish Laborers 
The High-Priest Offering Incense 
A Caravan Arriving at a Fountain where 

there is no Water . 
The Lying Prophets Burned to Death 
Jehoiachin Released by the King of Babylon 
Guarding the Gates of Jerusalem 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Fall of our First Parents 

Adam and Eve Driven Out of Paradise 

Banishment from Paradise . 

Sacrifice of Cain and Abel . 

Death of Abel .... 

Noah Commanded to Build the Ark 

Noah Leaving the Ark 

Noah's Thank-Offering 

Noah Curses Ham 

The Tower of Babel . 

Entering the Promised Land 

God's Promise to Abraham 

Leaving Sodom 

Jacob's Departure for Canaan 

Wrestling with the Angel . 

Moses Destroying the Tables 

The Death of Moses . 

Dividing the Land among the Tribes 

Jephth all's Rash Vow 

Samson Slaying a Lion 

Samson Slays the Philistines 

Samson Shorn of his Strength 

Samson's Vengeance and Death . 

Ruth Gleaning in the Field of Boaz 

Parting of David and Jonathan . 

David and Abigail 

Saul and the Witch of Endor 

The Widow's Son Restored to Life 

God Appearing to Elijah 

The Translation of Elijah . 

Daniel in the Lions' Den . 

Judith Beheads Holofernes . 



769 
769 

770 
770 
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771 
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772 
773 
773 
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774 
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778 
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780 
780 
781 
781 
782 
782 
783 
783 
784 
784 



Birth of John the Baptist . 

The Angel and Shepherds . 

The Birth of Christ . 

The Flight into Egypt 

Death of the Children of Bethlehem 

The Presentation in the Temple . 

Christ Teaches in the Temple 

Jesus Drives Out the Money-Changers 

Christ Teaches Nicodemus . 

Christ and the Woman of Samaria 

Christ Raises the Widow's Son . 

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus 

Sending Forth the Twelve Apostles 

Jesus Saves Peter from Sinking . 

The Good Samaritan . 

The Return of the Prodigal Son . 

Jesus Blessing Little Children 

Mary Anointing Jesus 

Christ's Entry into Jerusalem 

Christ Washes His Disciples' Feet 

Christ Bearing His Cross . 

Christ Falls Under His Cross 

The Crucifixion 

The Burial of Christ . 

The Resurrection 

The Women at the Tomb of Christ 

Christ Appears to Two of His Disciples 

The Ascension .... 

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra 

Paul Taking Leave of the Elders 

Opening the Seventh Seal . 

The New Jerusalem . 



PAG1 
785 
785 
786 
786 
787 
787 
788 
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798 
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800 





L.B.Tolaer3a. Oif. 



19 Synagogue of tlie Portuguese Jew» 

20 Mosque. 

1V.-THE MOHAMMEDAN QUABTBR, 

21 Khan and Bazaar. 

22 Mineral Bath. 

23 Convent and Schools. 

24 Institute for Blind Dervishes. 

25 Hospital of St. Helena. 

26 Reputed site of the House of the Rich Man. 

27 Reputed site of the House of St. Varonica. 

28 Residence of the Turkish Pasha. 
^9 Arch of the "Ecce Homo." 



30 Place of the "Scala Sancta," the Holy Staircase 

31 Pilate's House. 

32 Place of Flagellation. 

33 Ruins of a Church. House of Simon the Pharisee 

34 Church of St. Anna. 

36 House of Herod. Dervish'B Mosque. 

V.— THE MOOES' QUAKT2S- 



a Armenian Convent. House of Caiapfcas 
b American Burial Ground, 
c David's Tomb. 
i Place of Wai'.ing of the Jews. 
Just within ZiorCs Gate, are wrttched abodes qfUper> 







MODERN JERUSALEM. 
I.-THE CHRISTIAN QUARTTfc. 

1 Goliath's Castle. 

2 Latin Convent. 

3 Church of Holy Sepulchre 

4 Greek Convent. 
6 Coptic Convent. 

6 RuinsofSt. John's Hospital. 

7 Creek Church. St. John's. 

8 Residence of the Christian Bishop. 

9 Church of the Greek Schismatics. 

10 Tower of llippicus. David's Town. 

!1 Supposed Site of the Tower of Pha&u^Ui 

12 The Frussian Consulate 



13 Modern Evangelical Churcn. 

14 Hospital and Syrian Convent. 

II.--THE ARMENIAN QUARTER 

16 Armenian Convent, with the Cburrx ar 
St. James. 

The only buildinp in Jerusalem wfue* 
presents any appearance of comfort. 

16 Nunnery of St. George. 

17 Barracks. 

UI.-TBE JEWS' QUARTER 

The most wretched in the city 
It Synagogue of thfe Shepardim 




ROYAL TREASURY 



OR. 



JEWELS OF THE BIBLE. 




CHAPTER I. 

THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 



GRAPHIC descrip- 
tion of the work of 
creation is given in 
the first part of Gen- 
esis. When the new 
world rises to our 
view it is .without the 
wonderful forms of 
life and beauty which 
we now see everywhere around 
us. By successive stages the 
great work was finished. The 
expansive oceans were separated 
from the wide and fertile plains ; 
mountains lifted their heads in 
lofty grandeur toward the sky; 
rippling rivulets and majestic rivers 
-flowed through deep valleys ; lovely land- 
scapes, framed in hills and painted with floral 
beauties, smiled in the soft sunlight; and 
tender verdure carpeted the new-born world. 

At length, when the earth was arrayed in 
all its vegetable glories, and when the land, 
the air and the sea were filled with living 
creatures, God made man also " in His own 
likeness " and " after His own image " — man, 
2 



perfect in beauty and glorious in intellect — to 
inherit this rich possession, to bear rule over 
all its inferior creatures, and eventually to 
render all its elements subservient to his use. 

The infancy of human life needed some 
care from the Divine Creator. The first man, 
to whom was given the name of Adam, was 
therefore not placed upon the cold mountains, 
nor amidst melancholy deserts, but in a gar- 
den watered by four perennial streams. By 
a garden is understood, in the East, a large 
plantation of fruit-bearing and pleasant trees, 
among which are interspersed the flowering 
shrubs and beds of flowers; and the whole 
watered by reservoirs and running streams. 

The concise narrative in Genesis gives us 
little information respecting the feelings by 
which the new man was influenced ; but from 
the result we may be sure that he longed for 
the intercourse of a congenial mind, of an equal 
being, and without this felt desolate, even in 
Paradise. The gracious Creator, who had 
allowed His new creature to feel this want, 
probably that he might the more highly prize 
its gratification, then declared that " it was not 
good for man to be alone," and gave to him 

(17) 



18 



THE FLATTERING TEMPTER. 



the first of women, Eve, as a helpmate for him. 
We may conceive the joy, the fulness of heart, 
with which the first of men thenceforth walked 
hand in hand through Eden with the first of 
women, in perfect purity and innocence. 

Man's Fatal Fall. 

Perfectly happy, alone in the earth, without 
the provocatives to or even the means of vice, 
what was there to give to the new pair a con- 
sciousness of moral responsibility and a sense 
of obedience to a bountiful Creator? This had 
not been overlooked. There was one tree of 
the garden, distinguished as " the tree of 
knowledge," whose fruit they were forbidden 
to touch under grievous penalties, although 
of all else that grew in that spacious garden 
they might partake freely. This was estab- 
lished as the test of obedience ; and if the 
abounding evil which has grown up in the 
peopled world disposes the mind to think 
lightly of such a test, it will be well to recol- 
lect that, as Adam and Eve were then circum- 
stanced, disobedience to some necessarily 
arbitrary restriction of this nature was the 
highest crime which it was in their power to 
commit. The crimes against men which 
human laws deem worthy of death they could 
not commit, seeing that they were alone in the 
world ; and there could be no crime against 
God but through the infraction of some such 
positive command as this. 

What might have been the lot of the first 
human pair had they continued firm in their 
obedience is impossible to say, and perhaps 
useless to speculate. They fell, and by that fall 

" Brought death into the world, and all our woe." 

Tempted by the flattering lies of the old ser- 
pent, under whom Satan is supposed to have 
been represented, the woman tool-: of the for- 
bidden fruit, and prevailed upon her husband 
to share her sin. Hitherto they had been 
upright, knowing neither good nor evil, for 
good is only a relative quality, and only recog- 
nizable in the comparison with existing evil. 
But now their eyes were at once " opened to 
know both good and evil " — to know good 
lost, and evil won. The innocence which be- 



fore had covered them as a robe was gone r 
and " they saw that they were naked." Before 
this, in their innocence of soul, " they were 
naked and not ashamed ; " but now the same 
fact became to them a matter of shame and 
confusion of face. Their first impulse was to 
seek wherewith to cover them ; and they 
twisted fig-leaves together, " and made them- 
selves aprons," for that purpose. The same 
impulse of conscious guilt led them to hide 
themselves among the trees, where " they 
heard the voice of the Lord God walking in 
the garden in the cool of the day." That 
voice they had never before heard without 
gladness ; but now it was the voice of their 
Judge. 

After a mystical judgment on the beguiling 
serpent, and after pronouncing the pangs of 
childbirth as the doom of the woman, He 
turned to Adam and said, " Cursed is the 
ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat 
of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and 
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou 
shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat 
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou 
return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou 
taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust thou 
shalt return." This sentence involved expul- 
sion from Eden : and subjected the guilty pair 
to the physical conditions which brought 
death upon them, and upon all who sprang 
from them. Yet this sentence, extorted from 
the Divine justice, was accompanied by miti- 
gating intimations ; and promises, not perhaps 
intended to be then clearly understood, were 
held out of some mighty deliverance from 
the penalties of sin through one born of woman. 

The geographical position of Eden is purely 
conjectural ; different writers have placed it in 
various positions, and nothing can now be 
known with certainty concerning its locality. 
It has been placed by some on the Lower 
Euphrates, near the junction of that river 
with the Tigris and the Gulf of Persia. By 
others it has been described as situated in 
Media, Armenia, or the North of Mesopo- 
tamia, all mountain tracts of extreme beauty 
and fertility. It has also been imagined that 



THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 



19 



the ancient site of Eden is now covered by I utmost importance to the whole human race, 
Lake Arissa. All this, however, is simply I Milton, in his immortal epic, indulges his 




ADAM and eve driven out of paradise. — Genesis iii. 23. 
speculative, while the events which therein I vivid and powerful imagination in depicting 
occurred were of vast magnitude and of the I the unalloyed happiness, unsullied purity, and 



20 



THE GARDEN IN THE EAST. 



chaste love of our first parents ; they freely 
conversed with angels and the Lord of 
angels ; they knew neither hatred nor fear, 
until, in an unhappy hour, they, under strong 
temptation, broke through a restriction placed 
upon them, and were expelled from their 
Paradise to lives of labor and sorrow. This 
statement agrees in the main outline with the 
narrative given in Genesis, and is to be traced 
with more or less likeness in many of the 
traditions of ancient civilized nations and 
even those of modern savages. 

Whither, after their expulsion, the unhappy 
couple directed their steps, is entirely un- 
known : there is no evidence to throw any 
light upon the matter. How long they 
wandered before they resolved on some settled 
habitation is equally uncertain ; but we learn 
that two sons were born to Adam ; Cain, the 
eldest-born, sharing his father's labor, and 
tilling the ground in the sweat of his face, 
while Abel, the younger, devoted himself to 
tending the flocks. It is a beautiful Arcadian 
picture, although the brighter glories of 
Paradise are withdrawn. 

How simple the habits and mode of life in 
those early days ! Eden was lost, and the 
world was hard and rough. Man was doomed 
to bend to his work like the ox to the yoke. 
The brow on which the image of God was 
stamped would be wet with sweat. Paradise 
blasted, and the new home cursed with thorns! 
It was taught thus early that if the world 
would do us any good, we must go out and 
master it. 

And the beneficent effects of the law of 
labor are seen in changing the face of the 
earth, and transforming it into a second Para- 
dise. We have sunlight and rain such as fell 
upon the Eden of old, and still the blossoms 
with rainbow colors and lovely perfumes deco- 
rate the fields, and harvest fruits bear eloquent 
testimony to the bounty of nature. Man 
shows his nobler qualities in conquering the 
earth, and making it yield him riches of un- 
measured value. 

" I have gotten a man from the Lord," 
were the words of Eve on the birth of 



the first child that was born into the world. 
He was called Cain, which is the Hebrew 
word for " gotten." What a wonder to Adam 
and Eve must have been the first child ! 
They had never been children themselves; 
they had never seen a child ; but here was 
their own image, helpless, guileless, innocent. 

Cain and Abel. 

Cain was not old when another child was 
born. The wonder had now ceased. The 
second child was nothing compared with the 
first. He was not the man from the Lord, 
not the promised seed, so he was called Abel, 
or " vanity." The effects of this partiality of 
the parents, grounded on this misunderstand- 
ing, were soon manifest. Cain was proud, 
fierce, selfish; Abel, on the other hand, was 
humble and gentle, and is known as the 
" righteous " Abel. They grew up together. 
Other children doubtless were born, but Cain 
and Abel were natural companions. They 
had the world before them for enterprise and 
invention. The thoughts most natural to 
men would be the first to rise in their minds, 
and we might have imagined their circum- 
stances to have made and kept them innocent 
and happy. But the blight of sin had fallen 
and its taint was in the heart of -man. 

Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was 
a tiller of the ground. The curse had come. 
The ground needed tillage. This was Adam's 
occupation, and naturally his elder son was 
taught to follow the same. In some respects 
the curse was converted into a blessing. Work 
was needed for the exercise of the body and 
a check on the disposition to evil. It is good 
for man to be occupied. Abel, the gentle 
brother, kept sheep. This was the next em- 
ployment after tilling the ground. It is re- 
markable that their occupations should have 
been distinct. We might have expected both 
to have done the same things by turns or as 
circumstances required. But it may have 
been that Adam gave them their work, pre- 
scribing to the elder and stronger the labor- 
ious duty of tilling the ground ; while Abel, 
the younger and physically weaker, tended 



THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 



21 



the flocks. Each had his calling and knew 
his labor would not be fruitless. 

There was still but one household. The 
two sons were the prominent members. On 
them mainly, so far as man could see, de- 
pended the future of the world. Their inter- 
ests were one ; their great object, therefore, 
should have been mutual help. Never were 
two brothers placed in circumstances which 
more required their co-operation, or which 
seemed more likely to make them love each 
other. But they were true types of two 
classes of men, and their history is the fore- 
shadowing of the history of the human race. 
There has been an increasing opposition be- 
tween those represented by Cain and those 
represented by Abel. The seed of the evil- 
doers has had the victory, and the just have 
suffered ; but the triumph of the righteous is 
yet to come. 

Cain made religion the ground of his 
quarrel with his brother. Both offered sac- 
rifices. Cain brought the fruit of the ground; 
Abel the firstlings of his flock. Each seems 
to have offered suitably according to the in- 
crease which God had given him ; but there 
was a difference somewhere. It may have 
been that Cain only offered the fruit — not the 
first or best, while Abel offered the best he 
had. It may have been that Cain's offering 
had no reference to sin ; while Abel's spoke 
of suffering, and so of guilt. God said to 
Cain, " If thou doest not well, sin " — or, as 
the Hebrew may be translated, a sin-offering 
— " lieth at thy door." From this some have 
concluded that Cain had no consciousness of 
sin, and so refused the sin-offering. But this 
is an inference of the Rabbis and theologians, 
and supposes that Cain knew some special 
command of God concerning sacrifice. The 
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives a 
reason which seems sufficient. He makes the 
difference to be in faith. " By faith Abel 
offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." 
The sacrifice itself was more excellent ; but 
what made it really valuable was the disposi- 
tion of the offerer. In his offering there was 
piety, sincerity, and self-sacrifice. 



So the Lord had respect unto Abel and to 
his offering, but to the offering of Cain He 
had not respect. Then the character of Cain 
was manifested. Instead of inquiring into the 
cause of the non-acceptance of his offering, 
he was very wroth. The cause was in him- 
self, but he made it the occasion of hatred 
towards his brother. Perhaps there was in 
Cain something of self-righteous pride. 
He may have been told that he was the 
promised seed, and, being the firstborn, had 
all the blessings of God by natural inherit- 
ance. And now he sees his brother's offering 
accepted because of his righteousness, and 
his own rejected for reasons which he dare 
not look into : his countenance fell ; his wrath 
threatened to flow out in vengeance on his 
brother. This was unreasonable ; but reason 
goes with righteousness, not with sin. God 
remonstrated with Cain. If he did well, his 
offering would be accepted; if he did not well, 
there was the natural punishment. God told 
Cain that all which he had by birthright re- 
mained to him : his brother should not have 
dominion over him ; but there was a differ- 
ence between inheritance and character 

A Brother's Blood. 

It is added, "And Cain talked with his 
brother Abel." What did they talk about? 
About their sacrifices ? About sin and pun- 
ishment ? Did they have a dispute, in which 
Cain lost his temper, as bad men often do 
when they have controversies about religion ? 
The Rabbis have many conjectures, but noth- 
ing is recorded. Cain's anger burned : he 
could not control it; and at last he gave his 
brother a sudden blow. Abel staggers and 
falls; his heart ceases to beat; his tongue is 
silent ; motionless he lies on the ground. 
Cain understands not what has happened. 
He knew nothing of death ; he had never 
seen one dead or dying. He calls to Abel, 
but Abel answers not. Did a pang of 
remorse come over the heart of Cain ? Did 
he feel that he had been the victim of 
his own ungoverned passions ? We do not 
know. But if he felt any compunction at 



22 



THE DEATH OF ABEL. 



the moment, it was of short continuance. 
When God asked, " Where is thy brother?'' 
Cain answered, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " 



Cain was not capable of repentance, because 
he had not the consciousness of sin. The 
soul within him was dead; he was a mere 




tragic death of abel. — Genesis 
The defiant answer was made in the spirit I child of the earth, earthy; born of the flesh 
of impenitence, and after he knew that Abel he was nothing but flesh. He could not feel 
was dead. His nature was brutal and wicked. I that he had done wrong until he heard the 



THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 



23 



punishment of his wrong-doing. The voice 
of Abel's blood cried out for vengeance on 
the murderer. God tells Cain that he is 
cursed from the earth : when he tills the 
ground it shall not henceforth yield her 
strength ; but he should be a fugitive and 
vagabond. And Cain answered, " My pun- 
ishment is greater than I am able to bear." 

A Homeless Fugitive. 

Here was the fruit of the forbidden tree. 
The first human death was by murder, and the 
first man born in the world a murderer and 
fratricide. This first slaughter was too dread- 
ful an offence for any but the Giver of life to 
judge: and He judged it, not by taking 
another life, but by dooming the wretched 
and self-convicted criminal to wander forth in 
wild and infertile regions, afar from his kin- 
dred and parental home, with " the voice of 
his brother's blood " crying always in his 
ears. 

Under this sentence Cain wandered forth 
and established himself in the land of Nod. 
There his family increased, and his descendants 
built cities, and became the inventors of many 
useful arts. One of them, called Jabal, was the 
■first who took to that nomadic life — living in 
tents, and rearing cattle — to which so many 
tribes of men in Asia are still devoted ; another, 
named Jubal, was the inventor of the lyre and 
the Pandean pipe ; another, named Tubal-cain, 
was the first who found out the use of iron 
and copper to man ; another, named Lamech, 
seems to have been the first who devised the 
evil practice of polygamy, for of him it is told 
that he took two wives — Adah and Zillah. 

Meanwhile other children were born to 
Adam and Eve, only one of whom, Seth, is 
particularly mentioned, because from him 
sprang the family which eventually survived 
the desolation of the habitable world. 

Great Length of Human Life. 

The remaining history to the Deluge is 
occupied chiefly with lists of names and ages, 
which are of importance to us chiefly by 
showing the length of the interval between the 



Creation and the Deluge, and which on this 
ground is commonly estimated at one thou- 
sand six hundred and fifty-seven years. The 
names are not many, for before the Deluge 
the lives of men were of immense duration, 
varying from nearly eight hundred to nearly 
a thousand years. The shortest life recorded 
is that of Lamech, the father of Noah, who 
died at the age of seven hundred and seventy- 
seven years ; the longest, that of Methusaleh, 
who lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years. 
This longevity must have been highly favorable 
to the increase of population — deaths being so 
few, and births so many. It must have been 
also favorable to much progress in the arts of 
life — and perhaps a correct notion has scarcely 
yet been formed of the extent to which the 
ancient world was probably peopled, or of the 
progress which had been made in what are 
now called the arts of civilization. The 
Scriptural intimations are exceedingly concise, 
and only enable us to perceive that a most 
corrupt and criminal condition of society was 
soon engendered among all the races of men 
which sprang from Adam. 

The race of Seth seems to have the longest 
retained its uprightness and fidelity to God ; 
but it was gradually led to contract alliances 
with the race of Cain, which in the end con- 
founded the one and the other in the same 
disorders by which the earth was filled with 
violence and wrong. From such inter- 
marriages sprang men celebrated not more for 
their larger stature than for the corruption of 
their manners. And in the end things came 
to such a pass, that the fair creation was 
made abominable in the eyes of its Divine 
Creator, and He made known to the still up- 
right family of Noah his design to purge the 
face of the earth, by a Flood of waters, of all 
its tainted inhabitants. Noah was ordered to 
prepare a huge vessel, suited to float upon 
the surface of the waters, and spacious enough 
to contain not only the good man's own family, 
but couples of the different species of animals, 
destined eventually to replenish the desolated 
earth. 

The ark was a long time in preparation, 



24 



THREATENINGS AT LAST FULFILLED. 



-during which the guilty men were warned of I not : and the terrible doom, so long denounced 
destruction, and, urged by Noah to repentance, I and so mercifully delayed, came down at last. 




animals entering the ark. — Genesis vii. 8, 9. 

had ample time in which to turn from their evil I Many have been the speculations about the 
ways. But they turned not; they repented I ark of Noah, and various the forms which 



THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 



25 



have been assigned to it. It has been usual 
to suppose its hull similar to that of a ship. 
But the hull of a ship is expressly designed 
for progress through the waters ; whereas for 
the ark it was only requisite that it should 
be upborne, at rest, upon the surface. It was 
therefore, in all probability, flat-bottomed, and 
shaped not unlike the houses which were at 
that time in use. We know that it was 
divided into different decks, or stories, divided 
doubtless into various stalls or cabins for the 
different bestial and human inmates, and for 
the storing of provisions ; and the whole was 
covered by a sloping roof. It was built of 
gopher wood, which is supposed to have been 
the same as the cypress, and it was well 
covered inside and out with pitch. Its dimen- 
sions were very vast, being three hundred 
cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits 
high. The cubit was about eighteen inches ; 
and hence these dimensions maybe expressed 
as equal to four hundred and fifty feet long, 
seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. 
At length, about one thousand six hundred 
and fifty-seven years from the Creation, the 
word was given to Noah, and he entered the 
ark, with his immediate family, consisting of 
his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and 
Japheth, and their wives — in all eight persons 
— who alone, of all the multitude inhabiting 
the earth, were destined to outlive the coming 
desolation. The righteous family, in obedi- 
ence to the Divine command, took with them 
on board the ark seven pairs of every clean 
beast, and one pair of every one that was not 
clean. 

The Deluge. 

The stupendous event which now came on 
is related by the sacred historian in a few ap- 
parently simple phrases, but containing images 
of the most massive magnificence. "All the 
fountains of the great deep were broken up, 
and the windows of heaven were opened." It 
rained forty days and nights, so violently and 
incessantly, that " the waters prevailed exceed- 
ingly upon the earth, and all the high hills 
which were , under the whole heaven were 
covered." The waters rose indeed fifteen 



cubits above the tops of the highest mountains, 
and thus every living creature not capable of 
inhabiting the waters was overwhelmed and 
destroyed. The Flood continued for a con- 
siderable time after the inhabitants of the 
earth had perished ; but at length the rain 
ceased, the waters gradually subsided, and on 
the seventeenth day of the seventh month 
from the commencement of the Deluge, the 
ark rested upon one of the summits of Mount 
Ararat. 

Biblical geographers are not perfectly agreed 
as to the region in which this mountain of 
Ararat should be sought ; but the general 
current of opinion and tradition, together with 
the historical probabilities of the case, seem 
sufficiently to agree in identifying it with the 
mountain of Aradagh in Armenia, which 
travellers usually describe under the name of 
Ararat. Contrary to the common opinion, 
which supposes that the ark necessarily rested 
upon the highest of the mountains in its neigh- 
borhood, we should be more inclined to sup- 
pose that it rested on the lower summit, or in 
the gorge between the upper and the lower. 
It will occur to any one who gazes upon that 
mountain, that had the ark rested on the 
highest summit, covered, as that summit is, 
with perpetual ice, and all but inaccessible to 
human foot, it would not have been possible 
for the various inmates of the ark to descend 
in safety to the plain without some special 
miracle, of which the sacred text affords no 
trace, and which would be rendered unneces- 
sary by placing the ark upon a lower level. 

Sending- Forth the Dove. 

Forty days after the mountain tops had first 
become visible, Noah became anxious to 
ascertain the condition of the earth, and to 
that end let a raven fly forth from the ark. 
The raven went to and fro, away from the 
ark, then returned again to rest upon its top, 
and at last remained away altogether. Seven 
days after Noah sent forth a dove — a bird 
whose tender attachment to its mate gave 
good assurance of its return. " The dove 
found no rest for the sole of her foot," either 



■2G 



THE WINGED MESSENGER. 



because the mountains were far off, or remote 
from the course she took, or, which is more 
likely, because doves in general fly low and 



covered with water, receivea her again into 
the ark. Seven more days passed, and he 
put the dove forth anew, and then her speedy 




return of the dove to the ark. — Genesis viii. II. 



seek only the valleys and the plains. The 
dove returned, and the patriarch, who from 
this judged that the low lands were still 



return brought great gladness to the prisoners 
of the ark, for she bore in her mouth an olive- 
leaf plucked off, by which it was plain that 



THE NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS. 



27 



even from the low lands the water had now 
abated. 

In the six hundred and first year of Noah's 
life, and on the first day of the first month, the 
•earth being completely dried, Noah began to 
dismantle the ark ; and on the twenty-seventh 
day of the second month he finally quitted it, 
together with all his family, after having been 
in it a year and two days. The animals were 
also sent forth, and allowed to disperse them- 
selves over the earth, excepting such of the 
tame animals as the only surviving family of 
man chose to retain, as the foundation of 
future flocks and herds. 

Appalling- Scene of Destruction. 

We can form but a very weak conception 
of the horrors of the Flood. We may think 
of the awful cataracts of water pouring from 
the clouds ; of the uprising of the mighty 
■deep, rushing in — a wall of water — on the 
land ; we may picture to ourselves the terror 
of the people, awakened but too late to a sense 
of their danger ; we may see crowds ascending 
the lofty mountains as the deluge sweeps the 
valleys ; we may see the wild beasts tamed 
with terror, the lion standing harmless by the 
gazelle, the timid hare crouching beneath the 
shadow of the tiger; we may see the eagles 
fluttering over the deep abyss, uttering shrill 
cries as their eyries are invaded by the water ; 
we may see the little children clinging to the 
mothers' skirts, dumb with fright at the dread- 
ful spectacle before them ; we may see the 
wife's eyes turned in dismay upon her husband, 
while he in blank horror surveys the fearful 
scene of devastation, and with his little family 
around him dies a thousand deaths in dying 
one, but we can form no adequate conception 
of the dreadful scene. 

There are traditions of this terrible catas- 
trophe among all nations ; there are plain 
evidences of its wide extent in our geological 
strata ; it has left its indelible mark on the 
world. 

In the ark, all living things were represented, 
either by single pairs or by seven pairs ; and 
when the Flood subsided and the ark rested 



on " the mount of descent," the creatures came 
forth, and Noah, erecting an altar, offered 
sacrifice and worshipped. Strange legends of 
the wood of the ark induced many pilgrims 
in ages gone by to attempt its discovery, but 
there is no satisfactory evidence of any part 
of this singular structure ever having been 
found. 

There is something sublime and solemnizing 
in the contemplation of the redeemed family — 
the only survivors of the whole world's popu- 
lation — coming into a new world as it were, a 
new world which is but the sepulchre of the 
old, and prostrating themselves before that 
awful Being of whose judgments they have 
been the witness, and beseeching Him to curse 
the earth no more. There is a divine promise 
given that never again shall the earth be sub- 
merged, and lo ! as a ratification of the promise 
is the bow in the cloud. When on the stormy 
sky the rainbow exhibits its rich coloring, we 
have the seal and the sign of God's covenant, 
that while the earth remaineth, seed-time and 
harvest, summer and winter shall not cease. 

But the fear of another destruction oppressed 
the minds of succeeding generations. The 
story of the Deluge told by father to son 
wrought a feeling of vindictiveness in many 
who thought it a hard thing that they should 
be called on to reverence a Deity at whose 
dread will a world was drowned. Not a cloud 
appeared in the sky but they were filled with 
terror ; not a heavy shower poured down but 
they looked for utter destruction ; if the tide 
rose higher than common, there was dismay, 
and they made light of the divine promise and 
felt no encouragement in the bow in the cloud. 
This led to an attempt to erect a building 
which would tower above the waters that 
might again drown the earth. 

Thus ended that great catastrophe, which 
has left ineradicable traces upon the surface 
and in the bowels of the earth, and the memory 
of which has been preserved in the traditions 
of all mankind, in all their languages. As it 
seems very evident that the object of the 
Deluge was to extirpate evil, we must regard 
its resulting effects, whether physical or moral, 



2S 



EFFECTS OF THE DELUGE. 



as beneficial upon the whole, whatever estimate I standard. It may be well to keep in view that 
our untutored judgment might form of some I the objects of the Deluge were avowedly "to 




NOAH S SACRIFICE.- 

of its more particular effects — such as the I be the termination of a state of human nature 
shortening of human life, which after the I which had become incurably deteriorated in 
Delude very rapidly declined to its present I that form by the existing population ; and to be 



THE BOW IN THE CLOUDS. 



also the commencement of a new generation 
and diffusion of human beings of a superior 
kind, and from a selected stock, that was the 
least vitiated by the demoralization of the rest." 

The sacrifice of Noah was a fitting recogni- 
tion of the Divine goodness. Only one family 
of all the families of the earth had been saved 
from the destruction which engulfed the human 
race. This whole narrative of the Deluge is a 
striking witness of the wickedness of man on 
the one hand, and of the favor of his Maker 
on the other. We are taught to believe that 
the world had become desperately wicked ; 
that such enormous and astounding crimes 
were committed as to exceed even the strongest 
imagination. A rude, rough, coarse class of 
men it was, with no sense of self or mutual 
respect ; given up to the vilest vices ; strong 
in nothing but its daring impiety. Noah, how- 
ever, seems to have kept his faith, and to have 
been a man very different from all others of 
that period. He was the bright star gleaming 
through a night of blackness and darkness, 
and he and his household were rewarded for 
those qualities of character which marked 
them as peculiar and separated them from all 
others. 

It should be noticed that the same favor of 
Heaven, which preserved one family during 
this Flood that drowned the world, still showed 
itself after the waters had subsided. It is not 
strange that men were timid, feared what might 
happen in the future, wondered if again the 



flood-gates of the upper deep would be 
opened, and were anxious concerning their 
security. It was a question with them whether 
life would ever again be swept from the face 
of the earth, and in order that their fears 
might be allayed, the rainbow with its seven 
colors was placed in the sky — an arch beau- 
tiful even as it was prophetic, giving assurance 
that the floods should never descend again. 

According to natural principles the rainbow 
must have been in existence from the begin- 
ning, unless the earth was in the first place 
watered only by dews. We know how it is 
formed, and we know that the laws of nature 
did not change in order that the sky might be 
spanned with this majestic arch. It is doubt- 
less true that the rainbow was taken at this 
time and given to man as a sure sign and 
signal that he would be providentially pre- 
served, and that the days of floods were ended. 
So on his coming forth from the ark it is 
pleasant to recollect that Noah built his a*ltar, 
laid upon it the sacrifice, and kindled the con- 
suming fires. The light of that sacrifice gleams 
against the dark sky of the early history, and 
its beams will not be lost to the eye which, 
latest in time, is turned backward toward the 
beginning. In short, we have here a great 
historic event, one that is not merely promi- 
nent in Biblical history, but in secular records 
and even in that book of the world whose 
leaves are made of solid rock, and whose let- 
tering abides from age to age. 




CHAPTER II. 



ABRAM AND LOT. 




S HE instant the second 
father of mankind set 
his foot upon the 
earth he proceeded to 
erect an altar, and 
offer bur n't-o f f e r- 
ings to God, in token 
of fervent adoration 
and gratitude to the great De- 
liverer, who had so wonder- 
fully preserved him and his 
alone, as the sole survivors 
on the desolate earth. This 
first impulse of the preserved 
family God regarded with 
complacency, and He was 
pleased to renew to the 
appointed progenitors of a 
new race of men the blessing 
pronounced originally upon the first human 
pair: " Be ye fruitful and multiply." 

Other matters were added for their benefit 
and encouragement. The original grant of 
dominion over the animal creation was re- 
newed to them, but with some variations on 
the original appointment, and with so marked 
an emphasis in the permission to use beasts 
for food, " even as the green herb," that many 
have been led to suppose that there was no 
use of the flesh of animals before the Deluge. 
To obviate the apprehensions which must 
have been left in the mind of Noah by the 
terrible judgment which he had witnessed, 
God was further pleased to assure him that the 
world should never more be destroyed by " a 
flood of water," and that " while the earth re- 
mained, seed time and harvest, and cold and 
heat, and summer and winter, and day and 
night, should not cease." Six divisions of the 
natural year are here indicated ; and it seems 
that the Jews ultimately adopted the same 

(30) 



division of the seasons in reference to the 
labors of agriculture. They are still in use 
among the Arabs. 

The rainbow, which is the effect of known 
natural causes, was appointed by God as the 
appropriate seal and pledge of this covenant. 
It has been thought from this that the rain- 
bow was a new object to Noah, in which case 
there could have been no rain before the 
Deluge, and the earth must then have been 
watered by streams and copious dews. In 
support of this view, Gen. ii. 6, " There went 
up a mist from the earth and watered the face 
of the ground," is very frequently quoted. 

Noah proceeded to cultivate the ground in 
the plains to which he had descended. A 
vineyard was among the objects of his 
culture ; and the impartial sacred record, 
which unhesitatingly makes known the crimes 
and errors of its greatest and best characters, 
proceeds to inform us that he became ine- 
briated with the wine, and, as he slept the sleep 
of drunkenness, lay indecently exposed. In 
this state he became the object of mockery to 
his son Ham, but of filial duty to Shem and 
Japheth. This conduct brought upon Ham 
the dreaded and predictive paternal curse, and 
the equally predictive blessing upon Shem and 
Japheth. The curse and the blessing seem to 
have been accomplished in the lot of their 
respective descendants, for Ham is regarded 
as the progenitor of the African races, and 
Shem of the Asiatic, and Japheth of the 
European families of men. 

Noah lived after the Flood three hundred 
and fifty years, in apparent happiness and 
peace, and in the enjoyment of every blessing ; 
and he died at the age of nine hundred and 
fifty years, bewailed by his children and their 
numerous descendants. 

How long the fathers of mankind remained 




ffllpfe 

MSmMM 



THE TOWER OF BABEL. Gen. XI. 4. 



31 



32 



CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 



together in the region where the ark rested, 
we are not informed. They were not likely 
to remove soon, or until compelled to do so 
by the pressure of an increased population, 
bound as they were together by the bonds of 
a known relationship, and by the ties of a com- 
mon language. Eventually they arrived in 
the land of Shinar, where plains apparently 
boundless seemed to offer ample room for 
their increase without further wandering. 
This is the region watered by the Tigris and 
Euphrates, in which Babylon was afterwards 
situated. This region was then, as now, des- 
titute of wood as well as of stone ; but, deeming 
this a suitable home, they proceeded to make 
bricks, with which to build " a city and a 
tower." By a strong hyperbole, common in 
the East, they described this as a tower whose 
top should " reach unto heaven." This means 
simply a very high tower. The first of men 
were surely not idiots, and we have no right 
to suppose them capable of the exceedingly 
absurd intentions which have been ascribed to 
this erection. The plain Scriptural account is 
not only the best and most reasonable, but the 
only one on which we can rely. It amounts 
to this — that they feared being dispersed 
abroad, separated from each other, lost in 
their needful wanderings with their flocks in 
these vast plains. To prevent this, the tower 
was to be so high as to serve for a landmark 
and rallying-point to all their families. 

The People Dispersed. 

We know that the rotundity of the earth 
will, at a given distance, throw out 0/ sight, 
below the visible horizon, not only the highest 
tower that man ever built, but the loftiest 
mountains. The first man after the Deluge, 
being, however, new to the phenomena which 
plains afford the best opportunities of observ- 
ing, had probably been in the habit of ascrib- 
ing to other and accidental causes such in- 
stances of the disappearance of visible objects 
as they had found occasion to notice. The 
design of remaining together was, however, 
contrary to the designs of God ; and a special 
interposition of His providence rendered all 



their plans abortive, and compelled them to 
disperse and people the different regions of 
the earth. 

This was effected by causing such a diver- 
sity in their language that they were unable 
to understand one another, and were thus 
constrained to abandon their design, and to 
separate from each other in groups propor- 
tioned to the number of the dialects which 
were thus created among them. 

The word Babel means confusion, and it 
was from this " confusion of tongues" at the 
place that the unfinished tower came to be 
called the " tower of Babel," and the city of 
"Babylon." The historical importance of the 
city was, however, of much later date, when 
it became the seat of a mighty empire, and 
when, as it would seem, the remains of the 
primitive fabric were made to form the basis 
of a tower of extraordinary form and elevation, 
which was counted one of the wonders of the 
world, and the supposed shape of which must 
be familiar to the reader from the numerous 
figures which are abroad under the name of 
the " tower of Babel." These figures are 
framed from the descriptions left by ancient 
Greek travellers of the tower which existed in 
and after the time of Nebuchadnezzar. 

Modern Babylon. 

On the now desolate site of the once mighty 
Babylon there are two lofty and large mounds 
or hills of ruin, the one or the other of which 
has been supposed to offer the remains of 
this celebrated tower. One of them now bears 
the name of Birs Nimrod (tower of Nimrod), 
and the other of Mujelibe ; and the former is 
that which is now usually identified with this 
ancient monument. 

The confusion of tongues, and consequent 
dispersion from Babel, took place, according 
to the common chronology, in the year 2230 
b. c, being one hundred and seventeen years 
after the Deluge. 

Among those who remained in this region 
was a person of active and enterprising habits, 
named Nimrod, who is described as " a mighty 
hunter." This person, doubtless by means of 



ABRAM AND LOT. 



33 



the bold and hard)' men who took part in his 
huntings, was enabled to establish his domin- 
ion over several of the cities of this region, 
and thus to form what seems to have been the 
first of human kingdoms. 

In process of time a very general corruption 
of manners, connected with and arising from 
a forgetfulness or neglect of the God of Noah, 
seems to have arisen not only in the land of 
Shinar, but in the other countries to which 
the families of men had migrated, and in 
which they had formed communities more or 
less organized. 

At length, about three centuries after the 
Deluge, the Divine Creator, who had declared 
that He would no more destroy the earth for 
■man's sake, saw it right to commence the 
wondrous train of operations whereby He de- 
signed to keep in the corrupting world a testi- 
mony for the truth, until the arrival of the 
fully ripened time for the appearance of the 
Redeemer — of Him who was to bring in a 
new order of things, and to crush iniquity 
beneath His feet. This was to be accomplished 
by making a single man — a family — a nation 
springing from him, the special objects of the 
Divine care and providence, and to commit to 
their keeping the great truths which the world 
at large refused to retain in its knowledge. 

The person chosen for this was a man 
named Abram, dwelling in the district of" Ur of 
the Chaldees," and probably belonging to that 
kingdom — if it still subsisted — which Nimrod 
had established. In human estimation Abram 
would have seemed but ill suited for the high 
destinies in which a numerous posterity was 
essentially involved, for he and his wife Sarai 
were already old, and they had no children. 
It will be found interesting to trace the suc- 
cessive steps by which this renowned person- 
age was prepared for and placed under the 
circumstances necessary to the great designs 
of which he was the object. 

The true history of the Israelites begins 
with Abram. Rut it is all vague and shadowy, 
as all very ancient history must be ; Arabia 
was beginning to take some hold on the 
world ; Egypt was growing into a power ; but 



the Jews — as we now call them — were as yet 
no people. Chaldea, or part of the Nimrod 
territory — Yemon now called — was struggling 
towards the light, and Egypt was making 
steadier and more satisfactory advances ; there 
was a land called Canaan, very prolific and 
rich under good husbandage, and capable of 
being turned to good account by competent 
hands. 

In Chaldea sprang up astrology ; shepherds 
out on the plains gazed on the stars whilst 
they minded their flodks, and fancied they 
could trace, in starry courses, in the midnight 
sky, God's way with a man in the world. 

A Maker of Idols. 

A part of the country of Chaldea was called 
Ur ; the name is said to have signified fire or 
light, and we are told that this name was 
chosen on account of the place being notori- 
ously idolatrous — there it was supposed 
heaven revealed itself and dark sayings were 
made clear. 

In the county, if the expression may be 
used, or the city of Ur dwelt the descendants 
of Shem, the son of Noah. There were nine 
generations. The last was Terah, the father 
of Abraham. • 

Terah is said to have been not only an 
idolator, but an idol maker. No man knew 
better than he that the gods he made were no 
gods ; that the statues he constructed could 
neither hear with their ears, see with their 
eyes, speak through their throats, nor breathe 
through their nostrils ; but tradition tells us 
that he persisted in ascribing to them divine 
honor until the soul of Abram was stirred 
within him. One day, when his father was 
away from the atelier, he took a strong ham- 
mer and knocked half the idols to pieces. 
When Terah returned and inquired the cause, 
Abram told him the gods had fallen to fight- 
ing as to which was the greatest, and in the 
battle had reduced themselves to the sight 
he saw. Terah, who would not give up his 
faith in their vitality, was forced to silence. 

As Abram grew older, he began boldly to 
argue about the unity of God, and the Chal- 



34 



AN ANGRY PEOPLE. 



deans, who believed in lords many and gods 
many, were excessively outraged by his 
language. He argued that the ways of all 



under rule — under one rule; and that hence 
there must be one ruler — a corollary which ex- 
cited a very great disturbance indeed. The 




THE EGYPTIAN KING TAKING THE WIFE OF ABRAHAM. Gen. xii. 1 5. 



creation showed that there was a common 
originator and ruler ; that neither earth, nor 
sea, nor sky could do as it would, but was 



rancorous feeling aroused against the reformer 
made matters very serious for the family of 
Terah. Their best and wisest plan was to 



ABRAM AND LOT. 



35 



get away from the angry people. As for 
Abram, he had within his own heart a deep 
and positive conviction that this removal 
would be ultimately conducive to much good. 
It seemed to him that close in his ear a voice 
had spoken saying, " Get thee out from thy 
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy 
father's house unto a land that I will show 
thee : and I will make of thee a great nation ; 
and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will 
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that 
curseth thee : and in thee and in thy seed 
shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 

A Man of Moral Courage. 

Abram was resolved on leaving Chaldea 
and taking up his abode whither he should 
feel himself led. The land of idols was to be 
forsaken, and he and those who belonged to 
him must go forth, but going they knew not 
whither. As for himself, he was seventy-five 
years old — comparatively young in those days 
— he was married ; his wife's name was Sarai ; 
but he had no child, so he adopted, as we 
may say, his nephew Lot, the son of Haran, 
who had died, leaving him an orphan. 

The denunciations of the young reformer 
had made affairs critical in Chaldea. " Old 
Adam " might be " too strong for young 
Melancthon," but opposition and self-assertion 
only made Abram the stronger. He plainly 
and openly denounced the pagan rites, ridiculed 
the gods, proclaimed the name of the Infinite, 
without beginning, without end, immeasurable, 
everywhere present with every one of his 
creatures, the living Father of all, touched with 
the' feeling of all natural infirmities, and never 
to be likened to an image graven of man's 
device. 

A Wonderful Country. 

Abram, however, saw it was his plain duty 
to take his departure from the land, so he 
emigrated into the land of Canaan : he took 
with him his wife — an extremely beautiful 
woman, and his nephew Lot — an exceedingly 
selfish man. Of course, such property as was 
usually regarded in that light, flocks and herds, 
they would have with them, and no doubt 



money. But the land into which they went 
was in a sad condition. A terrible famine 
prevailed, and was numbering the living with 
the dead each day. 

And yet the land was beautiful to the eye ; 
nature seemed to have shed abundant blessings 
on it, and the mysterious voice still sounded 
in the ear of the emigrant, " This land shall 
thy seed possess." A wondrous land of 
wealth and beauty, high hills, their sides all 
clothed with richest vegetation, deep green 
valleys and pasture lands of great extent. 
And this land was to belong to the children 
of Abram : it was to be his seed's possession 
— where, as yet, the ground on which he stood 
was not his own — not even six feet of earth 
for a burial-place. 

While the prospect of a grand fortune was 
very delightful, pressing necessities marred its 
beauty. There was a famine, and Abram felt 
that he must seek out some place where he 
and his might rest in security and obtain what 
they needed. The good land of Egypt was 
that to which he turned his eyes. In ancient 
history, before the days of Greeks or Romans, 
but three nations are prominent, the Arabians 
(including Assyria and Babylonia), the Egyp- 
tians, and the Jews. The Israelites were as 
yet no people. They were represented by 
Abram alone, but the country from which 
Abram came out was great and powerful, the 
land that was promised to his seed was still 
held by the Canaanites, and the land whither 
he went was Egypt, famous now in history. 

History in Stone. 

" O, Egypt, Egypt ! fables alone will be thy 
future history, wholly incredible to later gener- 
ations, and nought but the letter of thy stone- 
engraved monuments will survive." Such 
was the prophecy of the Hermetic books, 
themselves reported fabulous. Yet Egypt, so 
long enveloped in a mystery as deep as that 
which surrounds the Sphinx, has found its in- 
terpreter in the square of black basalt known 
as the Rosetta stone. By aid of this stone, 
the learned have been able to decipher the 
hieroglyphics, and what was dark is light. 



36 



THE CHILDREN OF HAM 



The dumb monuments of antiquity speak 
freely to us of the mighty past of Egypt. 
Not 'that they can tell us its beginning, it be- 
incr impossible to fix with certainty upon any 

53 f . 1-CC-..U.. ~„„.,,-c in the 



date ; but the same difficulty occurs in the 
early chapters of more modern histories. 

Perhaps, after a lengthened sojourn together, 
during which time they would be increasing 
and multiplying strongly, these children of 
Ham, lured southward by the fruitful valleys, 
would seek their settlements about the Nile, 
and we are told that these settlers grew into a 
great nation, and the priests took the suprem- 
acy paying the fighting men to keep in sub- 
jection the laboring classes, who were doubly 
awed into obedience by the mystery which 
attached to the clergy and the unscrupulous 
ferocitv of the military. 

After some time it appears these two 
dominant classes came into opposition, and 
the troopers found themselves more than a 
match for the self-exalted priests ; consequently 
they were reduced to the second place in the 
empire : whether the people were any better 
for the change is not to be ascertained in these 
days. Menes sat on his throne, and ruled in 
great pomp and power about the time, or, per- 
haps, a little before the time that Nineveh was 
being planned. This was a long time before 
Abram, with his wife and nephew, came into 
Egypt, and found there a high cultivation 
among the upper classes; such as he had 
never known— abundance and prosperity, con- 
trasting agreeably with the condition of 
Canaan, out of which he came. 

But Abram suspected that when the king 
or some of the leading nobility saw the ex- 
treme beauty of his wife they would kill him 
and take her away. This dread was unworthy 
of so great a man, but there was reason in it ; 
so he directed her to let it be generally sup- 
posed she was his sister. This brought about 
the mischief he wished to avoid, for the king 
took Sarai, and made rich presents to her 
supposed brother. Before, however, he made 
Sarai his wife, the real state of the case was 
make known to him, and although he was 
grieved, and blamed Abram, he treated him 



very kindly, and allowed Abram and Sarai to 
remain in the land, receiving many privileges. 
When Abram returned into Canaan, he 
had scarcely settled down before a serious 
quarrel arose concerning pasturage between 
his own herdsmen and those who looked after 
the cattle of his nephew. As the quarrels 
were of continual recurrence, Abram deter- 
mined on a separation. The land they oc- 
cupied was to be divided between them, and 
like a generous and honorable gentleman, he- 
gave his nephew the choice. Lot took time 
to consider, and then picked what to all ap- 
pearance was the very best part of the posses- 
s i on — a fine, wide-spreading plain on the banks 
of the river Jordan. The uncle occupied what 
the nephew left, the lower grounds at the 
foot of the mountains, and took up his own 
residence in Hebron with his family. 



Sodom and Gomorrali. 

Lot seems to have forgotten that good 
land may be spoilt by bad neighbors. In the 
neighborhood where he set up his camp were 
two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, notorious 
for the vicious and abominable lives of their 
people. These people would naturally be a 
great trouble to him, and he had omitted this 
hem in his calculations. They were rich and 
prosperous, and arrogantly insolent, as people 
are often made by too many of this world's 
goods. Their chieftains, particularly those of 
Sodom, raised a commotion among neighbor- 
! ing chieftains. The Assyrians were in the as- 
cendant, and compelled these men of Sodom to 
! pay tribute, which they did for twelve years. The 
thirteenth imposed they indignantly rejected. 

The Assyrians swept the plains of Jordan, 
! and laid siege to Sodom. Many were killed, 
' many wounded, many carried off prisoners, 
and 'amongst the latter Lot found himself 
hurried off, and all his property. It is more 
than likely then that he discovered he had 
' not been so wise in his choice as he imagined. 
Abram heard the news. Things had not 
gone well with his nephew. The finest op- 
portunities are not always the best stepping- 
stones to fortune. Lot was a ruined man, 



ABRAM AND LOT. 



37 



and a prisoner in the hands of those who were 
total strangers to mercy. True, he had be- 
haved badly to Abram, but what have old 
wrongs to do with us when our opponent is 
in great calamity? Although Abram had the 
worst of the land, he was very rich. With 
him everything had prospered. Instinctively 
he summoned his retainers, just as an old 
Scottish chief might have done, when the 
Southerners crossed the border, and the fire- 
cross was displayed from hill to hill. Blood 
is thicker than water, according to the common 
saying. 

Abram could summon three hundred and 
eighteen men, all as leal to him as men could 
be. So they sped after the Assyrians, fell on 
them — made short work of the fight — rescued 
Lot and all that belonged to him, and put 
shame on the boasted powers of chieftains 
who fled before a mere handful of determined 
men. 

Timely Rescue of Lot. 

When the battle was over, and Abram, with 
his clan, his prisoners, and spoil, came down 
on Jordan, a holy man who dwelt in those 
parts came forth to bless him, and Abram 
made him a rich present, thereby recognizing 
in him a high order of priesthood. But when 
the King of Sodom came to congratulate and 
offer gifts, he gave no heed to him at all, 
refused to take of all the spoil even a thread, 
or a leather sandal, and plainly he let the 
effeminate monarch know it was not on his 
account he had come out, but simply to save 
his nephew's life and secure his nephew's 
property. 

By dream, vision, or mysterious voice, 
Abram was encouraged. All the land was 
to be his and his seed's forever. But he had 
no seed. Eleazer, his servant, must be his 
successor, for children he had none. This 
was an occasion of much grief to Abram, and 
no doubt it was to his wife also ; and when he 
was told that his children should be as 
numerous as the stars of heaven or the sands 
on the seashore it almost seemed like mockery. 
Still Abram believed that it would be so, in 
spite of all the difficulties that seemed to stand 



in the way, and on this account he bears the 
name of the Father of the Faithful. 

Birth of Isaac. 

And in course of time Sarah — for her name 
j was changed from Sarai to Sarah, both names 
expressing princess, but the latter of a higher 
dignity-v-bore Abram a son, and there was 
gnat rejoicing. The child was called Isaac, a 
word signifying laughter. It was, no doubt, 
chosen by Abram and Sarah to remind them 
how both had sometimes laughed at the 
i thought of a child being born to them in their 
old age. 

While these events had transpired in the 
house of Abram, his nephew Lot had fallen 
into great difficulties. He had taken up his 
abode in the city of Sodom, with his wife and 
two daughters. The wickedness of the people 
must have offended him every day of his life, 
indeed we are told that it " vexed his righteous 
soul ; " but perhaps a residence in the city had 
commercial advantages which in the mind of 
this man counterbalanced its annoyances. 
However this may be, he was startled one 
night by the arrival of two young men, who 
assured him that the city, together with that 
of the neighboring city, Gomorrah, would 
speedily be destroyed, and that he and all who 
belonged to him must depart the very first 
thing in the morning. Their abominations 
were such as seemed to require that they 
should be swept from the earth by some 
terrible sudden stroke, to evince that a just 
and holy God still governed the world. 

Swift Destruction. 

The avenging angels were at length sent 
down; and as Abram sat in his tent door in 
the heat of the day, he beheld them advancing 
in the likeness of wayfaring men, and persuaded 
them to accept the hospitalities of his tent. 
As they departed the most august of these 
personages tarried a while, and revealed to 
Abram the doom of the cities of the plain. 
The patriarch interceded, with respectful im- 
portunity, on their behalf, lest the righteous 
should perish with the wicked ; and he at 



38 



THE DOOMED CITIES. 



length obtained the promise that if but ten I the cities had lain, he saw that the whole had 
righteous men were found in Sodom, the j been destroyed by fire from heaven, and the 
threatened ruin should not come down. 



smoke of their burning still arose " like the 




FLEEING FROM BURNING SODOM 



But the ten righteous men were not found ; j smoke of a furnace ; " and the vale, once " like 
and when Abram arose early in the morning J the garden of the Lord," has since, under the 
and looked towards the fertile vale in which I name of the Dead Sea, remained an abiding 



ABRAM AND LOT. 



39 



wonder to all who have passed that way. But 
Lot had not perished. The commissioned 
angels had urged him forth, with his wife and 
his two daughters; and they all escaped, save 
the wife, who, lingering behind, was overtaken 
by the destroying element, and remained, 
covered with a saline incrustation, like " a 
.pillar of salt," upon the borders of the plain. 

Joseph us asserts that this pillar was stand- 
ing when he wrote, and that he had seen it. 
Irenaeus, who lived in the second century of 
the Christian era, makes the same statement. 
The probability is that a mass of basaltic rock, 
bearing some resemblance to the human 
figure, had come to be called Lot's wife, and 
was regarded with superstitious terror by the 
ignorant people, who infected the minds of the 
visitors. 

A Marvellous Sea. 

The scene of the horrible catastrophe which 
overwhelmed the cities of the plain has ever 
since been marked by a vast inland lake called 
the Dead Sea. The scenery around the lake 
is of the most dreary description ; there is a 
total absence of vegetation ; the ground is 
thoroughly impregnated with salt; the tem- 
perature is usually very high ; the air seems 
laden with salt, and the bleak rocky mountains 
which rise around it have about them a hor- 
rible grotesqueness which seems well suited to 
the place. Throughout its neighborhood 
there is neither food for beast nor bird. A 
dreary stillness settles over the unruffled sur- 
face of the sluggish water; it seems a fit 
locality for all that is evil to be done, nothing 
but death and desolation watching. 

In Arabic the Dead Sea is called " Bahr-el- 
Lout," that is, the Sea of Lot, thus directly 
associating it with the destruction of the cities 
of the plain. In the visitation by which they 
were destroyed the surrounding country under- 
went an extraordinary change, and is said by 
Moses to have become " a land of brimstone 
and salt, and burning," characteristics by 
which it still continues to be marked. In the 
Bible these waters are called the Sea of the 
Plain, the Salt Sea, and the East Sea, taking 
its first from its situation in the plain of the 



Jordan ; its second from the extreme saltness 
of its waters; and its third from its locality in 
Judea, and to distinguish it from the West 
Sea, by which in ancient times was understood 
the Mediterranean, or Great Sea. 

Singular Stories. 

There is no doubt that the total absence of 
life around this lake, or sea, has given to it 
the name it bears, and out of this have sprung 
many errors to which common currency has 
given the weight of truth. Even in these days 
we may find tolerably well-informed people 
asserting that no fish can live in the Dead 
Sea, and no birds fly over it. Both statements 
are quite untrue. Formerly it was asserted 
that once or twice a year the submerged cities 
were visible, and the well-worn illustration of 
apples of Sodom, fair to the eye but dust in 
the hand, was held to be truth. There are, 
of course, great mistakes made, and a mistake 
once made is endlessly repeated. 

In approaching this Dead Lake, we see it 
many times, and lose it as many — but once — 
that is when it appears before us in all its 
dismal grandeur. When you get to the top 
of a height called Nebbea Moussa you catch a 
fair view of the sea : it is a soft deep purple, 
brightening into blue. The road lies down 
what seems a vast sloping causeway from the 
mountains, between two ravines, walled by 
cliffs several hundred feet in height. It 
gradually flattens into a plain, covered with a 
white, saline incrustation, and grown with 
clumps of sour willow, tamarisk, and other 
shrubs. All the plants look as if they were 
smitten with leprosy. As you draw near to 
the sea, the heat becomes intense, the air so 
dense that with some people it will bring on 
earache. As to the sea, it resembles a great 
caldron, sunk between mountains three or 
four thousand feet in height ; and yet it is at a 
depth of thirteen thousand feet below the 
Mediterranean. You may bathe in the water 
if you will, but it is not refreshing; very salt 
and bitter ; very buoyant also, but slimy and 
not easily to be rid of — clammy, glutinous, 
and sometimes leading to fever. 



CHAPTER III. 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 




HEN Isaac was 
born, Abraham 
was a hundred 
years old, and 



twenty-five years 
had passed since 
this blessing had 
been first prom- 
ised to him ; and 
it is perhaps difficult to conceive the gladness 
which filled the hearts of the aged pair at this 
accomplishment of all their hopes. 

The tenderness of the paternal heart towards 
Ishmael was unabated ; but he was no longer 
even mistaken for the child of the promise, no 
longer Sarah's adopted son, and no longer his 
father's heir by that adoption. He had be- 
come the son of the bondwoman. As for 
Sarah, the lad, who had appeared of some 
consequence in her eyes so long as she had 
no hope of a child of her own, at once became 
as nothing in her sight , and what might have 
been merely a passive feeling in her was turned 
into bitterness and active dislike against both 
Hagar and her son, by their signs of discontent 
and derision at her happy lot. 

At the great feast which was held on the 
day that Isaac was weaned, these feelings were 
so offensively manifested, that Sarah was 
roused to anger, and she insisted with Abra- 
ham that they should be sent away from the 
camp. This demand, which she had a right 
of custom to make, was very grievous to 
Abraham because of his son ; but having been 
assured from heaven that Ishmael, although 
not the promised heir, should for his sake be- 
come a special object of the Divine care, and 
that his posterity should become a mighty 
nation, his reluctance subsided, and rising 
early in the morning, he sent them away with 
(40) 



a skin of water and such other provisions as 
j the journey required. 

It seems to have been the intention of 
Hagar to return to Egypt, to which country 
she belonged. But having lost her way in the 
southern wilderness, she wandered to and fro, 
till the water, which was to have served her 
on the road, Was altogether spent. The lad, 
unused to hardships, was soon worn out. 
Overcome with heat, fatigue, and thirst, he 
seemed at the point of death, when the afflicted 
mother laid him down under the shade of a 
tree and withdrew to some distance that she 
might not witness his dying pangs. But God 
had not forgotten her. A voice was heard in 
the solitude, uttering words of comfort and 
promises of peace. Thus encouraged, Hagar 
hastened to her son, raised him by the hand 
and refreshed him from a spring of water 
which had been disclosed to her view. Paint- 
ers and poets in representing this scene usually 
exhibit Hagar as bearing her son in her arms, 
and laying him in the shade. This is an error, 
for Ishmael was then fifteen or sixteen years 
of age, and, conformably with this, the voice 
directed her to take him " by the hand." 

After this they remained in the wilderness 
attached to some one of the nomade tribes by 
which it was frequented ; and here the son of 
Abraham became a famous person, to whom 
many of the Arabian tribes have been proud 
to trace their origin. 

The departure of Hagar and Ishmael re- 
stored peace to the tents of Abraham ; and no 
incident of importance is recorded till Isaac 
had reached the age of about twenty years, 
when it pleased God to subject the faith 
of the patriarch to a far more terrible trial 
than any to which it had yet been subjected. 
He was commanded to take his son to the 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 



41 



land of Moriah, and there offer him up as a 
sacrifice to God. However the heart of the 
patriarch may have been wrung, whatever 
thoughts crossed his mind, he faltered not. 



which he took comfort; but the Apostle in- 
forms us that, feeling assured that God, who 
had promised him a posterity through Isaac, 
would undoubtedly perform His promise, he 




HAGAR AND ISHMAEL IN THE DESERT. Gen. xxi. 14. 

was persuaded that God would, if needful, 
even raise Isaac from the dead after the sacri- 
fice had been accomplished. Thus fortified by 
victorious faith, and moved by a spirit of 
obedience, he was ready to render the offering. 
In the morning- Abraham set out on his 



When others were in danger, he had interceded 
importunately with God ; but now, when his 
own happiness and the life of his son were in 
question, he was silent. This was the perfec- 
tion of confidence in God. We should be in 
some doubt as to the precise grounds in 



42 



ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE. 



journey, attended by two servants, who car- 
ried the wood for the holocaust. At the end 
of three days' journey Abraham discerned the 
appointed place (supposed by many to be the 
Mount Moriah on which the Temple event- 
ually stood), and bidding the servants remain, 
he went onward with his son, who carried the 
wood destined to consume his own body. 
Isaac, seeing- all this usual preparation for a 
sacrifice, inquired concerning the victim, which 
probably gave his father the opportunity of 
making known the command under which he 
was acting. That he did so is certain ; for he 
could not by constraint have tied up the young 
man and laid him upon the altar. All was 
ready, the knife was uplifted to give the death- 
stroke, when the voice of an angel stayed his 
arm, and his attention was directed to a ram 
(probably of the four-horned species), which 
he gladly substituted for his son. Never were 
the promises made for the Father of the 
Faithful pronounced with such marked em- 
phasis as in the words from heaven which re- 
warded this consummate act of high belief: — 
" By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for 
because thou hast done this thing, and hast 
not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in 
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I 
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the 
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the 
seashore : and in thy seed shall all the fami- 
lies of the earth be blessed, because thou hast 
obeyed my voice." 

An Illustrious Woman. 

About twelve years after this Abraham lost 
the companion of his long pilgrimage, Sarah, 
who died at the age of one hundred and 
twenty-seven years. She was buried with due 
observance in the Cave of Machpelah near 
Hebron, which the patriarch purchased on 
this occasion, and which became the family 
tomb of the patriarch. Sepulchral caves, such 
as that in which Sarah was buried, are common 
in the East. 

Of the birth and parentage of Sarah we have 
no certain account in Scripture. Abraham 
speaks of her as " his sister, the daughter of 



the same father, but not the daughter of the 
same mother." The common Jewish tradi- 
tion is that Sarai is the same as Iscah, the 
daughter of Haran, and the sister of Lot. 
The change of her name from " Sarai " to 
" Sarah " was made at the same time that 
Abram's name was changed to Abraham, on 
the establishment of the covenant of circum- 
cision between him and God. That the name 
" Sarah " signifies " princess " is universally 
acknowledged ; but the meaning of " Sarai " 
is still a subject of controversy. The older 
interpreters suppose it to mean " my princess." 
Others say it means " contentious." Her his- 
tory is of course that of Abraham. She came 
with him from Ur to Haran, from Haran to 
Canaan, and accompanied him in all the wan- 
derings of his life. Her only independent ac- 
tion is the demand that Hagar and Ishmael 
should be cast out. The times in which she 
plays the most important part in the history 
are the times when Abraham was sojourning, 
first in Egypt, then in Gerar, and where Sa- 
rah shared his deceit towards Pharaoh and 
towards Abimelech. She is referred to in the 
New Testament as a type of conjugal obedi- 
ence, and as one of the types of faith. 

The Beautiful Bride. 

It is not to be wondered at that Abraham 
had special regard for his son Isaac ; he was 
the child of promise, and it was the land of 
promise, and he watched him with particular 
interest. After the death of Sarah a deep 
melancholy rested on Isaac, who appears to 
have been a quiet, contemplative man. Abra- 
ham was convinced that marriage would be 
the surest alleviation of his son's sorrow ; and, 
therefore, after the manner of the times, he 
sought a wife for him among his own peo- 
ple. He took an old servant into council, one 
whom, in the old days, when he was childless, 
he had intended to make his heir, and still 
recognized as the steward, or chief man of his 
household; a trusty man, who was thor- 
oughly reliable. To him he disclosed his 
purpose. He desired that a maiden might be 
chosen from the old stock ; neither wealth 




ABRAHAM OFFERING ISAAC. Gen. XXl'i. 6. 



43 



44 



THE OLD SERVANT'S VOW. 



nor accomplishments-*, both of which we I with much solemnity to carry out 
"re prone to set much stress-were .natters of I he was able, the w.shes of his o 



out, as far as 
Id master ; 




ISAAC WELCOMING REBEKAH. Gen. XXIV. 6j . 

consideration, only she must needs be one of I but there was much bustle and stir in the 
their own people. So the old servant vowed I house, we may be sure, before the journey 



ISAAC AND REBEKAH. 



45 



— a journey of four hundred miles — was 
begun. 

And now we may turn to the family whither 
the steps of the old servant were directed. 
Long years before had the patriarch quitted 
the old country, but still dwelt there his 
brother's family — a pastoral people, simple in 
their habits, but prosperous in their circum- 
stances. The light of the house was Rebekah 
— a bright and beautiful creature, loving and 
well beloved. Her activity and cheerfulness 
offer an excellent example, and doubtless the 
maidens who followed her would imitate their 
industrious mistress ; and spinning in the hot 
day, or hastening to the wells to draw water 
in the cool of the evening, would feel them- 
selves happy in the association with their 
youthful leader. 

Imagine, then, one fair summer's evening, a 
troop of girls, chatting merrily, each with a 
pitcher on her shoulder, sweeping forth from 
the gate of a small Eastern village, and turn- 
ing their steps to the wells and fountains of 
waters. Around us is a picture of pure sum- 
mer luxuriance and bloom ; fields of wheat 
and barley stretch away to distant olive or- 
chards, and here and there is a garden of or- 
ange, fig, lemon, and pomegranate ; a breath 
of sweet odors overflows the land, and we can 
hear the plash of water as the women begin to 
busy themselves with their evening toil. But 
suddenly some of the girls cry out, and Re- 
bekah, their leader, sees that they are not 
alone. 

Maidens at tlie Well. 

By the side of an ancient stone well were 
kneeling ten camels, with their attendants, 
and a venerable stranger advanced towards 
the maidens. It was to Rebekah he ad- 
dressed himself: 

" Let me sip, I pray thee, a little water out 
of thy pitcher? " 

" Drink, my lord," she promptly answered, 
and gave her pitcher freely. It was no un- 
common request then, and it is not, in Eastern 
lands, an unusual occurrence now, for thirsty 
travellers to ask a drink of the young women 
who come to draw water. Such civilities are 



customary, so that there was nothing extraor- 
dinary in the incident. But Rebekah extend- 
ed her courtesy. As she looked at the weary 
camels, chewing the cud as they knelt by the 
baggage, and to her apparently listening to 
the sound of the water, her pity was excited. 
She began, her damsels lending her good 
help, to fill the troughs for the poor brutes. 

The stranger watched every movement of 
the blooming maid, graceful as Minerva, who, 
as Homer tells us, went forth to meet Ulysses, 
" bearing her pitcher ; " and when the camels 
had done drinking he took out a golden ring 
and a pair of bracelets — presents for the bride. 
He felt that he had found a fitting wife for his 
master's son, but first he asked whose daugh- 
ter she was. Her answer made his heart re- 
joice ; she was the very relative he sought; 
she was the cousin to whose hand there was 
a sort of right ; and so, without another word 
of inquiry or explanation, he begged for hos- 
pitality. Was there room in her father's 
house for himself, his servants, and his camels 
to lodge ? "Yes," she answered him, "ample 
room and plenty of provender." 

A Hearty Reception. 

The stranger followed and those who were 
with him, as the girl ran on to let them know 
at home that guests were coming, and gather- 
ing from her lips the news, her brother came 
forth with much of beautiful, grave, Oriental, 
courtesy, to give due welcome to the stranger. 

But ere the stranger would take aught but 
water he told his errand. He. had come to 
seek a wife for the son of a great sheik, and 
their own kinsman. That aged kinsman was 
exceedingly rich, and the main bulk of his 
property would belong to his son. The mat- 
ter pleased the family : there had been some- 
thing of estrangement between the two 
branches of the family, and here was accepta- 
ble reunion. Strange as the whole proceeding 
may seem to us, there was nothing strange to 
them, and so Rebekah was to go forth and 
take high place elsewhere. 

But Rebekah does not go forth alone. Her 
nurse, the industrious, kindly-beloved Debo- 



46 



THE HAPPY MARRIAGE. 



rah, goes with her, so also do some of her 
maidens. So she travels discreetly, and her 
friends bless her, perhaps with tears, as she 
goes away, saying — " May she be the mother 
of thousands and millions, and may her 
seed possess the gates of those which oppose 
them ! " 

The thoughtful and still sorrowing son of 
the widowed sheik is meditating as he walks 
in the fields in the cool of the day. A holy 
calm on everything, and not a sound to disturb 
his reflections. Suddenly he hears the chime 
of the camel bells, looks up, and sees the 
caravan approaching. Well he knows the 
object for which the old servant was sent out, 
and now he is to learn the result. A thousand 
anxious thoughts may have struggled in his 
mind as to what was to come. The quick 



eyes of Rebekah, meanwhile, have fallen on 
her future lord. She has hastened to array 
herself in the long veil proper for brides before 
she is presented, and when the bridegroom 
meets her, with a simple and beautiful courtesy 
which cannot be too much admired, he leads 
her to his mother's tent, the old abiding-place 
of her who was dearer to him than life. 

The beauty, modesty, and worth of this 
pure woman could not but win the heart of 
her husband. All his love and confidence was 
hers, he forgot his sorrow and was comforted ; 
and she was his only wife, and had to know 
none of the bitter pangs and stings of jealousy 
which follow a polygamous system. She was 
no wife among wives, but she won the entire 
and unqualified approbation of her husband, 
and they were happy in each other's love. 




CHAPTER IV. 

JACOB AND ESAU. 




ORE sons, of whom 
Keturah, Abra- 
ham's second wife, 
was the mother, 
helped to complete 
his household. He 
lived to see them 
grow up, and sent 
them away to settle eastward 
with suitable portions, that the)' 
might not interfere with Isaac, 
his heir and the child of the 
promises. At length Abraham 
died, at the age of one hundred and 
seventy-five years, exactly one 
hundred of which he had spent in the land 
of Canaan. His great qualities and the deal- 
ings of God with him, while a sojourner in 
that land, have made his name one of the 
most illustrious in the world — a name pre- 
served more than most in the general memo- 
ries of men. His name is found in the 
traditions and annals of many nations. 

Isaac was left the possessor of immense 
wealth, of that kind which forms the posses- 
sions of a pastoral chief. He continued to 
reside at Beersheba, without any other re- 
corded trouble than the barrenness of his wife 
Rebekah. But at length, after twenty years 
of marriage, his prayers were heard, and two 
sons were given to him at one birth. The 
first born was called Esau, and the other 
Jacob ; and it had been intimated to Rebekah, 
before the birth, that not the elder, but the 
younger, was to be the heir of the promises. 
This directs our attention to Jacob. As the 
boys grew up, a marked distinction in their 
habits and character appeared. Esau was of 
active and rough temperament, and employed 



much of his time in hunting and the use of 
arms ; whereas Jacob was of quiet and seden- 
tary habits, abiding in the tents, and occupied 
among the flocks. Jacob was the favorite of 
his mother; but Isaac had preference for 
Esau, who manifested his filial duty by making 
his huntings the means of providing for his 
father the relishing food which his growing 
infirmities required. ' 

A famine which afflicted the part of Canaan 
he inhabited inclined Isaac to withdraw into 
Egypt, but a Divine intimation induced him 
to go into the territories of Abimelech, the 
Philistine king of Gerar. In this more com- 
pact little state the presence of so great a 
person was more sensibly felt than it had been 
in the thinly inhabited districts in which the 
patriarchs had hitherto encamped. The ex- 
tent of his possessions was more clearly seen, 
and the rapid increase they, by a perversity 
not unusual, regarded as at their expense. 

Abraham had once been in that country, 
and had digged wells, which the Philistines, 
after he withdrew, had filled up — in order to 
extinguish that right to the soil which was 
created by forming wells therein. These 
wells were cleared out by Isaac, who also 
formed new ones ; and he proceeded to culti- 
vate the ground, which returned him increase 
a hundred-fold. The Philistines were, how- 
ever, exceedingly averse to see a right of 
property in the soil created by these wells, 
and their opposition compelled the patriarch 
often to shift his encampment. But at length, 
seeing how rapidly his wealth increased, and 
believing that he was a special object of the 
Divine care, they deemed it more prudent to 
cultivate his friendship. Therefore, the king, 
attended by his officers, repaired to the camp 

(47) 



48 



ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTHRIGHT. 



of the patriarch, and they entered into a cove- i to perish with hunger. He found Jacob pre- 



nant of peace in behalf of themselves and of 
their heirs. Isaac was now in a position to 
reap the fruits of his prudence and industry 
and feel secure in his acquired possessions. 



paring a savory mess of pottage, the odor of 
which attracted the intense longing of the 
famishing hunter, and for the enjoyment of it 
he readily surrendered the privileges which 




JACOP. S VISION OF ANGELS 



The uncertainties of the hunter's life are 
strikingly illustrated by the next important 
incident which we find recorded. Esau returned 
one day to the tents unsuccessful, and '-eady 



belonged to him as the birthright of the elder 
son. When he had leisure to reflect and to 
repent, he loved not the more that brother 
who, taking advantage of his needs, had ex- 



JACOB AND ESAU. 



49 



acted so costly a price for so small a benefit. 
The reckless character of Esau is further 
illustrated by his taking two Hittite wives, 
Judith and Bashemath, in defiance of the 
wishes of his parents, who, as he could not 
but know, were highly averse to any such 
connection with the people of the land. 

Nevertheless, the now aged patriarch still 
desired to regard Esau as the heir of the 
promises, and feeling his infirmities daily in- 
crease, and his sight being entirely gone, he 
deemed it high time to bestow upon his still 
favorite son the important " blessing " which, 
like a modern will, would make over to him 
the headship of the tribe, and the temporal and 
spiritual benefits which were in fact or pros- 
pect connected with it. But first he desired 
some of that savory venison with which his 
rude son knew so well how to gratify his en- 
feebled appetite. 

This interval gave Rebekah, who overheard 
the arrangement, an opportunity of urging her 
favorite Jacob to personate his brother, and 
thus add the coveted blessing to the birthright 
he had already won. Jacob urged some faint 
scruples, dictated more by the fear of de- 
tection than by virtuous principle, and at length 
consented. It was not difficult to impose upon 
the dulled senses of his blind father, and he 
received from him that free and full blessing 
which could not be recalled. Esau soon came: 
and the strong and fierce man wept like an 
infant when he learned that his last hope 
had been riven from him. He vowed to be 
avenged ; and yet, even in his passion being 
regardful of his father's peace, he postponed 
his vengeance till after the patriarch's death, 
which was then believed to be near at hand. 

Jacob on his Journey. 

Learning his purpose, Rebekah resolved to 
send Jacob out of the way to her own ancient 
home in Haran, where he might not only re- 
main till his brother's anger had abated, but 
might obtain a wife more suitable than those 
which Esau had chosen. Having received the 
consent and blessing of his father, Jacob set 
forth alone upon his long journey. This was 
4 



necessary for his safety — but how differently 
in a former day had the servant of Abraham 
gone the same way, with his gifts and his 
camels, to seek a wife for Isaac. 

As he slept, with a stone for a pillow, at 
Bethel, he was cheered by a vision, in which 
he beheld the angels ascending and descending 
upon a ladder placed between earth and heaven, 
above which sat an august personage who de- 
clared Himself to be the God of Abraham and 
Isaac, and ratified to him in the fullest manner 
the blessings originally promised to them. 
This was accompanied by assurances and en- 
couragements suited to his present circum- 
stances, which filled him with gratitude, and 
gave him such a lively sense of the Divine 
providence, that he left Bethel a wiser and 
more single-minded man, and with a lightened 
heart pursued his way to Padan-Aram. 

On arriving at the well outside the town, 
Jacob entered into conversation with some 
shepherds who were there to water their 
flocks, and heard from them some particulars 
concerning the family he had come to visit. 
While they talked, Rachel, the younger 
daughter of Laban, and therefore Jacob's first 
cousin, came to the well to water the home- 
flock, which was under her charge. The 
stranger assisted the damsel in watering her 
flock, and then made himself known to her, 
and accompanied her to the house of her 
father, where he was most cordially received. 
Laban soon perceived the great skill and ex- 
perience of Jacob in " the shepherds' gentle 
trade," and gladly entered into an agreement 
with Jacob to give him his daughter Rachel as 
the reward of seven years' service. The mar- 
riage was accordingly celebrated with great 
rejoicings; but, by some deception, Laban 
contrived to substitute his elder daughter 
Leah, for whom Jacob cared little, in the 
place of Rachel ; and, when reproached with 
his conduct, alleged that the custom of the 
country did not allow the younger to be mar- 
ried before the elder sister. He, however, of- 
fered him Rachel also for seven more years of 
his services, and, rather than be without one 
whom he so tenderly loved, Jacob consented. 



50 



SERVING SEVEN YEARS FOR RACHEL. 



The depth of his affection for Rachel is beau- 
tifully suggested by the sacred historian in 
one of those simple but most natural strokes 
of moral portraiture which are seldom found 
out of the sacred book. " Jacob served seven 
years for Rachel : and they seemed unto him 
a few days, for the love he bore to her." 

This preference for Rachel led Jacob to treat 
Leah with some indifference or neglect; in 
consequence of which the Lord made Leah 
the object of his favor and gave her children, 
which were denied to Rachel. This induced 
Rachel to make use of her hand-maid Bilhah, 
in the same capacity in which Hagar had been 
used by Sarah. Leah followed the example 
by making the same use of her handmaid 
Zilpah. By both there were children, and at 
length Rachel herself was blessed with a son, 
who received the name of Joseph. 

Jacob's Riches. 

More than satisfied with the services of 
Jacob, and well assured that the flocks had 
been much advantaged by his superintendence, 
Laban still desired to avail himself of his ser- 
vices after the fourteen years had expired ; 
and Jacob on his part was not unwilling to re- 
main on any terms which afforded him a pros- 
pect of acquiring a provision for his family. 
It was then settled that Jacob, for the services 
of seven other years, should be paid in kind, 
by reserving for his own use such of the sheep 
and goats as might happen to be parti-colored, 
which is not usual in any flocks, and very un- 
usual in those of the. East. In consequence 
of this arrangement, the flock under the charge 
of Jacob was carefully severed from that to 
which Laban and his sons attended; and 
thenceforth whenever a parti-colored lamb or 
kid was born in the flock of Jacob, he set it 
apart as his own. Through the special provi- 
dence of God, who at Bethel had promised to 
care for and make prosperous the grandson of 
Abraham, an extraordinary proportion of parti- 
colored animals was thenceforth born, and soon 
furnished a large flock, which Jacob committed 
to the separate charge of his elder sons. By 
the time the seven years had expired, this 



flock had increased amazingly, and with its 
produce Jacob had been enabled to obtain 
large possessions of what usually constitutes 
the wealth of a pastoral chief — " much cattle, 
and men-servants, and maid-servants, and 
camels, and asses." 

It was well known to Jacob thajt his pros- 
perity was regarded with no pleasure by Laban 
and his sons, who deemed all his gains as so 
much loss to them. He thence became appre- 
hensive that any attempt to remove with his 
property would be resisted ; and as he was 
now resolved to return to the land of Canaan, 
from which he had so long been absent, he 
went away secretly while Laban was at the 
distance of three days' journey. A pastoral 
migration, with slow-going sheep, young ani- 
mals, women, and infants, can never be a very 
rapid movement. Hence we are not surprised 
to find that he was overtaken by Laban by 
the time he reached the Mountains of Gilead. 
We may be sure that Laban's purposes were 
not very amicable. But the night before he 
came up with Jacob, he was warned in a dream 
to take heed how he molested one for whom 
God cared. This changed his purpose ; but 
being now so near, he went on, and joined the 
migrant party while at rest. 

A Charge of Theft. 

His sterner purposes now sunk to sharp 
complaints and strong expostulations that no 
opportunity had been afforded him of embrac- 
ing his daughters and grandchildren, and of 
sending them away with music and with song. 
He also complained that his gods — certain 
figures called " Teraphim," used as domestic 
idols — had been stolen from him by some of 
Jacob's party. This charge was indignantly 
repelled by Jacob, who gave him authority to 
search for them, and denounced death upon 
any person in whose possession they might be 
found. Little did he know in what peril he 
thus put his beloved Rachel : for she had 
them ; having secreted them for some un- 
known but probably superstitious motive. 
They were hid in the furniture of her camel; 
and as this formed her seat in the tent, they 



JACOB AND ESAU. 



51 



escaped the search of her father, who returned j Jacob's next care was concerning Esau, with 
home the next day, after having entered into | whose present state of mind towards him he 




MEETING OF JACOB AND ESAU. Gen. XXXlii. 4. 

solemn covenants of peace and good will with j was by no means acquainted 



the man he had so wrathfully pursued. 



But he knew 
that he had established himself in the region 



52 



PREVAILING PRAYER. 



of Mount Seir, and had there acquired great 
power as a military chief. He deemed it pru- 
dent to send a most respectfully worded mes- 
sage, apprising him of his return home. The 
messengers returned with no other intimation 
than that Esau himself was coming to meet 
him with four hundred men. This intimation ! 
filled Jacob with real and well-grounded alarm. J 
He made the best arrangements in his power 
to meet the exigency, with the view, on the 
one hand, of mollifying his brother, and, on 
the other, of securing the retreat of his troop 
(consisting of the women and children), in case 
the van should be assaulted by Esau's troop. 
He then sent his people across the river Jab- 
bok, and remained behind himself, probably for 
the sake of that solitary " communing with 
God " in which the Hebrew patriarchs found 
so much of their strength and safety. 

Wrestling with the Angel. 

Here he was comforted and encouraged by 
the deep meanings of a mysterious conflict 
with an angel of God, who seemed unable to 
prevail over Jacob till he put forth a super- 
natural power, and disabled him for the time, 
by causing the sinew of his thigh to shrink 
when he laid his hand thereon. It was then 
that the name of Jacob, " supplanter," was 
changed to Israel, " a prince of God," — " Be- 
cause (said the angel) as a prince hast thou 
power with God and with men, and hast pre- 
vailed." 

Halting still upon his thigh, but greatly en- 
couraged, the patriarch passed over the river 
as the morning rose, and, on reaching the top 
of the opposite bank, beheld Esau and his 
troop approaching in the distance. Whatever 
may have been the intentions of that rude but 
not ungenerous person, he was fairly softened 
by the marks of respect and consideration 
which he received, as he passed along the pur- 
posely extended line of flocks, and herds, and 
shepherds : and when at length he came up 
with Jacob, who bowed before him — as one 
doubting of his reception and his doom — he 
could contain himself no longer, but " ran to 
meet him, and embraced him, and fell upon 



his neck and kissed him : — and they wept." 
Blessed tears were these : — the tears of a full 
heart: "tears such as angels shed," if angels 
ever weep. 

Esau would very willingly have escorted 
Jacob the rest of his way; but the latter, in- 
tending to proceed very leisurely, respectfully 
declined the offer, and his brother then re- 
turned to Mount Seir, which continued for 
many ages to be ruled, and was in a great 
measure peopled, by his descendants, and hence 
obtained the name of the land of Edom and 
of Idumaea. 

Before he crossed the Jordan, some stay was 
made by Jacob at Succoth, where his camp 
was formed of booths or sheds, made of the 
wood which was then, and is even now, abun- 
dant in that quarter. 

On crossing the river, he did not at once 
rejoin his father, who was still living, but pro- 
ceeded to the vale of Shechem, where Abraham 
also had formed his first encampment in the 
land of Canaan. Here he remained until the 
terrible vengeance, which was taken upon the 
people of Shechem, by the sons of Jacob, for 
an outrage upon their sister Dinah, made it 
prudent for him to quit that neighborhood. 
He went to Bethel. There he built an altar, 
and worshipped God, in grateful remembrance 
of the encouragements which had been on 
that spot vouchsafed him on his way to Padan- 
aram. 

After this, Jacob journeyed southward to 
visit his father. On the way, when near Beth- 
lehem, his beloved Rachel died in giving birth 
to a second son, whom the mother, in her 
dying grief, called Benoni, "son of my sorrow," 
but which name the father afterwards changed 
to Benjamin, " son of my right hand." A 
tomb, of Moslem construction, called" Rachel's 
Sepulchre," at this day marks the supposed 
place of her burial. 

After about thirty years' absence, Jacob at 
length joined his aged father Isaac, who was 
then at the old encampment of the family at 
Mamre, near Hebron. Isaac himself survived 
the reunion with his son several years, and died 
at the age of one hundred and eighty years. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 




OM I NG now to Jacob's 
sons, we notice that 
particular interest sur- 
rounds Joseph, the 
first, and for a long- 
while the only son 
of his much loved 
Rachel. Jacob's fam- 
ily consisted of twelve 
sons, the founders of 
the Twelve Tribes of 
Israel. Their names 
were Reuben, Simeon, 
Levi, Judah, Issachar, 
and Zebulon, sons of 
Leah ; Gad and Asher, sons of Zilpah, Leah's 
handmaid; Dan and Naphtali, sons of Bilhah, 
Rachel's handmaid ; Joseph and Benjamin, 
sons of Rachel. 

Joseph was far more dear to his father than 
any of his other sons. He made no secret of 
this, as a v/ise father would perhaps have done. 
Nay, rather he gloried in making it known, 
and even went so far as to clothe him in a 
peculiarly handsome dress — " a coat of many 
colors," as a mark of favor and distinction. 
These marks of partiality were very displeas- 
ing to Joseph's brothers, and made him odious 
in their eyes. These feelings were strengthened 
by certain dreams which Joseph dreamed in 
early youth, and which seemed to prefigure 
some unimaginable superiority and greatness 
to him. At one time they were binding 
sheaves in the field, when, lo ! their sheaves 
rose up and made obeisance to his sheaf. At 
another time, the sun, the moon, and the 
eleven stars made obeisance to him. Another 
cause of dislike was found in the fact that 
when they had been abroad with the flocks, 
Joseph was in the habit of reporting to his 
father their misconduct, and of bringing upon 



them the dreaded rebuke of their parent. 
One day, when Joseph was about seventeen 
years old, he was sent by his father, who had 
kept him at home, to seek his brethren, who 
had for some time been out in distant pastures, 
and bring back an account of their welfare. 
Joseph found them at Dothan. They knew 
him afar off by his coat of many colors, and 
immediately began to plot against his life. 
They had certainly killed him on the spot, but 
for some scruple suggested by Reuben of shed- 
ding a brother's blood. They therefore cast 
him into a dry cistern, intending to leave him 
there to perish, and to inform their father that 
he had been destroyed by a wild beast. Such 
an act as theirs shows the wild, barbarous 
spirit that prevailed at that time. 

Soon after, however, they observed the ap- 
proach of a caravan of Arabian merchants, 
proceeding with balm and other precious 
drugs to Egypt, and it immediately struck 
them that they might quite as safely, less 
guiltily, and with some profit besides, dispose 
of the unhappy Joseph by selling him for a 
slave to these travelling dealers. They ac- 
cordingly drew him up out of the pit and sold 
him for twenty pieces of silver. They then 
took his coat, the envied coat of many colors, 
and, afte. dipping it in the blood of a 
slaughtered kid, they sent it to their father. 
The agonized father immediately received the 
conviction they desired. " It is my son's coat 
(he said) ; an evil beast hath devoured him : 
Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces ! " He 
mourned long and sorely for his lost son ; and 
when at length time brought some calm to his 
feelings, he remained faithful in his affection 
for Rachel. 

Meanwhile, Joseph was taken down to 
Egypt, and was there sold to one of the officers 
of the royal court. In this country there then 

(53) 



54 



JOSEPH'S INTEGRITY. 



existed an imperial court, with a minutely 
organized government, an ecclesiastical estab- 
lishment, a military force, and civil institutions 

all bearing the stamp of an advanced stage 

of civilization, and of a condition of society 
very different from that which we have left 
behind us in Palestine. 

Joseph's diligence, probity, attention, and 
fine qualities soon recommended him to his 



there was no hope, the woman's love turned 
to vengeful hatred, and she resolved to effect 
his ruin. To this end nothing seemed to her 
more effectual than to accuse him of attempt- 
ing the very crime into which she had vainly 
endeavored to draw him. And it was effectual ; 
for Potiphar was wroth, and cast his slave into 
prison. But even in prison Joseph's useful 
talents and engaging disposition still availed 




JOSEPH'S DREAM OF THE SUN, MOON AND ELEVEN STARS 



master, Potiphar, in whose confidence he rose 
so high, that all the affairs of the household 
were eventually left in his hands. 

Now Joseph was a very handsome man, 
and it happened that he attracted the too 
favorable notice of his master's wife. She 
tempted him to sin. But he remembered his 
God, he remembered the generous confidence 
of his master, and firmly refused. Seeing 



xxxvu. 9. 

him. He soon acquired the entire confidence 
of the governor of the prison, who gave all 
the other prisoners into his charge. 

Among those who were sent into the prison 
after Joseph had been thus favored, were two 
important officers of Pharaoh's court, his chief 
butler, and his chief cook, or baker, who, 
from the nature of their offices, we should 
suppose to have been accused of some attempt 



THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 



55 



to poison their royal master in his food or 
drink, and had thereby incurred his ill-will. 

Troublesome Dreams. 

Dreams have always been much regarded 
in the East ; and one night the butler and 
baker both had dreams which troubled them 
greatly. The butler dreamed that, in the dis- 
charge of his office, he presented the wine-cup 
into Pharaoh's hand ; the baker dreamed that 
he was carrying upon his head baked meats 
for the royal table, when the birds of the air 
descended and carried them away. Joseph 
interpreted the dreams to signify that before 
three days had passed the butler should be 
restored to his office, and the baker put to 
death. And so it happened. On Pharaoh's 
birthday inquiry was made into the matter, 
and the baker was beheaded, and the butler 
was restored to his place. Joseph had ear- 
nestly represented his case to this butler, and 
had implored him to use his recovered influ- 
ence in his behalf. But the prosperous have 
little remembrance for the unhappy : and the 
•butler altogether forgot Joseph, until, in the 
good providence of God, an occasion arose 
which brought him to remembrance. 

The king himself was troubled with two 
•dreams, which, although composed of differ- 
ent materials, were obviously one as to any 
import which might be collected from them. 
In the first, Pharaoh thought that, as he stood 
beside the fertilizing Nile, seven fair and full- 
fleshed kine came up out of the water, and 
were feeding in a meadow, when seven gaunt 
and lean kine came up after them, and de- 
voured them all. Then, seven ears of good 
and full-bodied corn seemed to spring up, all 
upon one stalk ; and after a while came up 
seven thin and starveling ears, by which the 
former were eaten up. Yet the lean kine and 
the lean ears were none the better for that 
which they had eaten. These dreams seemed 
to have some unusually marked significance, 
and Pharaoh sent for the wise men of Egypt, 
requiring of them an interpretation. But this 
dream was beyond the depth even of their 
pretensions, and they could give none. 



This brought to the butler's mind the He- 
brew prisoner, whose interpretation of his own 
and the baker's dreams had been so remark- 
ably fulfilled. He mentioned the circumstances 
to the king, who instantly sent to require his 
presence. Hastily shaving himself and put- 
ting on becoming raiment, Joseph accompanied 
the messengers to the palace. The king re- 
lated his dreams ; and Joseph said they were 
to be regarded as warnings from God of com- 
ing events, against which suitable provision 
should be made. The dreams denoted, first, 
seven years of great and unexampled plenty, 
to be followed by seven years of excessive 
dearth. 

Joseph Providing 1 for Famine. 

He therefore very sagely counselled that 
the superabundant grain of the fertile years 
should be bought up by the government, and 
stored for use during the years of famine ; and 
he ventured to suggest that some able and 
discreet man should be appointed, with proper 
officers under him, to give effect to this great 
operation throughout the country. Then said 
Pharaoh — " Forasmuch as God has showed 
thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise 
as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, 
and according unto thy word shall all my 
people be ruled : only in the throne will I be 
greater than thou." Saying this, the great 
king took from his finger the signet-ring, the 
impress of which gave the force of royal au- 
thority to any decree or order on which it was 
placed ; and then he caused him to be arrayed 
in robes of honor ; upon his neck was also 
placed a chain of gold, by which we are 
doubtless to understand one of those rich or- 
naments of wrought gold, such as are in the 
Egyptian monuments seen upon the necks of 
kings and nobles. Thus gloriously arrayed, 
Joseph — whom the morning saw a prisoner 
and a slave — was placed in the second of the 
royal chariots of state, and conducted in 
grand procession through the streets of the 
metropolis, while the heralds proclaimed be- 
fore him the honors to which he had been 
raised. 

Joseph having thus been naturalized, and 



56 



FROM A PIT TO A PALACE. 



having received the name and dress of an j been unusual for foreigners and slaves to rise 
Egyptian, was no longer regarded in that | to such distinctions. No doubt Joseph was. 




Joseph sold into egypt. — Gen. xxxvii. 38. 



country as a foreigner, but as a noble and a 1 well able to support the high position in which 
minister of state. In the East it has never | he now appeared. Thirteen of the best years 



THE THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 



57 



of his life had been spent in Egypt ; and this 
time would have more than sufficed for a man 
of much less aptitude and talent than Joseph 
to acquire an intimate acquaintance with the 
manners and language of the people among 
whom his lot had been cast. One thing he 
wanted — family connections and the influence 
which they would give in the country — and, 
above all, such connection with the priestly 
caste, which was then and long after all-power- 
ful in Egypt. One unconnected with this 
caste could not long hope to maintain his 
influence, or to work out his plans without 
opposition and hindrance. The king of Egypt 
felt this very strongly, and therefore lost no 
time in securing to Joseph the undisturbed 
enjoyment of the rank and power to which he 
had raised him, by bestowing upon him in 
marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, 
priest of On, which place was afterwards 
known among Greek writers by the name of 
Heliopolis. 

A Name Cut in Stone. 

The account of that part of the Bible history 
which contains the sojourn of the Hebrews in 
Egypt has of late years received interesting 
illustrations — we say not confirmation, for it 
needed none — from the Egyptian monuments, 
and from critical researches in history. From 
such sources we now know that Potipherah 
means " he who belongs to the sun ; " it is a 
very common name on the monuments, and 
especially appropriate for, the priest of On. 

We also know that among the Egyptian 
colleges of priests the one at On took the pre- 
cedence, and consequently that the high-priest 
of On must have borne the first rank among 
that powerful body. The great antiquity of 
religious worship at On is also attested by the 
monuments. Wilkinson says, " During the 
reign of Osirtasen (whom he makes contem- 
porary with Moses) the temple of Heliopolis 
was either founded or received additions, and 
one of the obelisks bearing his name evinces 
the skill to which they had attained in the 
difficult art of sculpturing granite." 

The part which the king himself took in 
bringing about this marriage is satisfactorily 



accounted for, when we remember that the 
sovereigns of Egypt were invested with the 
highest sacerdotal dignity, and were therefore 
not merely the civil, but the ecclesiastical su- 
periors of the whole priesthood. By this 
marriage Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and 
Ephraim. 

During the seven years of plenty Egypt 
was carefully subjected to the course of opera- 
tions which Joseph had at first recommended 
to the king of Egypt. He made a tour 
through the country to organize the operation 
of purchasing and storing up the redundant 
produce, and to see that his intentions were 
properly executed. The superabundant pro- 
duce of every district was stored away in 
granaries in the towns of that district : and we 
are told, " Joseph gathered corn as the sand 
of the sea, very much, until he left number- 
ing, for it was without number." These labors 
of Joseph are placed vividly before us in the 
paintings upon the monuments, which show 
how common the store-house was in ancient 
Egypt. In the tomb of Amenemhe at Beni- 
Hassen there is the painting of a great store- 
house, before whose door lies a large heap of 
grain, already winnowed. The measurer fills 
a bushel in order to pour it into the uniform 
sacks of those who cany the grain to the corn 
magazine. The carriers go to the door of the 
store-house and lay down the sacks before an 
officer who stands ready to receive the corn. 
This is the overseer of the store-house. Near 
by stands the bushel with which it is meas- 
ured, and the registrar who takes the account. 
At the side of the windows there are char- 
acters which indicate the quantity of the mass 
which is deposited in the magazine. Compare 
this with the indication in the verse just cited, 
that the stored grain was carefully measured, 
until the enormous quantity of the increase 
would not allow this to be done. 

The Nation Crying- for Bread. 

But at the predicted time this plenty ceased r 
and was followed by the most terrible scarcity 
which had ever been known. This also lasted 
seven years. But there was plenty of corn in 
the store-houses ; and as long as the Egyp- 



58 



THREATENINGS AT LAST FULFILLED. 



tians had money with which to purchase out 
of the government stores, all was well. But 
when all the money of Egypt had found its 
way into the royal coffers, the nation cried to 
the government for bread. A nation could 
not be allowed to starve while the granaries 
were still full of corn. The king left the 
matter in the hands of Joseph, who agreed 
to take their cattle in exchange for corn. 

This resource lasted them a year ; when 
nothing remained to the people but " their 
bodies and their lands," they cried, " Buy us 
and our lands for bread, and we and our lands 
will be servants unto Pharaoh." Joseph took 
them at their word, and on these terms under- 
took to feed them to the end of the famine. 
The whole dispersed population was then re- 
moved into the towns containing the grana- 
ries, that the corn might be conveniently doled 
out to them ; and in the last year of the 
famine seed was given to them, with which 
they might sow, and resume the cultivation 
of their lands, as tenants of the crown, at a 
rent of one-fifth of the produce. 

Jacob Sends his Sons to Egypt. 

This famine was not felt in Egypt only, but 
throughout all the neighboring regions. It 
was felt in the land of Canaan, and the family 
of Jacob soon began to suffer from lack of 
corn. It then transpired that corn might be 
obtained in Egypt ; and Jacob lost no time in 
sending his sons — all except Benjamin — 
across the desert for the needful supply. 

It seems that the permission to purchase 
corn was only granted to such foreigners as 
obtained special permission from Joseph, be- 
fore whom, therefore, the ten brethren were 
bound to make their appearance. The 
ancient dreams began, in the mysterious 
providence of God, to be fulfilled, when they 
bowed themselves low and reverently before 
this august personage, " the lord of the 
country," little conceiving that he was the 
brother whom they had so long ago sold for 
a slave, and supposed to be long since dead. 
Him they could not know: but he knew them 
.at once, and controlled with a strong effort 



the generous emotions which filled his bosom. 
Ignorant of their present state of feeling, he 
was apparently alarmed at the absence of his 

j own brother Benjamin. He could not but 

j fear that they might have acted treacherously 
towards him also; and this probably induced 
him to make those experiments upon their 
present dispositions which form so remark- 
able a portion of this striking history. 

By assuming an austere manner and charg- 
ing them as spies, he succeeded in eliciting 
from them such an account of themselves, as 
informed him that his aged father was still 
living, and that his brother Benjamin tarried 
with him at home. The governor of Egypt 
could not but have been touched when they 
described themselves as " twelve brethren, the 

i sons of one man in the land of Canaan ; and 
behold the youngest is this day with our 
father, and one is not." 

Still, however, maintaining the tone he had 
assumed, Joseph persisted in his charge, and 
required as a proof of their statement that 
one of their number should be sent back for 
the absent brother, while the rest were de- 
tained as prisoners in Egypt. They were 
then thrust away ignominiously to the prison- 
house, and kept there the following night. 
But in the morning Joseph again sent for 
them, and in a milder tone they were assured 
that, if they were indeed true men, no harm 
should happen to them ; and it was decided 
that they should all be allowed to go back ex- 
cepting one, who should be detained as 
hostage for their return to Egypt with their 
youngest brother. Dismayed at the predica- 
ment in which they had become involved, the 
brethren looked one upon another, and the 
same thought rose at once to their minds, that 
at length the cry of their brother's blood had 
been heard in heaven ; and that at length the 
punishment of their sin had come upon them. 
This they said aloud to one another in their 
own language ; and little did they think that 
the illustrious person before whom they 
were heard and understood, and that their 
words struck upon his heart : he turned away 

land wept. 







Joseph's brethren dipping his coat in blood. — Gen. xxxvii. 31. 



60 



JACOB'S GRIEF. 



The brethren departed, leaving Simeon be- 
hind. The sacks which they had brought 
were filled with corn, and a further supply for 
the road was given to them. Thus they re- 
turned to their father; and on opening their 
several sacks, were astonished and somewhat 
alarmed to find in them not only the grain, 
but the money which they had paid for it. 
This in some degree confirmed the report 
which they made to their father of the strange 
and harsh conduct of the man — the lord of the 
country. Jacob, however, could not endure 
the idea of sending Benjamin with them to 
Egypt : " Me have ye bereaved of my chil- 
dren," said he, mournfully: "Joseph is not, 
and Simeon is not, and now ye will take Ben- 
jamin away : all these things are against me!" 
But he was mistaken. All these things were 
for him. All were working together for the 
good of him and his. 

Taking Back the Money. 

The question stood over for a time ; but 
when the supply of corn was exhausted the 
matter could no longer be delayed. The 
brethren were in too much dread of the aus- 
tere personage in Egypt to yield to the press- 
ing instances of their father, who urged them 
to go without Benjamin; and, finding that their 
firmness in this point could not be overcome, 
he gave a reluctant and sorrowing consent. 
This time no precaution was omitted which 
was deemed likely to soothe and satisfy the 
harsh " ruler of Egypt." They took back 
again the money which had been found in 
their sacks ; and they bore from Jacob a pres- 
ent of the choice products of Palestine, which 
he knew must be acceptable in Egypt. It 
consisted of" a little balm, a little honey, spices, 
and myrrh, pistachio-nuts, and almonds." 

They returned to Egypt and stood once 
more in the presence of Joseph. No sooner 
did he perceive them and discover that his 
Benjamin, the son of his mother, was among 
them, than he directed his steward to " slay, 
and make ready " a sufficient feast, for that 
all these men should dine with him at noon. 
They were accordingly conducted to the great 



| man's residence, where water was given them 
! to wash their weary feet. Joseph came home 

at noon, and finding them in waiting, spoke to 
j them. He asked if their father, the old man 
[ of whom the\ r had told him, was well ; and 
| they bowed themselves very low, and an- 
j swered, " Thy servant, our father, is in good 
1 health." He then seemed first to observe 
1 Benjamin, and asked, " Is this your younger 

brother, of whom ye spake unto me ? " and, 

without waiting an answer, said, " God bless 
! thee, my son : " and then, dreading to display 

his mastering emotions, he hastily withdrew, 
I to give vent to them in his chamber. 

Singular Customs. 

At the dinner which followed it seems that, 

; although the brethren sat in the same room,, 
they did not sit and eat together with Joseph, 
who sat apart by himself, while his Egyptian 

j friends also sat apart by themselves. The 
reason for this is given : " Because the Egyp- 

' tians might not eat bread with the Hebrews ; 
for that is an abomination to the Egyptians." 
Not merely as Hebrews, however, but as for- 
eigners. And this is remarkably in accordance 
with Herodotus, who tells us that the Egyp- 
tians abstained from all familiar intercourse 
with foreigners, since these were unclean to 
them, because they slew and ate the animals 
which were sacred among the Egyptians. 
That Joseph also sat alone, and not with the 
other Egyptians, is strictly in accordance with 
the great difference of rank and with the spirit 
of caste which prevailed among the Egyp- 

, tians. 

The brethren were placed according to their 
seniority by the steward of the household, 
from the secret intimations of Joseph ; and at 

j this they were much astonished, as the dif- 
ference of age between many of them was too 
slight to be distinguishable in their persons. 

| A mess for each was sent from the table be- 
fore Joseph, and, according to Eastern custom, 
he distinguished Benjamin by sending five 
times as much to him as to the others. The 
manner in which the Egyptians sat at meat, 

I by ones or twos, at small, low tables, is pictured 



THE THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 



61 



in the ancient tombs, and throws much light 
on this description. 

Notwithstanding this apparent friendliness 
of their illustrious host, the sons of Jacob were 
by no means free from anxiety and alarm. 
They were, therefore, exceedingly glad when 
they found themselves safely on the road 
home the next day, laden with the desired 
corn, their hostage Simeon having been re- 
stored to them. Their joy was of short dura- 
tion ; for they were soon overtaken by the 
well-known steward of Joseph's household, 
who roughly charged them with having stolen 
his master's silver cup — " the cup out of which 
my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he di- 
vineth." This last clause may require ex- 
planation. Jamblichus, in his book on " Egyp- 
tian Mysteries," mentions the practice of 
divining by cups ; and that this superstition, 
together with many others, has survived from 
the most ancient times, is shown by a remark- 
able passage in " Norden's Travels." When 
this author, with his companions, had arrived 
at Dehr, the most remote extremity of Egypt, 
or rather in Nubia, where they were able to 
deliver themselves from a perilous situation 
by great presence of mind, they sent one of 
their company to a malicious and powerful 
Arab to threaten him. He answered, " I 
know what sort of people you are. I have 
consulted my cup, and found in it that you 
are from a people of whom one of our prophets 
has said : There will come Franks under every 
kind of pretence to spy out the land," the very 
same charge that was alleged against Jacob's 
sons. 

The Silver Cup 

The sons of Jacob felt themselves deeply 
wronged by such a charge, of which every 
one among them knew himself to be entirely 
innocent. They invited a search, and loudly 
consigned to death every one with whom the 
cup might be found, declaring that they also 
would then remain the slaves of Joseph. But 
the steward waived this excess of zeal, by 
declaring that only the actual thief should re- 
main a bondman, and the rest should be 
blameless. The search then beean. The 



sacks were opened in succession, beginning 
with that of the eldest, and not small was 
their triumph as sack after sack was opened 
without the missing property being found. 
| But fearfully was their triumph checked when 
the steward produced the silver cup from the 
last of the sacks which he had examined — 
the sack of Benjamin. It had been placed 
there by the steward himself, on the order of 
his master. 

Now came the trying point, by which 
Joseph was to know whether twenty-two 
years had passed over them in vain. He per- 
haps expected that they would abandon 
Benjamin to his fate, and hasten home. It 
was far otherwise. It is not clear whether 
they believed or not that Benjamin had stolen 
the cup. They probably believed it; and in 
that case their conduct appears the more en- 
titled to admiration. 

They thought of their father, and of his 
last words : — " If mischief befall him [Ben- 
jamin] by the way which ye go, then shall 
ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to 
the grave." They rent their clothes in the 
anguish of their hearts, and, hastily relading 
their beasts, returned with their brother to the 
city. 

Joseph Making Himself Known. 

On reaching Joseph's house, they fell on 
the ground before him, and, in answer to his 
stern rebuke, they repeated the proposal they 
had before made — that all should remain his 
bondmen ; but they did not this time suggest 
that the actual criminal should die. But 
Joseph declared that this would be unjust : 
he would detain the culprit, but they were 
free to depart. This drew forward Judah, 
who had in an especial manner made himself 
responsible to his father for the safe return of 
Benjamin ; and it was probably the confidence 
of Jacob in his strength of character, that 
drew from him the reluctant consent which he 
at length gave that Benjamin should share the 
perils of the journey. 

Never was the confidence of a father in the 
high qualities and the honor of a son more 



62 



JOSEPH SENDS FOR BENJAMIN. 



worthily bestowed. Judah stood forward, 
and, in a strain of the most powerful and 
touching eloquence, stated the case exactly as 
it stood with respect to his father and Benja- 
min, in a manner full of those natural touches 
and circumstances which go home to every 
heart, and which a heart so tenderly interested 
as that of Joseph could not possibly with- 
stand. He concluded with imploring that 
Benjamin might be allowed to return, and 
that he, who had become the surety for him, 
might remain a bondman in his stead. Over- 
come by the emotions which the speech of 
Judah had roused. Joseph could no longer 
support the part he had been acting. He 
wept aloud, and made himself known to them 
— " I am Joseph. — Doth my father yet live ? " 
Perceiving the confusion which this announce- 
ment produced among them, he hastened to 
reassure them and to relieve their minds, by 
declaring his conviction that they, in follow- 
ing the impulses of their blind will, had been 
the unconscious instruments of accomplishing 
the purposes of God; whose providence had 
marked out for him the greatness to which he 
had attained, and the high duties which he 
had accomplished. He then proceeded to 
explain to them the length of time which the 
dearth was still to continue : and that the only 
course for them was to migrate to Egypt, 
where it would be in his power to provide 
every comfort and convenience for them 
during this terrible and trying season. He 
apprised them, however, that "every shepherd 
was an abomination to the Egyptians ; " on 
which account he would procure a district 
called " the land of Goshen " to be assigned 
them, in which they might live apart, and 
follow their own pastoral modes of life. 

We have seen that foreigners, as such, were 
disliked by the Egyptians ; and we may 
understand the further aversion, now in- 
timated, to apply particularly to those foreign- 
ers who followed the pastoral mode of life, 
and whose aggressive character (as at present 
in the Bedouin Arabs) and unsettled habits 
rendered them odious to the Egyptians. 
That shepherds of every kind were despised 



by that people is shown by the fact that the 
artists of Upper and Lower Egypt vie with 
each other in caricaturing them whenever 
their figures are introduced in the pictured 
tombs. Joseph ended his explanation by 
embracing and weeping over his brother Ben- 
jamin without restraint. He kissed them all, 
and they then talked more calmly together. 

It was gratifying to know that when the 
news transpired that Joseph's brethren had 
come, every one was pleased at a circumstance 
calculated to give him satisfaction. The king 
himself shared this pleasure, and, on receiving 
an explanation from Joseph, he expressed 
much kind interest in the welfare and preser- 
vation of the family, and directed that every 
facility should be given for their migration to 
Egypt and their settlement in Goshen. 

"I Will Go and See Hiui Before I Die." 

Well supplied with provisions for the 
journey, and with cars in which the women 
and children might be the more conveniently 
removed, the brethren set out with lightened 
hearts for the land of Canaan. As they drew 
near the patriarchal camp, some of them 
hastened on to announce the glad tidings to 
their father. This they did somewhat ab- 
ruptly : — " Joseph (said they) is yet alive, and 
he is governor over all the land of Egypt ! " 
The aged man could not readily believe this, 
and " his heart fainted within him." But they 
proceeded to explanations ; and when he saw a 
confirmation of their marvellous story in the 
approach of the carriages, he could no longer 
disbelieve : his spirit revived, and he said, " It 
is enough — Joseph my son is yet alive — I will 
go and see him before I die." 

Accordingly Jacob, began his journey to 
Egypt, with all his family and all his posses- 
sions. On the way he paused at the old 
station of his family in Beersheba, and offered 
sacrifices to God upon the altar where his 
fathers had worshipped. In the following 
night, God appeared to him, and encouraged 
him in the important movement he was then 
making. He was assured that his family 
should in Egypt grow rapidly into a nation. 



THE THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 



63 



and as a nation should go forth thence 
to take possession of the land of Canaan. 
Thus cheered, Jacob proceeded on his way to 
the land of Goshen, on the borders of which 
he was met by his long-lost and late-restored 
son, who had hastened in his chariot to meet 
him when apprised of his approach. 

Who shall describe the emotions of that 
great interview ? The sacred historian does 
not attempt it. He simply tells us that Joseph 



Pharaoh. The king asked them about their 
occupation; and they answered, "Thy ser- 
vants are shepherds, both we and also our 
fathers." The king then told Joseph to place 
them in the land of Goshen, or in any other 
part of Egypt that seemed best to him ; 
adding, " And if thou knowest any men of 
activity among them, make them rulers over 
my cattle." Subsequently Jacob himself had 
an audience of the king, who, struck by his 




EMBALMING THE BODY OF JOSEPH. Gen. 1. 26. 



"presented himself" (reverently) before his 
father, and then " he fell on his neck and 
wept on his neck a good while ; " and so soon 
as strong feeling left vent for words, Israel 
said to Joseph, " Now, let me die, since 
I have seen thy face, because thou art yet 
alive ! " 

Not long after, Joseph introduced five of 
his brethren to the king. He doubtless 
selected those whose appearance he deemed 
likely to make a favorable impression upon 



venerable appearance, asked him, " How old 
art thou ? " And Jacob answered, " The days 
of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred 
and thirty years : few and evil have the days of 
the years of my life been, and have not attained 
unto the days of the years of the life of my 
fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." The 
respect for honorable age was strong in Egypt : 
and it is observable that Jacob was granted a 
separate audience ; that he omitted the usual 
formula of address, " thy servant; " and that, 



04 



DEATH OF JACOB. 



as became a man of his age, he " blessed 
Pharaoh " on quitting his presence. 

Now the seven years of famine were suc- 
ceeded by many years of great and compensa- 
ting plenty; but the position of Joseph does 
not appear to have been in anywise affected by 
the cessation of the special services for which 
power had been given to him. There is no 
intimation that down to the time of his death 
his influence in the government of Egypt had 
been in any respect impaired. 

A Pathetic Scene. 

About seventeen years after the family of 
Israel had been settled in Goshen, the news of 
his father's illness induced Joseph to hasten 
thither with his two sons Manasseh and Eph- 
raim. The dying patriarch raised himself up 
in his bed to receive his ever best beloved son. 
After mutual endearments, Jacob related to 
his son the promises of God, from which he 
gathered the assured conviction that his pos- 
terity was to become a great nation, destined 
not to remain in Egypt, but to inherit the land 
promised to him and to his fathers. This, 
while it reminded Joseph of the true position 
of his family in Egypt — that of sojourners, and 
not settlers — enhanced the value of his de- 
clared intention to adopt the two sons of 
Joseph as his own children, thereby to give to 
him a double share through them in the heritage. 

The eyesight of Jacob had failed from very 
age — but he became aware that others were 
present, and being told by Joseph " They are 
my sons, whom God hath given me in this 
place," he desired them to be brought near to 
him. He kissed and embraced them with all 
the tenderness of one who beheld in them fresh 
memorials of that dear Rachel, whose presence 
to his aged mind even in these final moments 
is touchingly evinced by the words which had 
just before fallen from him, without any ap- 
parent connection with the subject, save that 
which existed in the depths of his own heart : 
"As for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel 
died by me in the way . . . and I buried her 
there, in the way to Ephrath." 

Having intimated his intention to bestow on 



his grandsons the blessing to which so much 
importance was in those times attached, Joseph 
placed them before him, properly, as he 
thought — the eldest, Manasseh, being placed 
opposite his right hand : but Jacob, blind as 
he was, crossed his hands so as to place his 
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the 
youngest ; and when Joseph, supposing this a 
mistake, attempted to alter this position of his 
hands, remarking that the other was the eldest, 
Jacob persisted, saying, " I know it, my son, I 
know it : he also shall become a people, and 
he also shall become great : but truly his 
younger brother shall be greater than he." 
His blessing was given accordingly, and how 
remarkably its purport was accomplished in 
the relative destinies of the tribes which 
sprang from Ephraim and Manasseh will ap- 
pear hereafter. 

After this Jacob's other sons, who had been 
summoned to the bedside of the dying pa- 
triarch, also arrived, and he bestowed upon 
them blessings significantly and distinctively 
applicable to each of them, and to the tribes 
which should spring from them. The final 
scene of his eventful life cannot be related in 
other words than those of the sacred historian : 
"And when Jacob had made an end of com- 
manding his sons, he gathered up his feet into 
the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was 
gathered unto his people. And Joseph fell 
upon his face, and wept upon him, and kissed 
him." 

Jacob was aged one hundred and forty-seven 
years at the time of his death, in the year 
1689 b. c. 

The death of the father of so great a man as 
Joseph could not pass without much note in 
Egypt; and the circumstances indicated are in 
the most exact conformity with the usages of 
that country as described by ancient historians 
and represented on ancient monuments. The 
body of Jacob received the embalmment of a 
prince, as we know from the fact that forty 
days were taken up by the different processes. 
These forty days, and the thirty days follow- 
ing, together seventy days, the Egyptians ob- 
served as days of public mourning, which also 



THE THRILLING STORY OF JOSEPH. 



65 



indicates that the ceremonies were scarcely less 
than those which attended the death of royal 
personages ; for we are told by Herodotus that 
" when a king died, all the Egyptians raised a 
general lamentation, tore their garments, closed 
the temples, offered no sacrifices, celebrated no 
festivals for seventy-two days." 

Jacob had strictly enjoined Joseph to de- 
posit his remains in the family sepulchre near 
Hebron, in the land which his descendants 
were to possess. Thither it was therefore con- 
veyed in great state, being attended not only 
by the family of the patriarch, but by a large 
body of Egyptians with chariots and horses : 
and their presence and numbers gave a char- 
acter so much Egyptian to the proceeding, 
that when the party paused in " the threshing- 
floor of Atad " to celebrate a final mourning 
of seven days before consigning the body to 
5 



the sepulchre, the neighboring inhabitants re- 
marked, "this is a great mourning for the 
Egyptians ; " whence the place received the 
name of "Abel-Mitzraim," " the mourning of 
the Egyptians." Joseph himself outlived his 
father about fifty-four years, and died (1635 
B. c.) at the age of one hundred and ten years. 
Before his death he called his brethren around 
him, and after expressing his firm conviction 
that their descendants would eventually be re- 
moved from Egypt to their promised posses- 
sion, he took a solemn oath from them, that 
when that time came, they would take away 
his bones with them, and not leave them be- 
hind in Egypt. After death, the corpse of 
Joseph was embalmed, and deposited in one 
of those coffins or mummy-cases which the 
recent spoliations of Egyptian sepulchres have 
in this day made familiar to us. 




CHAPTER VI. 



EARLY LIFE OF MOSES. 




ONG time the Hebrews 
remained in Goshen, 
where they increased 
with astonishing rapid- 
ity, and followed their 
old pastoral modes of 
life, without altogether 
neglecting agriculture. 

About thirty -eight 
years after the death of 
Joseph a new dynasty, probably from Upper 
Egypt, obtained possession of the throne of 
Lower Egypt, which we are to regard as the 
Egypt of the patriarchal history. To the new 
dynasty the services of Joseph, and the cir- 
cumstances attending the introduction of his 
family could not be altogether unknown. But 
they were not recognized, not appreciated, not 
understood with that fulness of apprehension 
which would belong to those who were de- 
scended from and connected with the kings 
and princes who were Joseph's contempo- 
raries. 

But the phenomenon of a people so different 
in character, habits, and religion as the He- 
brews, residing within a frontier much exposed 
to aggression from tribes of similar habits to 
theirs, and with whom they might be supposed 
to have a common sympathy and interest, drew 
the attention and excited the fears of the new 
government. It was apprehended, in the words 
of the new king, " that when there falleth out 
any war, they join also unto our enemies, and 
fight against us." These words were spoken 
perfectly in accordance with the state of things 
in Egypt. Fruitful and cultivated Egypt has 
for its natural enemies the inhabitants of the 
neighboring deserts, and it is never in greater 
peril than when these enemies find allies among 
its own inhabitants. 

It was therefore determined to adopt a re- 



pressive policy towards the Israelites, with a 
view of checking their alarmingly rapid increase 
and to break their spirit of independence. 
Hard and constant labor was judged the means 
best suited to this end ; and they were, there- 
fore, in fact, enslaved, and compelled to labor 
on the public works. In that part of Egypt 
buildings are and were for the most part con- 
structed of bricks made of clay compacted with 
straw, and dried in the sun. There are even 
some pyramids built with this material. This 
explains how it was that the Egyptians are 
said to have " made the life of the Israelites 
bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in 
brick ; " nothing is said of stone. For the 
further illustration of this, it may be remarked 
that bricks were in Egypt made under the 
direction of the government„or of some person 
privileged by the crown, as appears by the 
stamp which is still found upon many of 
them. 

A great multitude of strangers were con- 
stantly employed in the brick-fields of Egypt, 
this being one of the servile employments in 
which the native Egyptians were too proud to 
labor ; or, in other words, the great number 
of slaves and captives made all unskilled labor 
too cheap to afford a rate of wages which they 
deemed adequate. We are not informed what 
works the Israelites constructed, excepting that 
" they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom 
and Rameses." The latter, and probably the 
other, was in the land of Goshen, and they 
appear to have been fortified towns, erected 
in the land of the Hebrews for the purpose of 
keeping them in subjection, and of storing the 
portions of their pastoral or agricultural pro- 
duce which the Egyptian government required 
from them. 

These rigid measures by no means answered 
the desired object. The more the Israelites 



EARLY LIFE OF MOSES. 



67 



were oppressed " the more they multiplied and 
grew." The atrocious plan was then devised 
of destroying, through the mid wives, all the 



to issue a public order that every male child 
thenceforth born to the Hebrews should be 
cast into the river. 




MOSES IN HIS LITTLE LIFE-BOAT. — Ex. ii. 5. 



male children of the Hebrews in the birth ; 
but this plan of secret massacre having been 
frustrated by the reluctance of the midwives 
to be parties in it, the king no longer hesitated 



The Scripture and Josephus call our espe- 
cial attention to one particular family, that is 
the family of Amram. It appears that he was 
well connected among the Israelites ; that he 



68 



THE FINDING OF MOSES. 



married and had two children, a girl and a 
boy — the girl Miriam, the boy Aaron, before 
the murderous edict was issued which com- 
pelled the slaughter of all male children. 
When Moses was born there was of necessity 
great perplexity. Three months, it appears, 
they hid the child — condemned to death for 
the great offence of being born — and then it 
became essential they should do something 
with him. The time came when concealment 
was no longer possible. The truth is sus- 
pected — prying eyes are all about us, and 
hands ready to grasp blood-money. The law 
is hard and cruel ; our lives are. risked by sav- 
ing this young life. Wicked officials will de- 
mand his youthful existence as if it were a tax. 
Some envious and ill-natured neighbor has 
whispered a word : a child's cry has been 
heard ; somebody has listened to a half- 
smothered lullaby; an overseer, in insolent 
authority, has spoken and looked, perhaps, 
with ill-conditioned rudeness into the face of 
Miriam. They were sorry times. 

The Bulrush Cradle. 

The girl and mother work together a light 
basket-work cradle all covered with bitumen, 
and they place the smiling child within it ; and 
Miriam, in all the bitterness of her heart, floats 
the precious treasure on the cruel Nile, and 
then, at a little space, stands watching. 

The mother cannot watch — she cannot bear 
the sight which may be seen ; she would her- 
self run forth and, daring all things, bring de- 
struction on her house. Better she should be 
at home, while dutiful, ever-patient and tender- 
hearted Miriam stays to see the end. 

All about the Nile the scenery is strikingly 
beautiful, but there would be no novelty to 
the girl who kept watch by the ark of papyrus 
or bulrush ; and, even had there been novelty, 
she would be in no mood to wonder at the 
natural grandeur she beheld. She waits there 
pensive and lonely. Sometimes a great sense 
of shame and grief at the outrages to which 
her people are exposed will make her almost 
ready to neglect her charge, and think it well 
if there he died — never to know bondage ; but 



the girl has a deep trust in Heaven's eternal 
justice. Perhaps a deliverer may come. 

Yonder is a family, the eldest — a lad of 
twelve — tending a mixed flock of sheep and 
goats ; one of the lads is playing on a reed 
pipe, and they seem as happy as lambs ; the 
anxious sister glances once towards them, and 
one of the children runs in the direction the 
ark has taken. There is soft music, and with 
solemn pomp a stately procession is seen ad- 
vancing to the river. Ethiopian slaves bear- 
ing fans and screens ; the princess of the land, 
a company of women in attendance. The 
guard and the musicians are left behind as her 
highness approaches the sacred stream, and 
the princess draws near the spot where the 
holy prayer is to be said to the divine water. 
A moment, and she notices the strange object, 
only partially concealed by the long rushes : 
quick the order, speedy the response : the little 
ark is before her, is opened, and she sees and 
understands it all. 

A Motherly Princess. 

Doubtless this poor little one is a child of 
the alien race, over whom a mother's heart 
has yearned ; a mother who, in the last part- 
ing moments, has done what she could to save 
her infant's life. And as the princess gazes 
on the child it weeps. The appeal of tears is 
powerful to all hearts not yet grown callous to 
every good feeling; the appealing cry of a 
child is most touching. The tears awoke 
compassion in the heart of the royal lady — 
she would save the child Moses; he has been 
rescued from the waters ; but how to act is the 
strange difficulty. Princess though she be, 
how can she openly defy the law ? How can 
she have the child at once carried to the king's 
court and there attended? It must not be. 
One of the alien race, it is suggested, may be 
found to nurse the child, and by-and-by the 
princess will claim him as her adopted son, 
separate him from his people, and make him 
heir to all that would be his were he her own 
child. But how to go among these people — 
how to send one of her own women ? See, 
here in this girl we may find a messenger. 



EARLY LIFE OF MOSES. 



69 



Quick, O sister, the hour has come to save 
thy brother and to restore him to his mother's 
arms ; quick, O sister, lest the opportunity be 
lost! 

Affection makes us brave. Miriam would 
have shrunk from the groups of proud ladies 
.and the noble princess, but her infant brother 
was in their midst. Could she discover some 
sage and tender-hearted woman who would 
play the mother to this poor outcast child ? 
Yes; her highness the princess might com- 
mand her; there was one, Amram's wife, a 
trusty woman ; she was all qualified to carry 
-out the royal behest. Then so it should be : 
let the woman rear the child — she should, 
when of sufficient age, bring it to the palace, 
and her wages should be good. 

The Babe Kestored to its Mother. 

Good wages ! how the mother's heart re- 
joiced when the little one she had laid with 
sighs and tears alive in its tiny coffin was in 
her arms again — wages enough, full surely; 
and proud was she of her daughter's ready 
wit ; and there was a seriousness on Miriam 
as if she felt great things would come of 
this. 

There is much that is beautiful in tender, 
sisterly affection ; there is no passion in it ; 
unlike a mother, unlike a wife, and, most of 
all, unlike a woman sought in marriage, is the 
pure, clear, heavenly love of sister for brother. 
And Miriam loved her brother Moses with a 
depth and earnestness of affection that it is 
sometimes painful to witness. It seemed to 
her as if she had rescued him from death : as 
if her very life were bound up with his ; and 
painful indeed was the thought that they would 
so soon be separated. 

There would be another and a very distress- 
ing thought in the mind of the girl : her 
brother would be taught a strange and Pagan 
creed ; how could she hope that in his very 
•early years such impressions could be made 
that would be lasting? It was a grievous 
trouble, a deep grief; but all was done that 
could be done, and the boy, when he could 
speak but imperfectly, was swift to learn. Still 



the long, dread ordeal was before the child. 
The people among whom he was to be brought 
up were immersed in Paganism; they were said 
to surpass all men in the honor they paid to 
their gods. Prominence was given to religious 
subjects in the sculptures which crowded their 
temples and tombs ; religion- was immediately 
blended with education; their sacred rites 
were conducted with great state and ceremony, 
and the priesthood possessed marvellous dig- 
nity and power. To all these influences the 
child Moses would be subjected, and who could 
foresee any other result than that he should 
succumb, adopt the faith of his patrons, and 
turn haughtily from the simple creed of his 
fathers ? 

Miriam and her Brother. 

And Miriam — would she tell the boy again 
and again of the land from which their people 
had come out, and to which, with much honor 
and glory, they were to be some day brought 
back- ? The earliest impressions are indubitably 
the most lasting. A child, we are taught, 
learns more before it is four years old than it 
ever learns afterwards, even in the longest 
lifetime. Moses never forgot the teachings of 
his sister and mother. The time came for him 
to go away, and in a burst of grief he would 
take farewell of the dear home. It is not nec- 
essary here to follow Miriam as she pours out 
much of her tenderness on the bold boy 
Aaron, and endeavors to alleviate her mother's 
sorrow, and ease her father's load of care. 

In the court of Pharaoh, Moses was well 
instructed, according to Josephus ; his under- 
standing became superior to his age, nay, far 
beyond that standard ; and when he was 
taught he discovered greater quickness of ap- 
prehension than was usual. " God did also 
give him that tallness when he was but three 
years old, as was wonderful ; and for his beauty 
there was nobody so unpolite as, when they 
saw Moses, not to be greatly surprised at the 
beauty of his countenance ; nay, it happened 
frequently that those who met him as he was 
carried along the road were obliged to turn 
again upon seeing the child, that they left 
what they were about, and stood still a great 



70 



THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH. 



while to look on him; for the beauty of the I dom ; " and when she had said this she put 
child was so remarkable and natural to him on | the infant into her father's hands, so he took 
many accounts that it detained the spectators, 



and made them stay longer to look upon 
him." This is the historical record, and 



him and hugged him close to his breast, and 
on his daughter's account, in a pleasant way r 
put his diadem upon his head ; but Moses 




MOSES BEFORE PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER. — Ex. ii. IO. 



Josephus goes on to tell us that the daughter 
of Pharaoh carried Moses to her father, saying, 
" I have brought up a child who is of a divine 
form and of a generous mind, and as I have 
received him of the bounty of the river, in a 
wonderful manner, I thought proper to adopt 
him for my son, and the heir of thy king- 



' threw it down on the ground, and in a puerile 
mood he wreathed it round and trod upon it 
with his feet ; which seemed to bring along 
with it an evil presage concerning the kingdom 
of Egypt.' " 

Moses obtained a royal home. The fair 
princess who found the weeping child by the 



EARLY LIFE OF MOSES. 



71 



river's brink adopted him, and he was brought 
up as the son of the king's daughter. We 
may be sure that as such he received the high- 
est education which the most educated nation 
in the world could give. We are, indeed, 
expressly told that he was " learned in all the 
wisdom of the Egyptians." We are also in- 
formed that he was " mighty in word and in 
deeds." What these deeds were we do not 
know, but the Jews believe that he was, on 
more than one occasion, intrusted with the 
command of the Egyptian armies, and gained 
great victories over the enemies of Egypt. 

He, -however, was aware of -his. origin, and 
acquainted with his own family. He knew 
the destinies of Israel, and a part with them 
seemed to him more desirable than the glories 
of Egypt. We are told that " By faith Moses, 
when he was come to years, refused to be 
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choos- 
ing rather to suffer affliction with the people 
of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for 
a season." But whether this refers to some- 
thing which occurred before that visit to his 
brethren in Goshen, which the regular narra- 
tive records, or is deduced from the conse- 
quences of that visit, we have no means of 
knowing. At all events, when he was forty 
years old (i 53 1 b. c.) Moses paid this visit, 
and examined, with that largeness of view 
which belonged to him, the condition of his 
people. They seemed to have remained in 
the same enslaved condition in which they 
had been left by the first decree of the Egyp- 
tian king, but the edict respecting the destruc- 
tion of the male children had not continued 
long in operation, having been withdrawn 
probably at the solicitation of the princess. 

Moses was much grieved and exasperated 
at the condition to which he beheld the de- 
scendants of Abraham reduced; and when on 
one occasion he saw an Egyptian smiting an 
Israelite, his indignation was so highly kindled 
that he slew the oppressor, and afterwards hid 
the body in the sand. This he did doubtless 
to save the Israelites, to whom the act would 
not fail to be attributed, from the consequences. 



The next day Moses had one, among other, 
of those opportunities of perceiving how the 
iron of the Egyptian bondage had eaten into 
the soul of his countrymen, which probably 
occasioned his reluctance at a future day to 
undertake the task of their deliverance. One 
object of the tyranny to which they were 
subject had been fulfilled. Their spirit was 
broken, their souls had fallen into bondage ; 
and there was nothing they so much dreaded 
as the displeasure of their tyrants, and they 
regarded with apprehension and dislike any 
person or any act, however generous in char- 
acter or noble in motive, that seemed likely to 
draw upon them the unfavorable notice of their 
taskmasters. Perceiving two Israelites strug- 
gling with each other, he said to the one who 
was apparently in the wrong, " Wherefore 
smitest thou thy fellow ? " To which the 
other replied tauntingly, " Who made thee a 
prince and a judge over us? Intendest 
thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyp- 
tian ? " 

He fled ; and his course was directed towards 
that region which was in after years the scene 
of his glory. He made his way to the country 
bordering on the eastern arm of the Red Sea, 
which was anciently called the ^Elanitic Gulf, 
and now the Gulf of Akaba. Arrived in the 
land of Southern Midian, the exile rested 
beside a well, and while he sat there the 
daughters of the emir and priest of Midian, 
Jethro by name, arrived to water their father's 
flock. They had drawn up the water and 
filled the troughs, when some shepherds came 
and drove them off These churlish shepherds 
were proceeding to give to their flocks the 
water which had been drawn when Moses 
interposed, and himself watered the maidens' 
flock. They failed not to report this kindness 
of" the Egyptian," as Moses appeared in their 
eyes, to their father, Jethro, who sent to offer 
him the hospitalities of his house. In the end 
Moses consented to remain with Jethro and 
take the charge of his flocks ; and ere long he 
obtained in marriage one of Jethro's daughters, 
named Zipporah, by whom he had two sons. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE DELIVERER OF ISRAEL. 




RTEVOUS oppressions 
were inflicted upon the 
Hebrews, and a timely 
deliverer was sent in 
the person of Moses. 
Forty years after he 
had quitted Egypt, and 
when he was eighty 
years of age, he led his 
flock, as usuai. into these favorite 
pastures, when one day he was much 
astonished to perceive a bush burning 
in the distance without being con- 
sumed. He drew near to see this 
great sight, when a miraculous voice 
from out the bush charged him to unloose the 
sandals from his feet— the Oriental mark of 
respect — because the ground on which he 
stood was holy. By this Moses might have 
guessed that he stood in the presence of that 
God who had so often appeared to his patri- 
archal fathers ; for only the presence of God 
could, in the sense intimated, render the ground 
holy. On this point he could not be long in 
doubt, for the Voice said : — " I am the God 
of thy father : the God of Abraham, the God 
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And when 
Moses heard that, he hid his face, " for he was 
afraid to look upon God," or even upon the 
burning symbol of his glory. The divine 
Voice then proceeded to declare the object of 
this appearance. God had seen the grievous 
and still continued oppression of his people in 
Egypt, and the time for their deliverance was 
come. And they were to be delivered, and 
conducted to their promised heritage, not by 
the naked arm of God, but by that arm clothed 
with visible agencies, and acting through 
human instruments — a human deliverer. And 
who was he ? 

Moses himself was called to the glorious task 
(72) 



of bringing forth the people of God from the 
house of bondage, and he was encouraged to 
this undertaking by the assurance that all his 
personal enemies, all those who once sought 
his life in Egypt, were now dead, so that he 
might safely return thither. That the time was 
come for Israel to be delivered was matter of 
great joy to Moses; but time — forty years of 
pastoral occupation — had subdued the early 
ardor of him who had once been a self-ap- 
pointed redresser of Israel's wrongs, and had 
been prematurely anx ; ous to assume the task 
of a deliverer. The repulse which he then re- 
ceived sunk deep into his soul, and made him 
hopeless of rousing the spirit of a people so 
accustomed to their yoke, so enslaved in 
heart, as he knew them to be. But the Divine 
Being condescended to answer his objections, 
and reminded him that, in discharging the 
great duty to which he was now called, he 
would act in a power beyond his own. 

Thus assured, Moses nc longer declined the 
task imposed upon him. He rendered up his 
pastoral charge tc jethrc : and. taking his wife 
and children, turned his sreps towards Egypt. 
Before he reached that country, he was met by 
his eider brother Aaron, from whom he doubt- 
less received full information of the state of 
affairs in Egypt, and of the present condition 
and feeling" of the Israelites. 

Glad Tidings for the Hebrews. 

Arrived in Egypt, the brothers assembled 
the elders of Israel ; and Moses related the 
mission which he had received, and exhibited 
the miraculous powers which had been in- 
trusted to him to prove its truth. Then the 
people believed, " and when they heard that 
the Lord had visited the children of Israel, 
and that he had looked upon their affliction, 
then they bowed their heads and worshipped.'' 



THE DELIVERER OF ISRAEL. 



73 



After this, Moses and Aaron, attended by 
the chiefs of Israel, presented themselves be- 
fore the throne of Egypt, and demanded, in 



The insolent pride with which Pharaoh re- 
ceived the message communicated by Moses, 
"Who is Jehovah! that I should obey his 




THE BUSH THAT BURNED AND WAS NOT CONSUMED. Ex. iii. 2. 



the name of Jehovah, that his people should] voice, to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, 
go forth to hold a solemn sacrifice and festival neither will I let Israel go," and the obstinacy 
in the desert. I which he afterwards exhibits, when the Divine 



74 



PRIDE OF PHARAOH. 



punishments fall upon him one after another, 
in choosing rather to see the destruction of 
his land and people, than to yield — are proved 
by the monuments, which the Egyptians have 
left behind them, to be in accordance with the 
genuine spirit of a Pharaoh. 

A comparison of the representation of the 
victory of Remeses Mi-amun in Thebes, as 
explained by Champollion, is of special interest 
in this connection. The trophies of victory 
(the severed right hand, and other members 
of the body) are there laid at the feet of the 
king, who sits quietly in his chariot, while the 
horses are held by his officers, and addresses 
this haughty speech to his warriors : " Give 
yourselves to mirth ; let it rise to heaven. 
Strangers are dashed to the ground by my 
power. The terror of my name has gone 
forth ; their hearts are full of it. I appear be- 
fore them as a lion ; I have pursued them as a 
hawk ; I have annihilated their wicked souls ; 
I have passed over their rivers ; I have set fire 
to their castles ; I am to Egypt what the god 
Mandoo has been ; I have vanquished the bar- 
barians ; Amun-Re (the greatest of the Egyp- 
tian gods), my father, has subdued the whole 
world under my feet, and I am king on the 
throne for ever." The literal truth of this 
translation has indeed been disputed ; but the 
spirit which the speech breathes may easily be 
recognized from it. There is no doubt that 
the Egyptian kings, in their pride, named 
themselves kings of the whole world ; and it 
has been established by their monuments, that 
they, in this arrogance, claimed divine honors 
for themselves. 

Not only was the application made by Moses 
refused, but the exactions and the inflictions 
upon the Israelites were redoubled, to punish 
them for having made it. Hitherto they had 
been allowed straw with which to compact the 
bricks, the manufacture of which formed their 
chief labor; but now this was refused, and 
although much of their time was consumed in 
collecting the straw, the full tale of bricks was 
required from them ; and the officers of the 
children of Israel, whom the overseers of 
Pharaoh had placed over them, were beaten 



because the task was not performed. This 
scene is placed vividly before us by the Egyp- 
tians, who offer many representations of "labor 
stimulated by the persuasive powers of the 
stick," the efficiency of which cannot be doubted. 

Loud Murmuring of the People. 

The Hebrew people now began to complain 
against Moses and Aaron for having thus in- 
creased their troubles by their ill-considered 
demands ; and Moses himself complained to 
the Lord that the condition of the people had 
not been bettered, but rendered much worse 
by his interference. 

Then the word was given for that extraor- 
dinary series of visitations known as the 
plagues of Egypt, for the purpose of con- 
vincing the king of the power of the God whom 
the Hebrews served, and of the dread conse- 
quences of resisting his demand. The effect 
of some of these was weakened to the mind of 
Pharaoh by the impostures of his magicians, 
by whom some of them were simulated. But 
the terrible visitation which each plague 
brought could only be removed at the inter- 
cession of Moses ; and at that intercession they 
were successively removed, on promises from 
the king of attention and compliance, which 
were neglected so soon as the penal effects had 
ceased. Hence these visitations rose in se- 
verity, till the last terrible and overwhelming 
calamity produced the designed result. 

They were preceded by a sign, or miracle, 
performed in the presence of Pharaoh and his 
court, and intended to authenticate the divine 
mission which Moses had received. Attended 
by the elders of Israel, Moses and his brother 
Aaron again presented themselves before the 
king ; and the latter having cast down his rod 
upon the ground, it was at once changed into 
a serpent, in the sight of all that illustrious 
audience. Instead of yielding to the force of 
that evidence which this miracle conveyed, the 
king sent for his " wise men and •sorcerers," 
who " did in like manner with their enchant- 
ments ; for they cast down every man his rod, 
and they became serpents." This hardened 
the king in the course he had marked out for 




AARON S ROD THAT WAS CHANGED TO A 



•Ex. vii. IO. 



76 



SERPENT-CHARMERS. 



himself; and although the inferiority of the 
seeming miracle of the magicians was evinced 
by the fact of Aaron's serpent-rod swallowing 
up theirs, the king persuaded himself that he 
had an excuse for withholding his consent to 
the demand made in the name of Jehovah. 
We are expressly told that the " wise men " 
of Egypt performed their simulated wonder 
by " enchantment," which word denotes not 
merely magical agencies, but any kind of leg- 
erdemain, or scientific or artistical contrivance. 
The Egyptian priests were deeply learned in 
all the secrets of nature and art, which were 
hidden from their contemporaries, and which, 
indeed, they treasured up as mysteries peculiar 
to their order, and to which none but the 
highest members, even of that order, were ad- 
mitted. There is no manner of doubt that it 
Avas by such means that they were enabled to 
imitate, in appearance, some of the miracles 
performed by Moses and Aaron. 

Wonders Performed by Magicians. 

This counter-wonder of the Egyptian magi- 
cians was founded on the peculiar condition 
of Egypt: and much more so was the Mosaic 
sign ; for through it the prophet was furnished 
with power to perform that which the magi- 
cians of Egypt most especially gloried in, and 
by which they most of all supported their 
authority. 

The charming of serpents has been native 
to Egypt, from the most ancient even to the 
present time ; and although the art is now be- 
held by us without those sacred associations 
which invested it with awe and wonder in and 
after the time in which Moses lived, enough 
remains to enable us to form some conception 
of the effects then produced. Even those 
who have entered upon an examination of 
the subject with the most absolute unbelief, 
such as the scientific commissioners attached 
to the French army in Egypt, have been 
forced into the conviction, that there was 
something in it, which their philosophy could 
not reach, and which compelled them to con 
elude that the Psylli (as these serpent-charmers 
were anciently called) were in the possession 



of some secret charm, which placed them in a 
condition to bring about the most wonderful 
consequences. It was at first believed that 
they removed the teeth of serpents and the 
stings of scorpions, that they might handle 
them with impunity ; but this suspicion has 
been disproved by repeated examination. 

Indeed, this wondrous art is still a mystery; 
it descends from father to son, and the 
serpent-charmers in Egypt form an association 
claiming to be the only individuals who are able 
to charm serpents or free houses from them. 
Their sleight of hand is marvelous. They 
are able, according to their assertions, to make 
the Haje (the species of serpent they espe- 
cially make use of in their tricks) rigid as a 
staff, and to appear as if dead ; and then, at 
pleasure, make them relax into vitality again. 

An eminent naturalist, Col. C. Hamilton 
Smith, informs us that the inflation of which 
this serpent is capable can, by a peculiar press- , 
ure on the neck, be rendered so intensely 
rigid, that the serpent can be held out hori- 
zontally, as if it were a rod ; and that the resto- 
ration of vitality is produced by liberating the 
animal, or by throwing it on the ground. 
This seems quite to explain how the magi- 
cians were able to make their real serpents 
appear, at first, as rods, which, when cast upon 
the ground, recovered their vital action, imitat- 
ing, by reversed effects, the deed of Aaron, 
whose real rod became a serpent. 

Plagues Sent Upon Egypt. 

Then began the plagues. The first changed 
into blood the pleasant waters of the health- 
giving Nile; and although they succeeded in 
apparently turning some water into blood, 
they were not able to reverse the miracle, as 
Moses did when signs of contrition were 
manifested by the king. We are not required 
to understand that by this miracle the waters 
of Egypt were changed into real blood, but 
only to a blood-red color; so that the blood 
here is the same as the " water red as blood " 
described in the Second Book of Kings. 
That there is found something analogous 
to this in the natural phenomena of Egypt 



THE DELIVERER OF ISRAEL 



77 



has long since been related. It is admitted 
that the waters of the Nile, a short time before 
the inundation, take a green, and at the be- 
ginning of the inundation a red color. The 
cause of this change has not been fully in- 
vestigated. In common years the water when 
it is green and when it is red is drinkable : 
but sometimes, in years of great heat, this 
peculiarity of the water becomes a great 
calamity, as it then becomes so offensive that 



in the ordinary course of nature ; rind still 
more, in the extraordinary character of the visi- 
tation, indicated by the fact that all the fish in 
the river died, which effect never ensues from 
the natural reddening of the waters. 

There is an intended emphasis in the in- 
formation that " the Egyptians loathed to 
drink the waters of the river," which must not 
be overlooked. It is founded upon the im- 
portance which the Nile water has for the 




THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS. — Ex. X. 12. 



people of delicate stomachs cannot drink it, 
and content themselves with well-water. If 
that calamity which came at the word of 
Moses were the same as this, then the wonder 
would consist in its coming in at the time ap- 
pointed by the prophet ; in its coming not, as 
usual, gradually, but suddenly, at the moment 
when his rod was lifted up; and in the time 
itself not being the usual time, which is about 
the middle of the year, but many months 
sooner than it has ever been known to occur 



Egyptians, and upon the almost passionate 
love of the inhabitants of Egypt for it. The 
water of the Nile is, in fact, the only drinkable 
water in Egypt ; for the water of the few wells 
is distasteful and unwholesome. The Turks 
find this water so pleasant, that they are said 
to eat salt on purpose to be able to drink the 
I more of it. They are accustomed to say, that 
I if Mohammed had drunk thereof, he would 
have asked an immortality on earth, that he 
might always drink of this water. 



THE TEN PLAGUES. 



If the Egyptians undertake a pilgrimage to 
Mecca, or travel elsewhere, they speak of 
nothing but the delight which they shall ex- 
perience when, on their return, they shall 
again drink the pleasant water of their great 
river. Under due reference to these circum- 
stances we shall perceive the peculiar force of 
the terms employed in describing the Egyp- 
tians as loathing the water which they usually 
prefer before all the water in the world ; 
and as choosing rather to drink well-water, 
which is in their country so unpleasant. 

The second plague brought frogs in myriads 
upon every pleasant place in Egypt; and 
although the magicians simulated this miracle 
also, Moses only, at a time previously ap- 
pointed, could remove the evil. 

Repeated Calamities. 

The third plague was formed by gnats, 
which are even in ordinary years very trouble- 
some in Egypt, and the vast increase of which 
must have rendered life insupportable. In 
trying to imitate this, the magicians failed, and 
they acknowledged " This is the finger of 
God." But the heart of Pharaoh was still 
hardened. 

Then came the fourth plague, that of the 
" flies," — probably the dog-fly, which is re- 
markably troublesome in Egypt, from its dis- 
position to alight upon the edge of the eye- 
lid. This brought Pharaoh to urge the 
Hebrews to keep their feast and offer their 
sacrifices in Egypt. But Moses answered — 
" It is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice 
the abomination of the Egyptians to the 
Lord our God : lo, shall we sacrifice the 
abomination of the Egyptians before their 
eyes, and will they not stone us ? " This is 
usually understood to mean that the Egyp- 
tians would be offended by the Israelites offer- j 
ing the same animals which they worshipped. 
But an accomplished German divine, Heng- 
stenberg, has suggested a very different view. 
He argues that " the designation ' abomina- 
tion ' is not appropriate to the consecrated 
.animals." 

This indicates that the animals which the 



Israelites slaughtered were not considered too 
good, but too bad for offerings. The animals 
which were commonly taken among the Israel- 
ites for offerings were also among the Egyp- 
tians not sacred. The only one of the larger 
domestic animals which was usually regarded 
as sacred by them was the cow ; and this was 
not offered by the Israelites, except under 
peculiar and unusual circumstances. The 
offence was, rather, that the Israelites omitted 
the inquiry concerning the cleanness of ani- 
mals, which was practised with the greatest 
caution by the Egyptians. That only clean 
animals were offered by the Egyptians, Herod- 
otus says, in that remark-able passage where 
he acquits the Egyptians from the imputation 
of offering human sacrifices: " For since they 
are not allowed to sacrifice any animals except 
the swine and the bullock and calves, namely, 
those that are clean among them, and the 
goose, how can they offer men ? " What 
stress they laid upon cleanness, and how truly 
it was considered an abomination to offer an 
unclean animal, is seen from the same author. 
Only a red ox could be offered, and a single 
black hair rendered it unclean. They also 
placed dependence on a multitude of marks 
besides this ; the tongue, the tail, were accu- 
rately examined. Every victim, after a pre- 
scribed examination, in confirmation of its fit- 
ness, was sealed on the horns ; and to offer an 
unsealed ox was prohibited on pain of death. 

Under the fifth plague the animals of Egypt 
were smitten by a grievous murrain, while 
those of the Israelites sustained no harm. 

The plague of boils and blains upon the 
bodies of all the Egyptians, including the 
magicians, was the sixth. It was miraculous 
chiefly in its circumstances and in its extent ; 
the disease itself having been so common in 
Egypt, that, elsewhere, it is described as " the 
boil of Egypt." 

The seventh plague was a tremendous tem- 
pest of hail, by which men and cattle were 
slain, the trees broken, and the produce of the 
fields crushed down. The whole crop of the 
flax and the barley was smitten, for it had 
grown up; but the wheat and spelt escaped, 




PLACING THE MARK OF BLOOD UPON THE DOOR-POST. Ex. xii. 7. 



79 



80 



THE TEN PLAGUES. 



as these came later to maturity. No hail fell 
in the land of Goshen, which the Israelites 
inhabited. 

As the heart of Pharaoh was not moved by 
all these wonders, another plague was sent; 
it was that of the locusts, which came over 
the land in numbers without example, and 
speedily consumed every green thing which 
the hail had spared. 

Then, as the ninth plague, came a terrible 
darkness overall that sunny land — a darkness 
dense beyond description — and which allowed 
no one to stir from his place during the three 
days that it lasted. But all this time the 
Israelites had abundant light in Goshen. 

One plague more, the tenth — terrible, fatal, 
effectual — was threatened before it came, that 
timely submission might haply avert the doom. 
It was the death of all the first-born in Egypt, 
from the first-born of "the king upon his 
throne, to the first-born of the maid-servant 
behind the mill." God, who knew the effect 
of this terrible stroke, directed the institution 
of a festival in commemoration of it, and that 



the Hebrews should stand ready for departure 
at the appointed time. The festival was called 
the Passover, because the destroying angel 
would pass over the doors marked with the 
blood of a lamb, which every Hebrew family 
was directed to slay, and eat in the posture 
of persons ready for a journey. 

Already, according to the divine direction, 
the Hebrews had borrowed of their Egyptian 
neighbors various articles and ornaments of 
gold and silver, with which, according to cus- 
tom, they might becomingly celebrate the 
great feast they were to hold in the wilderness. 
And by this time the renown of Moses had 
so spread among the people, and so lively a 
dread of his power was entertained, that the 
Israelites obtained freely whatever they asked. 
It is, indeed, evident from the whole narrative 
that the popular feeling among the Egyptians 
was by no means favorable to the course taken 
by the government in its obstinate and perilous 
refusal of the demand made in behalf of the 
Israelites. 




CHAPTER VIII. 



THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 




ISTORY presents us 
with few events more 
startling than those 
which attended the ex- 
odus of the Hebrews 
from Egypt. The fatal 
night came — a night 
which formed a chief 
point of remembrance 
to the Jews in all succeeding genera- 
tions. That night the Passover was, 
for the first time, celebrated by them ; 
and in that night the first-born of all 
the Egyptians were smitten with in- 
stant death, so that no house was found in 
Egypt in which the most valued of its mem- 
bers had not died. Then a great cry arose in 
all the land, and the court, whatever might 
have been its own feeling, saw that the popular 
voice would no longer be controlled, and there- 
fore now, in this dreadful hour, the Hebrewc 
were not only permitted to quit Egypt, but 
were urged forth with importunity and haste. 
Of this haste some notion may be formed 
from the fact, that they were unable to bake 
or even to leaven the dough which they had 
prepared for bread, and which they therefore, 
took away with them as unleavened dough in 
their kneading-troughs. 

They were all assembled with their flocks 
and herds in the land of Goshen, in the dis- 
trict of Rameses, and before the day had 
dawned the vast host of the Israelites, of 
whom the adult males alone numbered six 
hundred thousand, marched forth from the 
land of Egypt, and proceeded northward into 
the wilderness. The last day of bondage and 
the first of freedom is the most important in 
the history of any nation. So the Israelites 
felt theirs to be, and the Almighty fixed it in 
their memory by institutions more durable 



than monuments of brass or marble. Such 
was the Passover, and such the new decree 
which consecrated to the service of the Lord 
all the first-born of Israel in memory of their 
being spared when all the first-born of Egypt 
died. 

As the southern parts of Palestine were oc- 
cupied by the Philistines and other warlike 
nations, it was deemed inexpedient to lead the 
undisciplined and encumbered Israelites in that 
direction, although it was the nearest and the 
most usual route. 

For this, among other reasons, the departing 
host took the road towards the Red Sea, the 
neighborhood of which they reached after 
three days' journey. 

This journey from the land of Goshen to the 
Red Sea has received much attention from 
Biblical geographers, who have scarcely suc- 
ceeded in relieving it from all the obscurity in 
which they found it involved. In a work of 
this description the questions connected with 
this and other points in the journey of the 
Israelites do not admit of critical examination, 
and we must be content to state the results of 
those investigations which appear to us to have 
led to the most probable conclusions. 

It is usual, when large parties prepare for a 
journey in the East, for all the travellers to 
assemble at a common rendezvous, where they 
arrange the details of the journey, and prepare 
for a regular start. Thus a place by the river 
of Ahava was the rendezvous of the exiles 
who returned to Judea under Ezra. And at 
the present day the great pilgrim caravan from 
Egypt to Mecca assembles at Birket-el-Hadj, 
or the Pilgrims' Pool, which some suppose 
may possibly have been the very place from 
which the Hebrews took their departure. In 
the present case the Hebrews knew well that 
they were to depart this night, and the point 

(81) 






82 



THE FIRST STATION. 



of rendezvous seems to have been at Succoth, i movement in more regular order to their destf- 
which was where they first halted after quitting | nation. As the name Succoth means " booths" 




THE DESTROYING ANGEL PASSING THROUGH EGYPT. Ex. Xvii. 29. 

Rameses. To this point they seem to have I or " tents," it is more than probable that it was 
hastened in detached parties, and there re- a well-known station for such purposes. Such 
ceived the organization necessary for their I places are usually but a short distance from 



THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 



83 



the place which furnishes the principal number 
of pilgrims or travellers; and the first stage is 
therefore always short, being, in fact, only to 
the place of meeting. 

This ought to satisfy those who cannot un- 
derstand how the distance from Rameses to 
the border of the Red Sea could occupy three 
days ; the shortness of the first stage accounts 
for it. On the second day they arrived at 
" Etham, on the edge of the wilderness." 
This is usually identified with the place now 
called Adjeroud, which is at this day the third 
station of the great pilgrim caravan, and where 
there is an ancient fortress garrisoned by 
Egyptian troops, with a poor village and a 
copious well of water. Whether this be a cor- 
rect identification or not, Etham was undoubt- 
edly situated not far from the head of the Gulf 
of Suez; and in such a position, with reference 
to it, that the course taken from it determined 
the direction of the journey. Accordingly the 
Hebrew host here received orders to turn and 
encamp on the shore of the gulf, between the 
sea 'and the mountains by which it was en- 
closed, which was the best they could do. 

War-Chariots and Footmen. 

The Egyptian court seems to have watched 
the movements of the retiring host with great 
interest. The ostensible demand of the Israel- 
ites was to take three days' journey into the 
wilderness, and there offer their sacrifices to 
Jehovah. At Etham they had attained a point 
whatever movement they made from which 
would determine their real intentions. That 
their intention was not to keep their feast at 
Etham and then return to Egypt was evinced 
by their further movements. 

On learning this, the king resolved to pur- 
sue them and drive them back. In this de- 
sign he was encouraged by learning the very 
strange position in which they were encamped, 
where, as he said, " they are entangled in the 
land, the wilderness hath shut them jn." He 
saw that from the position they had taken up, 
if he came upon them in the north, and cut 
off their retreat in that direction, they must of 
necessity be either driven into the sea or back 



to Egypt through the valley of Badea. Alas! 
he knew not that the God who protected the 
house of Israel was able to open a pathway 
through the waters for their deliverance. 

The facility with which the king assembled 
his forces, as soon as his resolution was formed, 
gives us an idea of the effective military or- 
ganization of the Egyptians, which is amply 
confirmed and illustrated by histories and 
monuments. The " chosen " chariots of war 
were in number six hundred. These " chosen" 
chariots doubtless formed the guard of the 
king; other chariots are mentioned, but not 
the number, which must be estimated in this 
proportion. We have no reason to suppose 
this number overwhelming; but that it com- 
posed such a body of this much dreaded force 
as seemed needful for the immediate service. 
That service was one for cavalry, and, con- 
formably to the accounts of the sacred his- 
torian, we now know that war-chariots com- 
posed the sole cavalry of Egypt. This formed 
the chief arm of Egypt's military strength, and 
was at once the force most suited to this ser- 
vice, and that of which a people of pastoral 
habits like the Israelites ' have always been 
found to stand in the most dread. 

The Hebrews Terrified. 

Accordingly when the Egyptian forces ac- 
tually made their appearance, the Hebrews 
seem not to have entertained the least notion 
of resistance, which indeed their position would 
scarcely, under any circumstances, have al- 
lowed. That position, however, protected 
them from being taken in flank by the Egyp- 
tians, who, on their part, finding their prey 
safe, as they thought, in the toils, were in no 
hurry to commence their operations, but 
rested themselves and their horses against the 
following day. 

The Israelites, when they saw the Egyp- 
tians, were filled with alarm and terror, until 
they were reassured by promises of a great 
deliverance, and a signal and final overthrow 
of their haughty pursuers. Accordingly, at 
the dead of night, the waters of the gulf were 
miraculously divided, and stood up on either 



8 4 A REMARKABLE CLOUD. 

hand like a wall, to afford the surrounded I which turned its radiant side to the former, 
Hebrews a passage to the other side. Norland left the latter in utter darkness. 1ms 




MARVELLOUS PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA.— Ex. xiv. 22. 

as this all: for, to protect their rear, and to I " pillar of cloud " had been before and was 
uide their passage, there was a miraculous after, their guide, as a mass of cloud by day 



passage, 
cloud placed between them and the Egyptians, I and of flame by night. 



THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 



85 



No sooner did the Egyptians perceive the 
escape of the Israelites, than, with unparal- 
leled hardihood, they hastened to pursue them 
by the open path through the waters. The 
whole host was in the channel, when He who 
had by His might upheld the waters, withdrew 
His hand, and instantly the vast void was 
filled, and the host of Pharaoh was over- 
whelmed by the returning waters. The ran- 
somed Hebrews stood safely on the other side, 
and witnessed this great overthrow and de- 
struction of their enemies. Their confidence 
in both their Divine and human leader was 
restored, and they heartily joined with Moses 
in the noble song of triumph with which he 
celebrated this great event, while all the vir- 
gins of Israel followed Miriam with timbrels, 
dances, and exulting chants for this signal 
deliverance. 

The Power that Parted the Waters. 

The reader is doubtless aware that there 
has been much dispute respecting the part of 
the Gulf of Suez at which the passage of the 
Israelites took place. The course of the 
account we have given has been to place it at 
a point several miles below the end of the gulf 
(probably at Ain Mousa), where the waters 
are of considerable depth. Many scholars 
and travellers have, however, strenuously con- 
tended that the passage took place at a point 
near Suez, where the ebb of the tide still 
leaves a practicable passage across the gulf. 
The difficulties of this notion are, to our 
minds, so insuperable, that it seems hard to 
understand how it can be held for a moment 
by the many gifted and pious persons by 
whom we know that it is entertained. 

If there ever was a special interposition of 
Divine Providence, or, in other words, a mir- 
acle, it was this passage of the Red Sea ; nor 
is there any single event in Scripture which 
the sacred writers so repeatedly declare to be 
such. The condition of the ford at Suez was 
either the same then as now, or it was not. 
If it was not, the grounds which are now 
alleged for making this the point of passage, 
rather than at any other place, could not then 



exist ; and if it were, there was no need of the 
miracle which is declared to have taken place ; 
and the sacred writers are subjected to the 
serious imputation of claiming as a miracle a 
natural phenomenon of daily occurrence. If 
they had made such a claim, as they did, 
while the persons who had actually passed the 
sea were still living, while they still remained 
in the neighborhood, and when the facts of 
the case could not be hidden from them, the 
prophet would have been laughed to scorn 
who told them they were delivered by a mir- 
acle. 

More than this; the Hebrews had been at 
least two days, if not three, encamped in front 
of this very spot, and could not fail to ob- 
serve that it was twice a day left dry by the 
ebb of the tide. How then was it, in this 
case, that both they and the Egyptians deemed 
that no means of escape from their " entangle- 
ment " existed? And how was it that the 
Egyptians pursued the Hebrews, when they 
must have been acquainted with the condition 
of the tide, and could not but know that it 
would return upon them before they could get 
across? In that case, would not any man 
have preferred to have ridden around the 
beach, and attacked the Hebrews on the other 
side, as they came up from the bed of the 
gulf? These objections to the view which 
has of late years become popular, have never 
been fairly met and answered, nor do we be- 
lieve that they are answerable. 

A Wandering- Nation. 

Several wells of water are found at Ain 
Mousa, " the Fountain of Moses," where - we 
assume that the Israelites encamped after 
passing the sea. Dr. Robinson, our eminent 
American scholar, counted seven; but some 
of them were mere recent excavations in the 
sand, in which a little brackish water was 
standing. Other of the wells are older and 
more abundant ; but the water is dark-colored 
and brackish, and deposits a hard substance as 
it rises, so that mounds have been formed 
around these larger springs, at the top of 
which the water flows out, and runs down for 



86 



SPRINGS OF WATER AND PALM-BUSHES. 



a few yards till it is lost in the sand. The I rather palm-bushes, grow around in the arid 
Arabs call the northernmost of these springs I sand, and give diversity to the desert scene. 




Miriam's song of triumph. — Ex. xv. 20. 
sweet, but the traveller could not perceive that I At this place (as we suppose) the Israelites 
they differed much from the others. About remained some days to refresh their spirits, 
twenty stunted and untrimmed palm-trees, or I and to gather the harvest of the deep, which 



LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 



87 



was obtained from the costly spoils of the 
Egyptians whose bodies were washed to the 
shore. 

After leaving the shore where they had 
crossed the sea, the emancipated Israelites pro 
ceeded on their journey towards the Sinai 
mountains, among whose solitudes they were 
destined to be organized as a nation, and to 
receive such training as was needful to fit 
them for the peculiar destinies which lay before 
them. 

Their journey at first lay over " a desert re- 
gion, sandy, gravelly, and stony alternately. 
On the right hand their eyes rested on the 
deep blue waters of the gulf so lately divided 
for their sake, while on their left hand lay 
mountain-chains, stretching away to a great 
distance as the pilgrims advanced. In about 
nine miles they would enter upon a boundless 
desert plain, now called El Ati, white and 
painfully glaring to the eye. Proceeding be- 
yond this, the ground became hilly, with sand- 
hills near the coast." 

Bitter Waters of Marah. 

By the time they had traversed this region 
for three days, the water, which they had 
doubtless brought with them from Ain Mousa, 
became exhausted, and they hastened forward 
gladly to the well of Marah, which at length 
appeared to promise the water of which they 
stood so much in need. They found the 
water of this well too bitter to drink ; and 
seeing no prospect of relief, they, who had all 
their lives been accustomed to drink their fill 
from the pleasant water of the Nile, quailed 
under this privation, and openly vented their 
discontent against Moses for having brought 
them into this miserable region. The water 
of Marah is of unpleasant taste, saltish, and 
somewhat bitter, and must have been intoler- 
able to persons not yet accustomed to bad 
water. Moses was directed by the Lord to 
•cast into the well the branches of a certain un- 
named "tree," which grew near; and when he 
had done this, the water became fit for use. 

Proceeding on their way, the country became 
more pleasant, and before them, as they ad- 



vanced, the appearance of seventy palm-trees 
promised a supply of naturally good water, 
which is seldom absent where palm-trees 
grow. They were not disappointed, for twelve 
wells were found on the spot, which have the 
name of Elim. Here is a vailey, through 
which a torrent flows in winter. This valley 
is deeper and decked more profusely with 
trees and shrubs than any which the Israelites 
had yet passed. A few palm-trees are still 
found there, but tamarisks and acacias are 
more common. The fountains, lying above a 
mile out of the common route, are not visited 
by travellers, but water brought from them by 
attendant Arabs is, like all the water of this 
region, somewhat brackish. This is still one 
of the regular watering-places of the Arabs. 
After leaving Elim, the Hebrews entered upon 
a more rugged country, called "the wilderness 
of Sinai, which is between Elim and Sinai." 
In this part of their route they had to pass 
through a plain or valley, formed by the roots 
of the El Tyh mountains on the left hand, and 
a chain of mountains which border the Red 
Sea on the right hand and shut out all view 
of and access to it. Having passed through 
this valley, the Hebrews came out again upon 
the shore of the Red Sea, and there en- 
camped. 

By this time a month had passed since the 
Hebrews had quitted Egypt, and the provisions 
which they had brought with them from that 
country were quite spent. This soon threw 
them upon their usual and most disgraceful com- 
plaints against Moses, and, by implication, 
against the God who had wrought such great 
wonders for their sakes. The abundance of 
Egypt rose before their minds, and they 
scrupled not to avow that the bondage, sweet- 
ened by the plenty, of that country, was, in 
their eyes, better than the glorious liberty, 
accompanied by privation, to which they had 
now attained. Yet while our indignation 
rises at the sight of a people so unworthy of, 
and so unable to appreciate, the freedom be- 
stowed upon them, let us still remember that 
this enervation of soul was a natural and per- 
haps inevitable result of the enslaved con- 



88 



QUAILS AND MANNA. 



dition in which this generation had been born 
and bred. 

The answer to their murmurs was, the 
seemingly incredible promise that they should 
have meat to excess before the evening closed. 
Accordingly that very evening a wind arose, 
the direction of which brought to the camp 
an immense flight of quails, which, being 
weary, flew so heavily and low, that vast 
numbers of them were secured by the greedy 
Israelites, who were thus enabled to feed 
abundantly on a kind of game which was 
highly prized in Egypt. 

Bread from Heaven. 

Nor was this all, for when they arose the 
next morning the Israelites found the ground 
covered with an appearance like that of hoar 
frost, which, on examination, appeared to be 
composed of grains of a pearl color and of 
the form and size of coriander seeds. They 
asked one another, " What is this ? " [Man-hu), 
whence the name of Manna was given to this 
unknown substance. They were told that 
this was the "bread " with which they should 
henceforth be supplied every morning till the 
sources of natural supply from corn were open 
to them. Every family was directed to collect 
what it deemed an adequate supply; and 
those who collected more than enough found 
their labor useless, as any portion which re- 
mained over the day corrupted and was 
spoiled. 

And yet, as if on purpose to evince the en- 
tirely miraculous nature of this provision, this 
quality of the manna was intermitted once in 
every week : for none of it fell on the Sab- 
bath, but a double portion came and was 
gathered on the preceding day, and that 
which was not consumed on the first day con- 
tinued fresh through the second. In the 
preparation for food this substance was dealt 
with like ordinary grain. It was reduced to 
meal by being ground in hand-mills or 
pounded in mortars, and it was then kneaded 
and baked in loaves and cakes after the 
usual manner. And yet, although thus pre- 
pared for food by baking, such of the manna 



as remained ungathered on the ground dis- 
solved away daily in the heat of the sun. 

Eventually, also, a quantity of the manna- 
was laid up in a golden pot in the holy place 
for a memorial ; and, to answer the purpose of 
a memorial, it must have retained its original 
shape, although in the one instance it cor- 
rupted and in the other dissolved in a single 
day. Under these circumstances no one 
who receives the books of Moses as the truth 
of God can doubt that the manna, by which 
the Israelites were fed for forty years, was 
altogether miraculously supplied, or that the 
substance itself was altogether miraculous. It 
was the Divine method of supplying the wants 

i of the people who were in the wilderness. 
Any attempt to explain this matter on 

i natural grounds involves greater difficulties. 

, than the miracle itself. Thus, it has been at- 
tempted to show that the manna was the 
exudation from certain trees which grow 
sparingly in that region. But if the gummy 
distillation from these trees even did corre- 
pond to the description of the manna, how 
were the circumstances which constitute all 
that requires a miracle — how are these to be 
accounted for? Where, above all, shall we 
look for the interminable forests of manniferous 
trees which supplied two or three millions of 
people with daily and unfailing provision at 
all times of the year and in all their wander- 
ings? 

The manna seems to have had a sweetish 
taste, for the bread made from it is described 
as being similar to the finest corn bread made 
with honey or with oil. 

The Hebrews in the Wilderness. 

In the leading narrative in Exodus, the next 
station, after the one distinguished by these 
memorable circumstances, is Rephidim. This 
is because that was the next station at which 
any remarkable circumstance occurred. We 
find the Israelites giving way to another out- 
break of murmuring and discontent at Rephi- 
dim. The cause was the want of water ; and 
this time their discontent grew to such a 
height that they were almost ready to stone 



THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 



89 



their great leader for having brought them 
out of the land of Egypt into this desert. 



another signal miracle in their behalf. Moses 
was instructed to take with him certain elders 



The usual appeal to the Lord was the only I of the people, and proceed up the valley till 




SMITING THE ROCK 



resource of Moses in this emergency. The 
Lord, still merciful and forbearing towards his 
wayward people, delayed not to perform 



he came to a certain rock, which he was to 
smite with his rod. He did so : and imme- 
diately the smitten rock poured forth a stream- 



90 



WATER IN THE DESERT. 



of water, which flowed down the valley to the 
Hebrew camp, and furnished an abundant 
supply to ail the host. Moses called that 
place Massah, signifying " temptation," be- 
cause the Israelites there tempted God ; and 
Meribah, meaning "strife," because of the 
contention which there arose. 

The rock which Moses smote, and from 
which the water flowed, is pointed out to 
.travellers in a narrow valley in the upper 
region of Sinai. It is a large isolated cube of 
coarse red granite, which appears to have 
fallen down from the eastern mountain. 
Down its front, in an oblique line from top to 
bottom, runs a seam of a finer texture, from 
twelve to fifteen inches broad, having in it 
several horizontal crevices, somewhat resem- 
bling the human mouth, one above another. 
These are said to be twelve in number, but 
Dr. Robinson could only make out ten. The 
seam extends quite through the rock, and is 
visible on the opposite or back side. The 
holes are usually said to be manifestly arti- 
ficial, but did not appear to.be so to this 
traveller, by whom they were particularly ex- 
amined. They belong rather to the nature of 
the seam ; yet it is probable that some of 
them may have been enlarged by artificial 
means. 

The rock is a singular one, and doubtless 
was selected on account of this very singu- 
larity as the scene of the miracle. There is 
no reason to suppose that this was really the 
rock from which the water flowed, but there is 
every possible reason to the contrary. Rephi- 
dim is in the very heart of the uppermost 
region of Sinai, where perennial springs 
abound, and no such supply could be needed : 
because there was no room for the hosts of 
Israel in the narrow valleys of this upper 
region: because when at Rephidim the He- 
brews were still a day's journey from the 
Mount under which they finally encamped: 
and because the attack which was made upon 
the • Israelites at Rephidim was scarcely 
possible in this upper region. The peo- 
ple who made that attack are known to 
have had a principal seat in the Wady Feiran, 



which lies on the outskirts of the more 
mountainous region. The position of this 
valley agrees with all the circumstances of the 
history. 

The Hebrews Meeting Enemies. 

Hitherto the Hebrews had been unmolested 
by the inhabitants of the country they had 
entered, which seems to have been then, as at 
present, inhabited only by tribes of Bedouin or 
semi-Bedouin habits. To such a people the 
Hebrew host, weak by its very numbers, im- 
perfectly organized, encumbered with women, 
children, old men, and flocks, and laden with 
valuable property, including the spoils of the 
Egyptians — must have seemed to offer an easy 
and valuable prey. The tribe which headed 
this attempt was that of the Amalekites, who 
had at least a temporary seat in the valley 
where the Hebrews lay encamped beside the 
waters which the smitten rock gave forth for 
their use. 

It seems that the Amalekites had in the first 
instance fallen upon the weakest part of the 
host of Israel, when " faint and weary," and 
that it was this which induced Moses to order 
Joshua, a valiant young man who was attend- 
ant on his own person, to draw out a party of 
choice men against the following morning, and 
with them engage the Amalekites. This being 
the first warlike action in which the Israelites 
were engaged, was to them no light matter; 
and, therefore, to encourage the young com- 
mander, Moses promised to stand on the top 
of the hill, in view of the warriors, with the 
rod of God in his hands. 

The next morning when Joshua went forth 
to engage the Amalekites, Moses proceeded 
to the hill-top, accompanied by his brother 
Aaron and by Hur, holding in his hand the 
rod with which such wonders had been 
wrought in Egypt and at the Red Sea. He 
held it up as an ensign, and from the sight of 
it the warring Israelites gathered confidence 
and strength ; but when the weariness of the 
prophet's arm prevented him from holding it 
up longer, they became disheartened and gave 
way to the Amalekites. Perceiving this, the 
companions of Moses supported his arm, and 



THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 



91 



the rod being no longer dropped, the Israelites 
prevailed till the Amalekites fled before them. 
The history of Israel records no resentment 
so implacable and deep as that with which this 



The Israelites were much encouraged by 
this success of their first martial enterprise. 
The circumstances were, by the Divine com- 
mand, recorded in a book, in which also a 




HOLDING UP THE HANDS OF MOSES. 



first assault upon them in the day of their 
weakness was regarded, and the two nations 
remained bitter enemies so long as the Amale- 
kites continued to exist as a distinct people. 



direful remembrance against Amalek war. 
written down. Moses also erected an altar 
whereon to offer sacrifices of thankfulness, and 
in memorial of the victory : and he gave it the 



92 



ARRIVAL OF JETHRO. 



name of Jehovah-nissi, " the Lord is my Ban- 
ner," in allusion to the lifting up of the rod 
upon the hill. 

Before they quitted this place, Jethro, with 
whom Moses had lived so many long years in 
Midian, came to visit his now illustrious son- 
in-law, whose wife and sons he brought with 
him. This must have been a great satisfac- 
tion to Moses. He gave Jethro an account of 
all the wonders which the Lord had done for 
his people, and of all the kindness He had 



Moses sat all day long administering justice 
among the people, the old sheikh strongly 
censured this waste of strength, and advised 
them to appoint inferior magistrates, in a grad- 
ually ascending scale, who should hear and 
determine all ordinary causes, and only refer 
matters of great difficulty, and, in the last re- 
sort, to him. Moses saw the excellence of 
this advice, and, after obtaining the Divine 
sanction, proceeded to put it in execution, to> 
the great comfort of himself and the people. 




MEETING OF MOSES AND 

shown them : whereat, the pious old man gave 
praise to God, and in his priestly character 
offered solemn sacrifices of adoration, in which 
act Moses, Aaron (who was not yet a priest) 
and the elders of Israel joined : and they then 
feasted together. 

Great as Moses was, in all that constitutes 
true greatness in man, he was not above tak- 
ing hints from the experience of the aged 
Jethro for the better government of the nation 
now under his guidance. Observing that 



JETHRO. Ex. XVlil. 7. 

Having seen this matter settled to his satis- 
faction, Jethro took his leave and returned to 
his own land. 

The Israelites appear to have remained 
about a month at Rephidim, and then de- 
parted ; and in about three months from their 
quitting Egypt reached the mount where the 
Lord had first appeared to Moses, and en- 
camped before it. This was the place where 
the descendants of Abraham were to receive 
the laws and instructions necessary to fit them 



THE LAST NIGHT IN EGYPT. 



93 



for the peculiar position which they were to 
occupy among the nations of the world. 

The instructions through which the Israel- 
ites were to be moulded into a peculiar nation 
commenced by Moses being called up into the 
mountain to receive the Divine communica- 
tions. Here the leading principle of the great 
compact between the Lord and his people was 
opened to him, and he was required to return 
and demand the formal assent of the people to 
it. The principle was this : the people on their 
part were required to forsake every false way 
— the ways of idolatry ; and to worship, fear, 
and serve Jehovah only : and then He, on his 
part, would become, in a peculiar sense,' tkeir 
God — theirs by especial covenant : and not 
only their God, but their political Head, their 
King, dwelling among them by manifest sym- 
bols of presence, and directing their public 
affairs by oracles delivered to appointed min- 
isters, by which they would become eminently 
his people, a priestly kingdom, and a holy 
nation. 

The Solemn Covenant. 

The people having solemnly accepted this 
covenant, the Lord then announced his inten- 
tion, as their king, to issue a code of laws for 
their government ; the fundamental principles 
of which He would, publicly deliver in the 
audience of all the people. This was done in 
order to authenticate the further communica- 
tions to be made through Moses alone, and to 



make the people sensible that it was more ex- 
pedient for them that the Divine commands 
should be imparted to them through him than 
by more direct communication. Not that God, 
who is a Spirit, purposed to make himself 
visible to the people. No : they should be- 
hold the veil only which hid the glory of his 
presence — the thick clouds darkening upon 
the mountain, and a voice issuing from the 
midst of them. 

But before the Israelites could formally ap- 
pear in the presence of the Lord, it was need- 
ful that they should be purified. Two days 
were given them to make their garments and 
their persons clean, and on the third they were 
to stand before the mountain and receive the 
Divine commands. But the presence of God 
upon the mountain would render it a most 
holy place, which feet unconsecrated might 
not tread : therefore bounds were set around 
the base of the mountain, beyond which no 
one, under pain of death, might pass. 

At length the great day arrived. The peo- 
ple stood in solemn expectation around the 
mountain, which was already enveloped in 
thick clouds, which shot forth vivid lightnings 
and uttered mighty thunderings. At length 
the sound of angelic trumpets announced the 
coming Presence. God descended in fire, and 
the mountain quaked beneath his feet ; while 
the face of the mount was enveloped in flame 
and smoke. 




CHAPTER IX. 



^>^- 



SUBLIME SCENES AT SINAI. 




LONG blast was sounded 
by the trumpet, and then, 
after a solemn pause, 
was heard that voice 
which then shook the 
earth, and shall here- 
after shake heaven also. 
The words first uttered 
were — " I am the Lord 
thy God, who brought 
thee out of the land of 
Egypt ; out of the house 
of bondage." And, then, 
in that character, he pro- 
ceeded to declare the ten 
commandments, regard- 
ed as the text and basis 
of the law afterwards to 
be laid down in more de- 
tail. The mode of com- 
munication, through Moses, for the future, was 
at the express wish of the people themselves, 
who were very much alarmed at the awful cir- 
cumstances and stringent limitations of this 
high audience. They said to Moses — "Speak 
thou with us, and we will hear: but let not 
God speak with us, lest we die." This was 
accordingly done in all subsequent communi- 
cations with the people. 

The prophet went up into the mountain, and 
received there the Divine words which, on his 
return, he made known to the people, and then 
wrote down in a book. In the present case, 
after Moses had written down the terms of the 
covenant, he read them to the people, as if it 
were to receive their final ratification of its 
contents. This they gave in the unanimous 
response, "All the words which the Lord hath 
said unto us we will do." This public act of 
recognition having taken place, Moses, who 
still acted as their priest, proceeded to confirm 

(04J 



and seal it in the most solemn manner known 
in ancient times, namely, by sacrifices. An 
altar was erected, and twelve stones, represent- 
ing the twelve tribes, were set up; sacrifices 
were then offered ; and Moses having once 
more read the covenant and the laws, and re- 
ceived the same answers, proceeded to sprinkle 
the people with the blood of the sacrifices, 
saying, " This is the blood of the covenant 
which the Lord hath made with you." No 
covenant could be more deliberately entered 
into, or more bindingly confirmed, than this. 
We shall see, as we proceed, how it was kept 
on the part of the Israelites. 

After this, Moses went up in the mountain 
attended by his brother Aaron, the two eldest 
sons of Aaron, and by seventy of the elders 
of Israel, as if formally to communicate to the 
invisible King the final acceptance of the cove- 
nant by the people of Israel. They ate and 
drank there upon the mountain, as was usual 
in the completion of human covenants, and 
those who were with Moses were permitted to 
behold the manifest indications of the Divine 
presence, and were thereby deeply impressed. 

Moses Hidden Within the Cloud. 

At a distance the}' beheld "the God of 
Israel : and there was under his feet as it were 
a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it 
were the body of heaven in its clearness." 
Moses was permitted to advance nearer to this 
glorious manifestation than the others ; and 
was then enjoined to bring up two tablets of 
stone, on which God himself would write the 
words of the ten commandments, which in- 
volved the obligations of the completed cove- 
nant. This was evidently for the purpose of 
giving the most permanent and imposing form 
of record to that great compact. 

When Moses went up next with the required 



SUBLIME SCENES AT SINAI. 



95 



tablets of stone, he was accompanied only by 
Joshua, his personal attendant, who was di- 
rected to tarry at a distance while the prophet 
entered the more immediate presence of God. 
He was then hidden by the cloud which en- 
veloped the mountain, and was capped by 
" devouring fire," which flamed upon the 
mountain top. . This flaming appearance was 
called " the glory of the Lord." 



sisted by Hur, until he should return. His 
long absence, however, created uneasiness 
among the people, and they at length gave 
him up for lost, concluding that he had been 
consumed by the fire which still glowed upon 
the mountain. They then went on to conclude 
that this loss left them to their own plans and 
resources, and their first act was to release 
themselves from the abstract and spiritual wor- 




WORSHIPPING A STRANGE GOD. 



xix. 25. 



Moses was forty days and nights in the j ship which had been imposed upon them, and 



mountain, and during this time he received 
full and particular directions respecting the 
priesthood and the ecclesiastical establishment 
which he was to organize for the people whom 
he had brought out of Egypt. Moses had 
been aware that his absence would be of 
unusual duration, and, therefore, he had dele- 



to betake themselves to the worship of God 
through such visible images and symbols as 
they had accustomed themselves to in Egypt. 

They were not yet content to separate the 
idea of God from an image symbolizing his 
attributes. This may seem strange to us ; 
but it was the notion in which this veneration 



gated his authority to his brother Aaron, as- I had grown up, and they found it not easy to 



MAKING A MOLTEN IMAGE. 



dissociate ideas which habit had connected. 
When, therefore, they said to Aaron, "Up, 
make us gods that they may go before us ! " 
they did not intend to abandon Jehovah, but 
to have manifest to their senses such an image 
or symbol representing him, as other nations 
had of the gods they worshipped. But this 
had been strictly forbidden in the foremost of 
the commandments which they had so recently 
received, and which they had so solemnly 
pledged themselves to obey. 

The reason of this prohibition is clear. 
Such images degraded the Godhead, associated 
Him with the false gods similarly represented, 
created the danger of transferring the worship 
to such other gods, and even to the very image 
which in its origin may have been intended for 
•only a representative symbol. The crime and 
error were, however, in this case much height- 
ened by being in such gross violation of the 
solemn covenant whereby the Lord had made 
the Hebrews his peculiar people. That, how- 
ever, no direct or conscious revolt against the 
political authority of Jehovah was intended, is 
shown by the fact that the application was 
made to Aaron, and that his sanction was in 
the first place required. 

Jewels for the Golden Calf. 

Aaron proved unequal to this great emer- 
gency. He feared that the authority com- 
mitted to him, and now acknowledged' by the 
people, would be lost in the attempt to stem 
so strong a current of popular feeling. He 
therefore yielded to it, and contented himself 
with the hope of being able to make the Lord 
still the final end and object of all their wor- 
ship. His policy was indeed that so often 
since, and probably before, followed — of lead- 
ing public opinion and subjecting it to useful 
influences by yielding to it, instead of opposing 
its encroachments. He demanded their rings 
with which to fabricate the image they re- 
quired ; perhaps calculating that some reluc- 
tance to part with their personal ornaments 
would cool their ardor in this matter. If this 
were his thought he was mistaken. 

They readily divested themselves of their 



ornaments for the purpose ; and Aaron fash- 
ioned with them the image of " a golden calf," 
obviously an imitation of the Egyptian ex-god 
Apis, or rather, perhaps, of the Mnevis of 
Lower Egypt. It is probably a mistake to 
suppose that this image was all of gold. No 
images wholly of metal appear to have been 
known in that country, and the. mention of its 
being " fashioned with a graving tool," as well 
as all the subsequent circumstances, imply that 
the image was carved in wood and then over- 
laid with gold. This explanation, entirely 
consistent as it is with the text, and with the 
state of the arts at the time, removes many 
difficulties which have arisen from the notion 
that the image was wholly of molten gold. 

This image Aaron presented to the people, 
and that its final object might not be forgotten, 
he immediately proclaimed a feast to Jehovah. 
That this feast was celebrated before the image 
is alone sufficient to establish the correctness 
of the interpretation which has been given. 
It was, however, celebrated with observances 
proper .to the worship of the Egyptian idol, 
the form of which had been borrowed. We 
are told " the people rose up early in the morn- 
ing, and offered burnt offerings, and brought 
peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat 
and drink and rose up to play : " and after- 
wards they are described as singing and 
dancing before the golden calf. So, as known 
from ancient writers, the most popular rites of 
the ancient Egyptians were of the nature of 
orgies ; and the fundamental character of their 
religion was what, for want of a better word, 
may be called Bacchanalian — not, indeed, in 
the modern sense of mere drunkenness, but as 
including all sorts of sport and merriment. 

When these melancholy transactions had 
arrived at this consummation, Moses was ab- 
ruptly dismissed from the mountain, with the 
intimation, " Go, get thee down, for thy people, 
whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, 
have corrupted themselves, and have turned 
quickly aside out of the way which I com- 
manded." The prophet understood the ter- 
rible emphasis of the pronouns here employed ; 
doubt was not indeed possible, for the Lord 



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MOSES WITH THE TABLES OF THE LAW. Ex. XX. I- 1 7. 



97 



98 



BREAKING THE TABLES OF THE LAW. 



added : " Now, therefore, let me alone, that 
my wrath ma)' wax hot against them, that I 
may consume them ; and I will make of thee a 
great nation." But the latter alternative had 
no charm for the noble-minded prophet, who 
ventured reverently to represent that whatever 
evil befell the race of Israel in the wilderness 
would, in the estimation of the heathen, reflect 
discredit on Him in whose high name their 
deliverance had been effected. 

The Ten Commandments. 

This plea prevailed ; and the prophet went 
down from the mountain, bearing in his hands 
the tablets of stone, on which the words of the 
ten commandments were now engraven by the 
hand of God. Joshua joined him in the de- 
scent. As they drew within ear-shot of the 
camp, Joshua distinguished a great noise in 
the distance, and remarked, " There is a noise 
of war in the camp." But the prophet an- 
swered, bitterly, " It is not the voice of them 
that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice 
of them that cry for being overcome; but the 
voice of them that sing do I hear." A little 
further advance brought them in view of the 
whole affair, with the people dancing and 
shouting around their idol ; on which the pro- 
phet, in the intensity of his indignation, flung 
from him the tablets of the law, which were 
broken in pieces, and hastened forward into 
the midst of the infatuated crowd, which, con- 
fused and humbled at his sudden reappearance, 
cowered before him, and submitted quietly to 
his discretion. He laid his hands upon their 
idol and cast it into the fire, and then the cal- 
cined mass was reduced to powder and strewed 
upon the waters, so that the votaries were 
constrained to drink their own abomination. 

The painful duty then remained to Moses 
of calling his elder brother to account for his 
part in this shameful transaction. Aaron re- 
plied by giving a confused explanation of the 
matter, as favorable to himself as he could 
make it ; and in a tone which would not lead 
us to expect from him that force of character 
which he afterwards found opportunities of 
manifesting. 



A Cry from the Gate of the Camp. 

After this Moses placed himself at the gate 
of the camp, and cried, "Who is on the Lord's 
side ? Let him come to me ! " This sum- 
mons could only be answered by those who 
had not polluted themselves in the matter of 
the golden calf; and it was only answered by 
the men of Levi, his own tribe, who gathered 
around him at that call. These Moses ordered 
to take their swords and go through the camp, 
executing summary justice upon the people. 
And they did so, with rigid impartiality, spar- 
ing neither friend nor foe whom they could 
recognize as having taken a forward part in 
the worship of the idol. The number they 
slew was three thousand. 

Yet the Divine indignation had not wholly 
turned away ; and Moses, knowing this, re- 
turned to the mountain to intercede for them. 
He said, "Oh ! this people have sinned a great 
sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet 
now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — and if not, 
blot me*, I pray thee, out of thy book which 
thou hast written." The answer to this noble 
and touching supplication was such as we 
might expect from the justice of God. " Who- 
soever hath sinned against me, him will I blot 
out of my book." 

The Lord then further intimated that, al- 
though the descendants of Abraham should 
be conducted to the land promised to their 
fathers, He would no longer take the direct 
charge of them, lest his anger at their iniqui- 
ties should break forth to their destruction, 
but would leave them to the guidance of an 
angel. When the people heard this — when 
their highest privilege was threatened to be 
taken from them — they began to be sensible of 
its value, and they mourned greatly. Moses 
himself withdrew the public tent from among 
them, and pitched it on the outside of the 
camp; and the people laid aside all their orna- 
ments, and stood as mourners and criminals 
to abide their final doom. It was favorable. 
The plea of Moses prevailed, and the Lord 
promised to receive them again into his pro- 
tection and peculiar care. 

After this Moses was required to repair 



SUBLIME SCENES AT SINAI. 



99 



again to the mountain, there to receive two 
other tables of stone, in the place of those 
which had been broken, with the ten command- 
ments engraven upon them. The people were 
tried forty days more, during which Moses re- 
mained in the mount ; but this time they con- 
tinued steady, having been much bettered by 
the correction they had received. 

During his absence Moses received the two 
" tables of testimony ; " the Lord thus renew- 
ing the covenant with the Israelites which 
their misconduct had broken. At the same 
time the promise of conducting them to the 
land of Canaan, and of making them tri- 
umphant over all their enemies, was renewed. 
They were, however, strictly enjoined not to 
imitate the idolatrous customs of the inhabi- 
tants of the land which was to be given to 
them, and were commanded to destroy every 
monument of idolatry, however costly. They 
were not to contract any treaties of alliance, 
friendship, or marriage with idolaters. They 
were especially warned against falling again 
into the crime of making an image to repre- 
sent God. Moses also received a number of 
ceremonial precepts, which he was directed to 
write in a book ; and being in this and the 
previous interview fully instructed in all the 
design of God respecting his people, at the 
end of forty days he descended to the camp. 

The Hebrews Pressing- Forward. 

At length the long term of wandering drew 
near its close. All but a few of those who were 
above tv/enty j^ears of age at the time of the 
Exodus were now dead ; and those who were 
then under that age had by this time reached 
the wane of life or were even old and gray- 
headed. The active men forming the new 
generation had been born in the desert, and 
had none of those Egyptian reminiscences 
which had been the bane of their fathers, nor 
had their spirit been, like theirs, bent down 
under the yoke of bondage. They were a 
better and more manly generation. And it 
may be fair to attribute the misconduct into 
which they fell to the influence of the older 
men, who were not entirely free from the 



Egyptian taint, having been from ten to twenty 
years of age when the Israelites quitted the 
" house of bondage." 

As the appointed time drew nigh in which 
they were to receive possession of their heri- 
tage, we find the hosts of Israel again approach- 
ing the south of Palestine and encamping at 
their old station in Kadesh Barnea. Here 
Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died 
and was buried. And here, the waters of the 
neighborhood having become exhausted, the 
people gave vent to complaints painfully simi- 
lar to those in which the past generation had 
been too apt to indulge. They were not, 
however, punished, probably because the want 
by which they were moved to complain was 
real and urgent. Moses and Aaron were di- 
rected to speak to the rock, and told that 
waters should break forth at their word. Not 
content with merely speaking to the rock, 
which would much have enhanced the glory 
of the miracle, they struck it twice with vehe- 
mence, and not without impatient expressions. 
The waters came forth at the stroke : but the 
behavior of the brothers on this occasion was 
displeasing to God, who declared that for this 
neither of them should enter the Promised 
Land. This seems a severe sentence. But it 
is to be borne in mind that the eyes of all Is- 
rael were upon these two men, and any indi- 
cation in them of want of confidence, or of 
laxity in interpretation of the Divine com- 
mands, was likely to have the most dangerous 
consequences upon the minds and habits of 
the people, unless reprehended and punished. 

The Host Driven Back. 

Soon after it became evident to the leaders 
of the Hebrews that the Canaanites were too 
strong in the south to make it expedient for 
the untrained Israelites to invade the land in 
that quarter. It was therefore concluded to 
pass over into the country east of the Dead 
Sea and the Jordan, and, by crossing the river, 
invade the land in its most vulnerable quar- 
ter. To this end it was desirable that the 
host should pass to the east country, through 
one of the valleys which intersect the moun- 



100 A DEPUTATION TO THE EDOMITES. 

tains of Seir These mountains were then, and I civil request for permission to pass through 
lone before, occupied by the descendants of I his territory. He was reminded of their cor 




MOSES REHEARSING HIS SONG TO THE HEBREWS. Deut. XXX11. 

Esau, under the name of Edomites; and toimon origin by the phrase, "This saith thy 
their king Moses sent a deputation with a very I brother Israel;" and was assured of their 



SUBLIME SCENES AT SINAI. 



101 



pacific intentions, and that they would pay for 
whatever they required on the march, and ab- 
stain from touching even the wells of water 
without payment. . 

But the king returned a very sharp refusal, 
and manifested an intention to resist by force 
of arms any attempt of the Israelites to pass 
through the valley to which their attention 
seems to have been turned. Out of regard to 
their brotherhood the Israelites were forbidden 
to force a passage, and directed to return down 
towards the head of the Elanitic Gulf, and 
then pass eastward, and make their way to the 
north through the plains which lie beyond the 
mountains of Seir on the east. 

Death of Aaron. 

In retracing their steps they had to pass 
Mount Hor, the loftiest and most conspicuous 
of all the Seir mountains. In front of this 
they rested; and it was here that Aaron re- 
ceived the intimation that the end of his life's 
journey had arrived. He was required to 
proceed to the summit of the mountain, "and 
die there." Accordingly, he ascended to the 
mountain top, arrayed in his pontifical vest- 
ments, and attended by Moses and Eleazar. 
He was there divested of his robes, which 
were placed upon his son, and then, after one 
look towards the land from which he was ex- 
cluded, the utmost borders of which he could 
view from this high place, he resigned his 
spirit to God, and his corpse was buried there 
upon the mountain by Moses and Eleazar. 

Thirty-days the host of Israel mourned for 
the high-priest ; and then they pursued their 
-way. 

On again continuing their way through a 
region parched with excessive drought, and 
destitute of water, the Israelites, who had 
hoped that when they arrived at Kadesh they 
had quitted the wilderness forever, and were 
about to enter the Promised Land, began to 
murmur at the weary march before them, and 
to utter sharp invectives, not only against 
Moses, but against the Lord. This new pro- 
vocation brought immediate punishment, for 
the Lord sent among them fiery serpents, by 



which many of the people were bitten and 
died. The serpents are called " fiery " from 
their color, as some suppose, resembling 
polished brass, or, as others conceive, from 
the intense and fatal inflammation which their 
bites produced. Naturalists suppose this ser- 
pent to be the hooded snake, the hood of 
which, when inflated, has sufficiently the ap- 
pearance of wings to explain the epithet " fly- 
ing," which is applied to these serpents. 

The Brazen Serpent. 

By this terrible judgment the people were 
made sensible of their fault, and implored 
Moses to intercede for the removal of the ser- 
pents. This he readily did. The serpents, 
however, were not immediately removed, but 
relief was granted after a very peculiar man- 
ner. Moses was directed to make a serpent 
of brass, similar in form to those which had 
bitten the people, and to fix it upon a pole or 
standard, which was to be set up in a con- 
spicuous part of the camp. Every one then 
who was bitten, and raised his eyes to this 
brazen serpent, was healed of his deadly 
wound and lived. No means could be less 
suited than this in itself to give relief. And 
therefore it was merely designed that the suf- 
ferers should by this token express their de- 
pendence upon God, and that they looked to 
him alone for help and cure. If we may con- 
ceive that any wanted faith in this seemingly 
unlikely means of cure, and neglected to look 
up to the brazen serpent, he undoubtedly per- 
ished in his misbelief. It may thus be seen 
with what exquisite fitness Jesus refers to the 
brazen serpent as a symbol of himself: " For 
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, even so must the Son of man be lifted 
up, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." 

After this the Israelites proceeded quietly on 
their way, without any event of consequence 
till they reached the brook Zared, which flows 
into the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. 
Here they paused a while, and then proceeded 
to the Arnon, through the territories in the 
actual possession of the Moabites, who seem 



102 



A GIGANTIC MONARCH. 



to have wanted the power more than the in- 
clination to oppose their march. Beyond the 
Arnon lay the territory of which the Canaan- 
itish nation called the Amorites had at some 
previous period dispossessed the Moabites, but 
which is still called in Scripture " the land of 
Moab." 

Without troubling themselves with ante- 
cedent questions, the Israelites, recognizing the 
actual possessors, applied to Sihon, king of the 
Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, for per- 
mission to march through his territories to the 
banks of the Jordan, beyond which lay the re- 
gion against which their conquering mission 
was directed. Sihon, however, being related 
to and in alliance with the nations beyond the 
river, was by no means disposed to grant this 
permission, but took the field to oppose their 
march. This brought on the first battle fought 
by the new generation of the Israelites. They 
were victorious ; Sihon was defeated, taken 
prisoner, and slain ; and the conquerors took 
possession of his dominion, with all its towns. 

Og, the Giant of Bashan. 

This conquest necessitated another. For 
they were attacked in their new possession by 
Og, the king of Bashan, who was in alliance 
with Sihon, and whom the Jabbok now only 
separated from the Israelites. This Og was " of 
the race of the giants ; " and to give some idea 
of his height, we are told that his bedstead 
was thirteen and a half feet long by six feet 
broad, and that it was of iron, to sustain his 
enormous weight. This bedstead was long 
after preserved, as a curiosity and muniment, 
at the capital town of Rabbah. This gigantic 
monarch must have seemed very formidable 
to the Israelites; but over him also they were 
victors. Thus, contrary to their original in- 
tention, the Israelites came into possession of 
a fine and fertile country, extending from the 
Arnon to Mount Hermon, and full of cities 
" fenced with high walls, gates, and bars ; be- 
sides unwalled towns a great many." The 
host, however, was not allowed to disperse 
itself over the new possession, desirable as it 
was, but remained encamped in " the plains of 



! Moab," which lay immediately east of the 
northern part of the Dead Sea, and the lower 
J course of the Jordan. 

The neighboring Moabites viewed these 
transactions with discontent and alarm ; dis- 
content at seeing the Israelites in possession 
of a country which had formerly belonged to 
themselves, and alarm at the settlement on 
their border of a people so powerful, as com- 
pared with themselves, and so manifestly fa- 
vored by Heaven. Moab is a district to the 
east of the Dead Sea., on the River Arnon. 
Particular attention has been recently drawn 
to it by the discovery of the- Moabite stone, 
and the light which its inscription throws upon 
Scripture. The prophecies concerning Moab 
are numerous and remarkable, and, says 'Mr. 
Keith, who confirms his statement by unex- 
ceptionable evidence, " there is scarcely a 
single feature peculiar to the land of Moab as 
it now exists which was not marked by the 
prophets in delineating the low condition to 
which, from the height of its wickedness and 
haughtiness, it was not finally to be brought 
down." 

The Moabites were governed by a king 
called Balak, who was eager to attack the Is- 
raelites in their camp, but was afraid to do so 
while they, even as he felt, enjoyed the assur- 
ance of victory in the Divine favor. There 
lived beyond the Euphrates a person called 
Balaam, who enjoyed a high reputation as 
one whose curse was irresistible for evil, and 
his blessing for good. 

To this person Balak sent a deputation, 
with costly gifts, inviting him to come and lay 
his curse upon the strangers, whom the mes- 
sage described in terms which give a good 
notion of the point of view in which the Is- 
raelites were regarded by the natives in their 
neighborhood : " There is a people come out 
from Egypt : behold, they cover the face of 
the land, and they abide over against me. 
Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me 
this people ; for they are too mighty for me r 
peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite 
them, and that we may drive them out of the 
land." 



CHAPTER X. 




BALAAM AND THE ANGEL. 



ALAAM was very willing 
to have gone, for he was 
covetous of the gain and 
honor which the adventure 
offered. But he knew that 
he durst not go uncommis- 
sioned ; and the commis- 
sion being refused him, he 
was constrained reluctantly 
to dismiss the ambassadors with 
this refusal. The king of Moab, 
however, felt too deeply interested to 
abandon his object. He fancied that 
his offers had not been high enough 
to tempt the known cupidity of the 
prophet. He therefore sent another em- 
bassy, composed of persons of higher rank, 
bearing richer gifts and with promises of 
higher rewards. The prophet was moved. 
But he still replied, " If Balak would give me 
his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go 
beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do 
less or more." 

Still, however, anxious to comply, he invited 
them to remain in his house till he should once 
more have inquired the will of God. In this 
he did wrong, for he ought at once to have 
been satisfied that God, who changeth not, 
would not allow him to curse a people whom 
he had so lately declared to be in the enjoy- 
ment of his blessing. Besides, his alacrity to 
undertake for the love of gain what would 
have been to an upright - prophet a painful 
duty, was alone likely to be very displeasing 
to the Most High. Nevertheless, still further 
to try him, he was told, when he renewed his 
application, that he might go. 

Joyfully did he then quit his bed early in 
the morning, and saddle his ass to accompany 
the messengers. All went on very well for a 
time ; but at length, on passing by a narrow 



way on the journey, the ass, hitherto so docile, 
became suddenly restive, and refused, even by 
the urgency of blows, to proceed any further. 
But as Balaam with great passion persisted in 
forcing the animal on, the mouth of the dumb 
beast was opened, and he spoke, with most 
miraculous organ rebuking the conduct of the 
prophet. At the same time, an angel standing 
in the way with a drawn sword, the sight of 
whom had prevented the ass from proceeding, 
became visible to Balaam, and filled him with 
dread. After a severe reprehension from the 
angel, he was allowed to complete his journey, 
but with a strict injunction to act and speak 
on his arrival only as authorized. 

The king of Moab rejoiced to see him, and 
deemed the great object of his present policy 
secured by his arrival. But his gladness was 
somewhat damped when Balaam acquainted 
him with the conditions under which he had 
come. Afterwards the king and the prophet 
offered seven victims upon as many altars, and 
Balaam viewed the camp of the Israelites from 
the high places of Baal. Gladly would he 
have laid his curse upon them : but a mighty 
force was on him, and, to the great disappoint- 
ment of the king, he was constrained to open 
his mouth in blessings. Having pacified the 
king by explaining the inevitable necessity 
under which he acted, the latter took him to 
a different eminence where he could only 
behold a portion of the camp, hoping that this 
part might be abandoned to his curse. But 
the same thing happened as before ; and when 
the king took the prophet to yet another 
mountain, whence only the outskirts of the 
camp could be viewed, he was constrained not 
only to bless the Israelites, but to curse their 
enemies. On this the king's patience was ex- 
hausted, and he sharply commanded Balaam 
to depart to his own house. But again he 

(103) 



104 



AN UNEXPECTED PROPHECY. 



was somewhat calmed by Balaam's reiterated 
declaration of his inability to say one word 
more or less than the Divine influence put 



boring nations to the Israelites, especially in 
the time of David, who is not obscurely 
pointed out in terms which, although they 




into his mouth ; and he allowed the prophet 
to proceed, and declare to him the things that 
should come to pass in the last days. He 
then foretold the subjugation of all the neigh- 



have a primary application to him, cannot be 
understood but with an ultimate reference to 
the Messiah, who was promised long before. 
Finding himself unable to accomplish the 



BALAAM AND THE ANGEL. 



105 



objects for which he came, Balaam prepared 
to return to his own country. But before he 
departed he suggested to the king of Moab a 
plan by which he might be able to seduce the 



was known that they had already suffered, and 
by which their numbers might be much re- 
duced and their power much weakened. 

The Moabites, in conjunction with their 




balak's sacrifice. — Num. 



Israelites, so that they might bring a curse 
upon themselves, or at least become deprived 
of the Lord's protection, and provoke such 
judgments against them as those by which it 



neighbors the Midianites, immediately pro- 
ceeded to carry this plan into effect. They 
opened apparently friendly communications 
with the Israelites, and the men were easily 



106 



TWELVE THOUSAND PICKED MEN. 



persuaded to attend the idolatrous feasts, at 
which every kind of licentiousness was prac- 
tised, and even to join in sacrifices to Baal- 
Peor. The extent of this degeneracy may be 
estimated from the fact that many persons of 
high station in the several tribes were the 
ringleaders in this transgression. 

At length the Divine anger broke forth 
against the transgressors, and this time it was 
not manifested through miraculous agencies, 
but by a judicial sentence to be executed by 
human hands. The word was given to slay 
every one who had joined himself to Baal- 
Peor. On this the people, conscious of their 
crime, humbled themselves before the Lord, 
with much weeping, in the hope of averting 
his displeasure. 

Divine Vengeance. 

Meanwhile, as the sentence of slaughter had 
not been executed, the Lord had taken the 
avengement into his own hand, for a pestilence 
broke forth among the people. But the high 
act of Phinehas was accepted as an atonement, 
and the plague then ceased. 

The Israelites were then ordered to take 
arms against the Midianites, who had been 
peculiarly active in the too successful attempt 
to seduce the people of God. A thousand 
men from each of the twelve tribes, forming a 
body of twelve thousand picked men, were 
appointed for this service,, and placed under 
the command of Phinehas. The contest was 
not of long duration. The Israelites carried 
all before them, and they committed dreadful 
carnage among the Midianites, slaying without 
quarter all the men who came in their way. 
The country was not one which they were to 
occupy : they therefore ravaged it completely, 
and destroyed the towns and strongholds, with 
the view of disabling the Midianites from re- 
newing the war. The booty obtained in this 
expedition was very considerable, and the items 
of the enumeration are full of suggestive mat- 
ter as regards the condition of the conquered 
people and the character of ancient warfare. 
It is thus given : sheep, six hundred and 
seventy-five thousand ; beeves, seventy-two 



thousand ; asses, sixty-one thousand ; persons 
(females), thirty-two thousand. To this is 
added no less than sixteen thousand seven 
hundred and fifty shekels' weight of gold,, 
which had formed the ornaments of the Mid- 
ianites. From the quantity and from the 
articles enumerated it would seem that these 
Midianites were well covered with " barbaric 
pearl and gold." These articles are named as 
"jewels of gold, chains, bracelets, rings, ear- 
rings and tablets." 

' This abundant spoil might have suggested 
a nice question with respect to the distribu- 
tion, as it was scarcely to be expected that the 
comparatively small body of men actually en- 
gaged in the expedition were to have the ex- 
clusive enjoyment of it. This, therefore, gave 
occasion for the law which appears to have 
given satisfaction to all the parties concerned, 
and which thenceforth regulated the practice 
of the Hebrews with respect to booty. The 
whole of the " prey," or beasts and captives, 
was divided into two parts, of which one went 
to the soldiers who had been in action, and 
the other to the general body of the people ; 
so that the twelve thousand warriors had so 
much as five hundred and ninety thousand 
people. But the actual victors seem to have 
had the entire of the personal " spoil " at their 
disposal, and in this instance they presented 
it as an oblation to the tabernacle. From the 
" prey," or live stock, a tribute for the Lord 
was also levied, being at the rate of one in 
fifty from the share of the warriors, and one in 
five hundred from the share of the people. It 
may be remarked that the distribution of one- 
half to the general body of the people arose 
from all the adult males in the camp being re- 
garded as forming an army composed of men 
fit to bear arms, and liable at any time to be 
called into the field; and of whom, therefore,, 
the body at any time engaged in actual service 
was merely a detachment. 

Including the tribe of Levi the entire num- 
ber of the Israelites at this time may be es- 
timated at 2,500,000. Not only the tribes, but 
the several families of Israel, were at this time 
registered under the names of those sons or 



BALAAM AND THE ANGEL. 



107 



grandsons of the patriarchs who were the 
progenitors of the grand subdivisions in the 
several tribes. And it was directed that the 
division of the land in Canaan should be made 
according to the register thus formed. The 
quantity of the land was to be proportioned 
to the numbers of each tribe, and of each 
family in each tribe ; and the situation of the 
portions both of the tribes and families was to 
be determined by lot. This was eventually 
done in the manner which we shall have occa- 
sion to describe. 

Death of the Great Lawgiver. 

As Moses was not to enter the Promised 
Land, it became evident that his days were 
soon to close. In preparation of that solemn 
event the prophet was commanded to appoint 
Joshua, the son of Nun, to the high task of 
introducing the chosen people into their prom- 
ised heritage. He was not the successor of 
the legislator: Moses had no successor; 
neither had Joshua himself any when he died. 
They were both raised up for particular and 
extraordinary services of an entirely different 
nature — Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, 
and to organize the people so delivered ; 
Joshua, who was endued with much valor and 
high military talents, to lead the people in 
those wars which were to give them possession 
of the land promised to their fathers. 

About this time the tribes of Reuben and 
Gad solicited Moses for permission to take for 
their share of territory the lands which had 
been conquered from Sihon and Og, east of 
the Jordan. The ground of their application 
was that the land was peculiarly suited for 
pasturage, and they had large possessions of 
flocks and herds. Moses was not at first 
pleased at this application, construing it into 
a desire to provide for themselves on easy 
terms, by taking possession of what all the 
tribes had conquered, without assisting the 
other tribes in the warfare for their possession. 
But the applicants explained with much 
earnestness that this was far from their wish. 
If their suit were granted they would leave 
their families and substance in the land, but 



would themselves accompany the main body 
of the Israelites across the river and remain 
in arms until they also had received their heri- 
tage. To the proposal, when stated in this 
shape, Moses assented ; but as the territory 
appeared too large for two tribes, he added 
half the tribe of Manasseh, to which was given 
the northernmost portion of this fine territory. 
It is probable that the extraordinary increase 
of Manasseh, which the recent census had 
made apparent, suggested the selection of this 
tribe, and the separation in it which ac- 
cordingly took place. 

After this Moses assembled the whole con- 
gregation of Israel and addressed them for the 
last time. He recapitulated all the remark- 
able events which had transpired from the de- 
parture of their fathers out of Egypt to the 
present time. He assured them of the Divine 
assistance in the conquest of Canaan, and 
cautioned them against unbelief and distrust 
of the Divine word. To strengthen this cau- 
tion he reminded them of the former dis- 
obedience and frequent rebellions of their 
fathers, in consequence of which they have 
been doomed to wander forty years in the 
wilderness and denied admission to the 
Promised Land. He then reminded them of 
their signal successes over the Amorites,. 
whom they had attacked with the Divine per- 
mission, and assured them that Joshua was di- 
vinely appointed to put them in possession of 
the land of their inheritance. 

Moses then proceeded to refresh the knowl- 
edge of the new generation by repeating, with 
some alterations which the lapse of time and 
the approaching change of life made neces- 
sary, the various civil laws and ordinances 
which had from time to time been delivered to 
him. With reference to these he emphatically 
remarked : " Behold, I have taught you stat- 
utes and judgments, even as the Lord my God 
commanded me, that ye do so in the land 
whither ye go to possess it. Keep, therefore,. 
and do them ; for this is your wisdom and un- 
derstanding in the sight of the nations. And 
what nation is there so great, that hath stat- 
utes and judgments so righteous as all this 



108 



DEATH OF MOSES. 



law which I set before you this day? Only 
take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul dili- 
gently, lest thou forget the things which thine 
eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy 
heart all the days of thy life ; but teach them 
to thy sons and to thy sons' sons." 

When Moses had finished the recapitulation 
of the laws and statutes of Jehovah, he pro- 
ceeded to set before the people the abundant 
blessings which should attend their obedience, 
and the dreadful punishments which awaited 
their disobedience. These punishments were 
such that " Even all nations shall say, where- 
fore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? 
What meaneth the heat of his great anger ? 
Then men shall say, Because they have for- 
saken the covenant of the Lord God of their 
fathers, which he made with them when 
he brought them forth out of the land of 
Egypt." How truly and sadly the doom de- 
nounced against their disobedience was accom- 
plished will in the ensuing pages appear too 
plainly. 

The Song of Moses. 

Moses now wrote all the words of the law 
in a book. This is the first mention of a book 
which occurs in the Scriptures ; and the infor- 
mation which we possess concerning ancient 
books leaves no question but that it was of 
skins made up into rolls. We are not, how- 
ever, to conclude that the skins were prepared 
into parchment, as that was an invention of 
much later date, later than even the papyrus, 
several interesting rolls of which are preserved 
in collections of Egyptian antiquities. Those 
who have been privileged to see the white 
skin robes prepared by the rude Indians from 
the hide of the bison, will have no difficulty in 
understanding how skins might be made fit 
for writing on, even before the invention of 
parchment furnished a better material for the 
purpose. 

Moses then gave forth a magnificent poem, 
called in after time " the song of Moses," in 
which the Divine care over the people is cele- 
brated by many interesting circumstances and 
striking images, such as that of the eagle 
caring for its young : 



" The Lord's portion is his people : 
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 
He found him in a desert land, 
And in the waste howling wilderness ; 
He led him about, he instructed him, 
He kept him as the apple of his eye : 
As an eagle stirreth up her nest 
And flutteretli over her young, 
Or spread eth around her wings, and taketh them up 
And beareth them on her wings : 
So the Lord alone did lead him." 

Finally, Moses bestowed upon the tribes his 
last and solemn blessing, similar in many re- 
spects to that which Jacob had in his last 
days bestowed upon his sons. The prophet 
then received the Divine command to ascend 
to the summit of Mount Nebo, and survey 
from thence the Promised Land before he 
closed his eyes in death. This summons he 
had long expected", and he obeyed it without 
demur, knowing that the appointed hour was 
come. He ascended from the plains of Moab, 
and upon Mount Nebo delivered up the 
charge he had received upon Mount Sinai. 
He died at the age of one hundred and twenty 
years, when " his eye was not dim, nor his 
natural force abated." 

The history of Moses is the history of Israel 
for forty years. It is important to trace his 
relation to his immediate circle of followers. 
In the Exodus he takes the decisive lead on 
the night of the flight. Up to that point he 
and Aaron appear almost on an equality. 
But after that, Moses is usually mentioned 
alone. Aaron still held the second place. 
Another, nearly equal to Aaron, is Hur, of 
the tribe of Judah. Miriam always held the 
independent position to which her age entitled 
her. Her part was to supply the voice and 
song to her brother's prophetic power. 

But Moses is incontestably the chief per- 
sonage of the history, in a sense in which no 
one else is described before or since. In the 
traditions of the desert, whether late or early, 
his name predominates over that of every one 
else. " The Books of Moses " are so called 
(as afterwards the Books of Samuel), in all 
probability from his being the chief subject 
of them. They show us the great leader and 
lawgiver in his majestic proportions. 



BALAAM AND THE ANGEL. 



iuy 



He must be considered, like all the saints 
and heroes of the Bible, as a man of marvellous 
gifts, raised up by Divine Providence for a 
special purpose, but led into a closer commun- 
ion with the invisible world than was vouch- 
safed to any other in the Old Testament. 
There are two main characters in which he 
appears, as a Leader and as a Prophet. The 
two main difficulties which he encountered 
were the reluctance of the people to submit to 



By Moses the spies were sent to explore the 
country. Against his advice took pUo- the 
first disastrous battle at Hormah. To ln- 
guidance is ascribed the circuitous route by 
which the nation approached Palestine from 
the East, and to his generalship the two suc- 
cessful campaigns in which Sihon and Og 
were defeated. 

The narrative is told so shortly, that we are 
in danger of forgetting that at this last stage 




MOSES VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND. Deut. XXXIV. 



his guidance, and the impracticable nature of 
the country which they had to traverse. The 
route through the wilderness is described as 
having been made under his guidance. 

The particular spot of the encampment is 
fixed by the cloudy pillar. But the direction 
of the people first to the Red Sea, and then 
to Mount Sinai, is communicated through 
Moses, or given by him. On approaching Pal- 
estine the office of the leader becomes blended 
with that of the general or the conqueror. 



of his life Moses must have been as much a 
conqueror and victorious soldier as Joshua. 
His character as a prophet is, from the nature 
of the case, more distinctly brought out. He 
is the first as he is the greatest example of a 
Prophet in the Old Testament. In a certain 
sense, he appears as the centre of a prophetic 
circle, now for the first time named. His 
brother and sister were both endowed with 
prophetic gifts, yet do not appear conspicu- 
ously in the annals of prophecy. 



CHAPTER XI. 



ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND. 




HE Israelites mourned 
thirty days for their great 
leader, and then took im- 
mediate measures with 
reference to the high en- 
terprise which lay before 
them. The first act of 
Joshua, who now took 
the chief place as military lead- 
er, was to send two spies across 
the river. It was evident that 
the great city of Jericho, which 
lay before them in the plain 
west of the Jordan, must become the fir§t 
object of the operations of the Hebrew host ; 
and the spies were therefore directed to make 
their way into the town and obtain informa- 
tion respecting the strength of the place 
and the disposition of those who inhabited 
it. They succeeded in gaining an entrance 
into the city ; but they had scarcely arrived 
before the king received intelligence of it, and 
sent to apprehend them in a house near the 
wall, belonging to a woman named Rahab, in 
which they had taken up their abode. But 
the hostess, having timely notice of this, con- 
cealed the spies under some flax which had 
been spread out to dry upon the fiat roof of 
her house. When the men in search of them 
came, Rahab by her answers led them to con- 
clude that the strangers had already taken 
their departure, and that she was herself very 
solicitous for their apprehension. Having 
thus succeeded in putting them on a wrong 
scent, she felt that the spies were no longer 
safe in her house. She therefore went to them 
on the housetop, and declaring her belief that 
the place would be taken by their countrymen, 
she requested them to promise that, in return 
for the service which she had rendered, the 
(110) 



lives of herself and her near kindred should 
be spared. 

The men, believing that Joshua would 
sanction their engagement, gave the required 
promise, and directed her to attach a scailet 
line to her window, in order that, during the 
assault upon the town, her house might be 
distinguished from all others, and its inmates 
spared. In stating the grounds of her belief 
in their success, Rahab incidentally gave the 
spies much valuable information, which enables 
us to perceive the state of mind in which the 
nearer Canaanites awaited the invasion of the 
Hebrews. 

It seems that the fame of the miracles 
which the Lord had wrought in Egypt on the 
behalf of his people, and the wonders of the 
wilderness, as well as the victories on the 
east of the river, had attracted much attention 
i in Canaan, and had filled the inhabitants with 
such alarm and discouragement as accounts 
well for their not assembling to oppose the 
Hebrew host at the Jordan, across which it 
was now manifest that they intended to enter 
the country. Having given this information, 
Rahab assisted them in leaving Jericho unob- 
served, by lowering them down by a- rope 
through the window ; and on their return they 
gave Joshua an account of their mission. 

On the very day after receiving this encour- 
aging intelligence, Joshua took measures for 
the removal of the camp to the other side of 
the river. It was then the time of flood, when 
the river was full, deep, and rapid, and there- 
fore presented a greater obstacle to the pas- 
sage than at any other time of the year. But 
this seemed no great hindrance to those who 
had seen the Red Sea itself separate to afford 
a passage to the descendants of Abraham. 
Indeed, it was promised that the waters of the 



; 




(111) 



112 



THE FALL OF JERICHO. 



Jordan should in like manner be divided to 
afford them a dryshod entrance to their heri- 
tage. Pursuant to the directions which ac- 
companied this promise, the ark, borne by the 
priests, went about three-fourths of a mile in 
advance of the great body of the host. No 
sooner had the feet of these sacred persons 
touched the river's brink, than the waters 
divided to give them passage. The waters 
below the point went on emptying ther iselves 
into the Dead Sea, while the stream above 
was arrested in its impetuous course, leaving 
the channel dry from the point where the 
priests entered to the head of the lake. 

The priests went on, and when they reached 
the middle of the river's bed they rested there, 
beneath the shadow of the wall of waters, the 
ark of God being thus interposed between the 
impending flood and the people, who, as soon 
as they came up, passed across between the 
ark and the head of the lake. When all had. 
gone over, the priests took up the ark and 
went up out of the bed of the river ; and no 
sooner had they done this than the mighty hand 
which held back the flood was withdrawn. 

Setting- Up a Memorial. 

Before th^ priests quitted the bed of the 
Jordan a singular operation was performed, 
which, taken in connection with other circum- 
stances, reminds one strongly of the Druidical 
monuments and stones of memorial which are 
found in different parts of the world. Twelve 
men, one from every tribe, were sent back into 
the bed of the river, each bearing a large stone, 
which he deposited there, and returned with a 
large stone from the river. The stones thus 
obtained were set up, as stones of memorial at 
Gilgal, where the Israelites formed their first 
encampment in the land of Canaan. 

This miraculous passage of the river must 
have much heightened the consternation of 
the Canaanites ; and the manner in which the 
Israelites obtained possession of Jericho was 
well framed to strengthen this feeling in them, 
as well as to give confidence to the Israelites, 
from the conviction that a Divine power would 
be exerted to put them in possession of those 



strong cities, the report of whose high walls 
and towers had filled their fathers with alarm. 

As soon as the Israelites had crossed the 
river, the miraculous supply of manna, which 
they had hitherto enjoyed, ceased, and they 
from that time ate bread made from the corn 
of the land. In the wilderness the rite of cir- 
cumcision had been neglected, and the Pass- 
over had not been observed. But before com- 
mencing their operations in Palestine, it was 
deemed right that the people should be cir- 
cumcised in their camp at Gilgal ; and they 
then proceeded to celebrate the Passover, the 
time for which had arrived. 

After this, as Joshua was out alone recon- 
noitring the town of Jericho, which he had 
placed under siege, he was surprised by the 
sudden appearance of a personage with a 
drawn sword, who announced himself as the 
heavenly " captain of the Lord's host," and 
proceeded* to give to the prostrate Joshua in- 
structions for the siege of the city. He was 
directed to " compass the city by all the men 
of war, and go round about it once ; and do 
this six days." " And seven priests shall bear 
before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: 
and the seventh day ye shall compass the city 
seven times, and the priests shall blow with 
the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that 
when they make a long blast with the rams' 
horns, and when ye hear the sound of the 
trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great 
shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down 
flat, and the people ascend every man straight 
before him." 

This course was exactly followed. The 
procession, however imposing, must have 
seemed an idle show during six days ; but on 
the seventh, when the wall fell down at the 
great shout which arose from that mighty 
host, and while the earth yet shook with that 
terrible downfall, the Israelites rushed into the 
now open city, which they sacked and utterly 
destroyed. No living creature was spared 
(save Rahab and her friends), and the buildings 
were destroyed by fire ; but the silver and gold, 
and the vessels of brass and iron, were brought 
into the treasury of the Lord. In fact the 



ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND. 



113 



town had at the first been laid under a solemn 
ban, or curse of devotement, which made it a 
high crime for any one to save for himself any 
of the things doomed to be destroyed, or of 
those which were to be saved only for the use 
of the sanctuary. 

The next attack of the Israelites was against 
the town of Ai ; and they made it in all the 
confidence of victory, which the miraculous 
overthrow of Jericho inspired. But they were 
repulsed, and fled before the men of Ai, who 
sallied out against them. This was a terrible 
disaster, not merely from the discouragement 
of the Israelites, but far more from the enemy 
being thus enabled to perceive that the dreaded 
invaders were not after all invincible. It was 
evident from this that the Lord had, for some 
unknown reason, abandoned them to their own 
resources. A solemn inquiry was then insti- 
tuted, and it was discovered that one of the 
men engaged in the sack of Jericho had been 
tempted to appropriate to his own use from 
the devoted spoils a " goodly Babylonish gar- 
ment," together with some silver, and an ingot 
of gold. 

The Sin of Achan. 

By this act the man, whose name was Achan, 
had involved the whole of the host in the in- 
fraction of a solemn covenant, which had led 
to the disaster at Ai. The devoted articles 
were taken from him and laid up before the 
Lord : Achan and his family were stoned, and 
afterwards burned ; and by this expiation " the 
fierceness of the Lord's anger was turned from 
Israel." After this a second expedition against 
Ai was undertaken ; and this time the Israel- 
ites were more successful. The city was taken 
and burnt, and all the inhabitants put to the 
sword ; but the spoil, consisting of cattle and 
large quantities of gold and silver, was this 
time divided among the people. 

When the Gibeonites, a people of Canaan 
inhabiting this neighborhood, heard of the de- 
struction of Jericho and Ai, with the slaughter 
of the inhabitants, and that the Israelites were 
under a command to destroy all the nations 
of the land without entering into any league 
with them or giving them any quarter, they 
8 



resolved to obtain exemption by means of a 
stratagem. With this view they sent out some 
of their principal men as ambassadors, who 
were fitted out in such a manner that they 
seemed to have come from a very distant 
country ; making it appear that the provisions 
which they carried were either exhausted or 
spoiled by the length of the journey, and even 
their clothes and wine-skins worn out. These 
persons presented themselves before Joshua 
and the elders of Israel, and stated that their 
distant countrymen had heard of the mighty 
deeds which God had wrought for his people 
in rescuing them from Egypt, and in destroy- 
ing before them the powerful kings of the 
Amorites : and these reports had so impressed 
their minds as to render them highly desirous 
of the friendship of a people thus highly 
favored by Heaven. For this purpose they 
had undertaken a long and fatiguing journey, 
as their nation was ' even willing to become 
their tributaries, if they might have security 
that they should not at any future period be 
destroyed by the increasing power and do- 
minion of Israel. 

Joshua and the elders hastily deemed the 
condition in which these men appeared, and 
the state of their provisions, as sufficient evi- 
dence for the truth of this plausible tale : and 
they entered into a league with them, engag- 
ing by a solemn oath not to destroy, but to 
protect, the people they represented. The 
deception practised by the Gibeonites was, 
however, soon after discovered. But in con- 
sideration of the solemn engagement into 
which the Israelites had entered, their lives 
were spared ; but their lands and cities were 
taken under the dominion of Israel, and the 
inhabitants had imposed upon them the ser- 
vice of providing wood and water for the use 
of the tabernacle — that is, they had to carry 
the water in their skin bags, and to cut and 
carry the wood for the sacrifices. This was a 
great relief to those by whom these servile 
labors had hitherto been performed. £i would 
appear that the Gibeonicer generally pursued 
their ordinary modes of life, and had only to 
provide a sufficient number of men, whether 




JOSHUA COMMANDING THE SUN TO STAND STILL. Josh. 



(114) 



ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND. 



115 



in rotation or by substitute, to be " hewers of 
wood and drawers of water." 

The exclusive alliance of the Gibeonites 
with the Israelites was highly displeasing to 
the neighboring states, and in particular to 
Adoni-zedek, the king of Jerusalem, who 
formed a confederacy with four other kings 
of the small neighboring monarchies, for the 
purpose of attacking them, in order to prevent 
others from following an example so dis- 
couraging to the defenders of the country. 
When thus threatened by invasion, they sent 
to Joshua to claim his protection. Mindful 
of the league between them, however wrong- 
fully obtained, and encouraged by the Divine 
assurance of a complete victory — taking a con- 
siderable body of picked men, and leaving the 
bulk of the army at Gilgal, which was still 
the head-quarters of the Israelites, Joshua 
marched to the relief of the Gibeonites. He 
concerted his measures on this occasion with 
so much prudence, and executed them with so 
much vigor and despatch, that in his attack 
upon the enemy, the next day, he succeeded 
in defeating and totally routing the superior 
force of the confederated kings. As they fled, 
" the Lord cast down great stones from heaven 
upon them, and they died, and there were more 
that died with hailstones than they whom 
the children of Israel slew with the sword." 

The Sun and Moon Standing Still. 

A still greater miracle was that which fol- 
lowed : Joshua, fearing that the day would fail 
before he had completed his victory, cried 
aloud, " Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, 
and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon ! " 
And we are told " the sun stood still and the 
moon stayed until the people had avenged 
themselves upon their enemies." 

This interposition of Divine Providence at 
the word of man enabled the Israelites to 
complete their victory by utterly dispersing 
the enemy. The five kings who escaped from 
the field of battle took shelter in a cave, where 
they were discovered and put to death in a 
most ignominious manner, after the chiefs of 



Israel had set their feet upon their necks, 
which was in those times a well-known mode 
of expressing triumph over a vanquished foe, 
and as such is often represented upon the 
monuments of Persia and of Egypt. 

Encouraged by these successes, the Israel- 
ites no longer hesitated to attack the strong, 
fortified towns, which had seemed impregna- 
ble to their fathers, and under their able com- 
mander they soon made themselves masters 
of all the strongholds and chief cities of 
Southern Palestine, and with them the terri- 
tories which they commanded. 

The North, which, in the absence of immi- 
nent danger, had hitherto rested in quiet, now 
became seriously alarmed ; and a powerful 
confederacy was formed under Jabin, king of 
Hazor, to resist the further progress of the 
invaders : all the remaining strength of Canaan 
seems to have been concentrated in this opera- 
tion, and great reliance seems to have been 
placed upon the iron-armed war-chariots, 
which were, in fact, very dreadful to the He- 
brews. So formidable, indeed, was the con- 
federacy, and so vast the host assembled 
against Israel on this occasion, that the Lord 
judged it needful to give Joshua renewed 
assurances of protection and victory, and com- 
manded him to attack the Canaanites on the 
following day. Joshua obeyed, and obtained 
a complete and apparently easy victory over 
the unwieldy host which lay encamped by 
"the waters of Merom " (the lake Huleh). 

After this brilliant success, the Hebrews 
found no power strong enough to make head 
against them. They carried their victories to 
the northernmost parts of Palestine, and to 
the borders of Zidon and the Phoenician terri- 
tory. On their return they destroyed Hazor, 
and its king, who had taken refuge in his cap- 
ital, and who had been lord paramount of all 
the petty sovereigns in this part of Palestine. 
Hazor was on this account destroyed, as an 
example of severity ; but all the other cities, 
which were either carried by assault or sur- 
rendered, were preserved for the use of the 
Israelites. 



CHAPTER XII. 



JOSHUA DIVIDING THE LAND. 




'URSUING the graphic nar- 
rative, Ave find that the op- 
erations which have been 
described, and which left 
the Israelites paramount 
in Canaan, occupied about 
five years, during which 
not fewer than thirty-five 
of the petty kings of Canaan had 
been dispossessed of their domin- 
ions. It then seemed that suffi- 
cient connected territory had been 
acquired to provide for three of 
the tribes, on the same liberal 
scale as the two tribes and a half 
beyond the Jordan. The decision of God in 
the distribution of this territory was appealed 
to by a solemn lot, which assigned it to Judah, 
Ephraim, and the unprovided half-tribe of 
Manasseh. This first division of lands took 
place in the year b. c. 1602. 

Before the internal distribution to particular 
families was made of the territory thus as- 
signed, Caleb put in a claim to a separate pro- 
vision, in virtue of a promise made by Moses, 
that he should inherit the land in which he 
had beheld the gigantic Anakim, who had 
struck such terror into the other spies, but by 
whom his own faithful heart and that of Joshua 
himself had not been appalled. This Caleb, 
it will be remembered, and Joshua, were the 
only two who were adults at the Exodus, who 
were permitted to enter the Promised Land. 
The lands which Caleb had in view were ac- 
cordingly assigned to him, being Hebron and 
its neighborhood. This territory was still in 
the hands of the enemy; but Caleb undertook 
to get possession of it when assigned to him. 
He did so. At Debir he offered the hand of 
his daughter as a prize for him who should 
take that place for him. 
(116) 



The exploit was undertaken and success- 
fully accomplished by his nephew Othniel, to 
whom custom gave a sort of right to her 
hand, and who would have incurred some 
dishonor had he allowed the superior daring 
of another to take that right from him. As 
Othniel was about to conduct home his bride, 
she intimated to him her dissatisfaction at the 
unwatered lands which Caleb had given as her 
dower, and got his consent to allow her to ask 
her father for "springs of water." This was 
a great thing to ask ; but Caleb was kind, and 
gave her " both the upper and the nether 
springs." 

Hitherto the camp had remained at Gilgal, 
and there was the altar and tabernacle. But it 
now seemed desirable to remove the head- 
quarters to a more central place ; and Shiloh, 
in the land of Ephraim, was deemed the most 
suitable station. The removal took place with 
much pomp. On the way, Joshua was enabled 
to follow the directions of Moses respecting an 
imposing ceremony which he had ordered to 
be celebrated on the mountains of Ebal and 
Gerizim. In the valley between the mountains 
were stationed the priests with the ark, while 
the mountains themselves were lined with the 
tribes, six on each side. The curses of the 
law upon the wrong-doer and the disobedient 
were then pronounced from Mount Ebal, and 
its blessings upon the well-doer and the obe- 
dient from Mount Gerizim ; and as each clause 
was pronounced, one mighty "Amen" pro- 
claimed the assent of the vast host to the con- 
ditions upon which they were taking posses- 
sion of their heritage. 

Surveying the Land. 

A sort of desultory warfare with the unsub- 
dued natives seems to have occupied the ensu- 
ing five or six years, without any such vigor- 



JOSHUA DIVIDING THE LAND. 



117 



ous operations as had marked the earlier j to their exertions. But experience had shown 



warfare. From this state of comparative in- 
ertion the tribes were roused by the reproof 
from Joshua : " How long- are ye slack to go 
in to possess the land which the Lord, the God 



that the previous distribution had been made 
on insufficient information as to the extent of 
the land to be divided ; and therefore it was 
directed that a new survey of all the country 




JOSHUA DIVIDING THE LAND BY LOT. 

of your fathers, hath given you ? " It then 
seems to have occurred to him that if the 
whole country, conquered and unconquered, 
were actually distributed among the seven 
tribes for which no provision had been made, 
a new and effectual stimulus would be given 



Josh. xiii. 6. 

should be made by three competent persons 
from each tribe, who should write down the 
particulars in a book. It is not improbable 
that some attempt at mapping the surveyed 
lands was made on this occasion, especially 
when we bear in mind that the art of land- 



118 



DRAWING THE LOTS. 



surveying had its origin in the country from 
which the Hebrews had come. And indeed 
it is difficult to make out how the nice dis- 
crimination of particulars and boundary points 
which we find in the chapters which follow 



taken " before the Lord " at Shiloh, and the 
lots drawn were found to be in very exact 
accordance with the prophetic intimations 
respecting the future condition of all the tribes 
which Jacob had delivered to his sons. This 




FLEEING TO A CITY OF 

this statement, and which are manifestly the 
results of the survey, could have been intel- 
ligible without some kind of mapped delinea- 
tions. 

After seven months the surveyors returned 
with the requisite particulars entered in their 
books. The lots for the distribution of the j 
territory among the seven tribes were then I 



REFUGE. Josh. XX. 2. 

second and final distribution took place in the 
year b. c. 1596. 

The whole of the territory being now dis- 
tributed, it was found that Judah possessed a 
large territory in southernmost Canaan, con- 
taining one hundred and fourteen towns, besides 
many villages. Jerusalem lay partly in this 
tribe and partly in that of Benjamin; but the 



JOSHUA DIVIDING THE LAND. 



119 



native inhabitants, the Jebusites, were not at 
this time expelled from it, and retained posses- 
sion till a much later period. 

The inheritance of Ephraim and of the half- 
tribe of Manasseh extended from the Jordan 
to the Mediterranean Sea, across the land, and 
it lay to the north of Judah. This contained 
most of the country which was eventually 
known by the name of Samaria. Of this dis- 
trict Ephraim had the southern, and Manasseh 
the northern portion. The portion of Benja- 
min was situated between those of Judah, 
Ephraim, and Manasseh. The survey had 
shown that Judah had received more than its 
fair proportion of territory, and therefore at 
this second distribution a portion for another 
tribe was taken out of the southwest part of it. 
This portion fell to Simeon. 

To Zebulon fell the tract of country nearest 
to the lake of Gennesareth, in the region of 
Galilee. The possessio'n of Issachar lay to 
the south of this, and reached from the Jordan 
almost to the Mediterranean. The lot of Asher 
formed the most northern portion of the land, 
and reached to the roots of Lebanon, and was 
only excluded from the sea by the strip of 
eoast retained by the Zidonians. The inherit- 
ance of Naphtali lay to the east of Asher, and 
touched on the waters of the Upper Jordan 
and the northern part of the lake of Tiberias. 
Dan's proper territory lay to the north and 
northwest of Judah ; but it afterwards acquired 
new possessions far to the north among the 
sources of the Jordan. The portions allotted 
to Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, on the 
other side of the Jordan, have already been 
pointed out. 

Cities of Refuge. 

The Levites had no share in this distribu- 
tion ; but, in compensation, they had the use 
of the tithes, and forty-eight towns for residence 
among the several tribes were allotted to them. 
Six of these towns, three on each side the 
Jordan, were made " cities of refuge," or places 
appointed under the law of Moses as asylums 
for persons who had committed homicide, and 
who, as soon as they came within the walls, 
were safe from the punsuit of the avenger of 



blood, who, under old Eastern usages, which 
still subsist in many countries, claimed the 
right of slaying, wherever found, the slayer of 
his next of kin. This institution imposed a 
strong restraint upon a custom liable to much 
abuse, but which it seems to have been deemed 
not prudent to abolish altogether. 

The forty thousand men from the two tribes 
and a half beyond the Jordan had hitherto, 
according to their agreement, faithfully at- 
tended their brethren in all their wars against 
the Canaanites. They had no territorial in- 
terest in the matter ; but they shared and were 
enriched by the spoils of the armies they de- 
feated and the towns they conquered. The 
time was now come when they might be dis- 
missed to their own homes, in doing which 
Joshua solemnly exhorted them to " take dili- 
gent heed to do the commandment and the 
law which Moses, the servant of our Lord, 
had charged them, to love the Lord their 
God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep 
His commandments, to cleave unto Him, and 
to serve Him with all their heart and with all 
their soul." He then blessed them, and sent 
them away. 

A Suspicious Transaction. 

When they reached the other side of the 
Jordan, these men set up a great altar, prob- 
ably in some distinguishing feature similar to 
the one at Shiloh, as a monument, to prove to 
future ages their relation to the tribes on the 
other side of the river, their interest in the 
worship and service of God at His sanctuary, 
and their right, and that of their posterity, to 
join in all the ordinances there administered. 
To their brethren, however, this transaction 
bore a very different and suspicious appear- 
ance. They concluded at once that the altar 
was intended for sacrifice, and the basis of a 
separate establishment for worship, contrary 
to the law which allowed but the one altar 
before the tabernacle. 

This supposed defection and disobedience, 
therefore, threw the tribes into a state of great 
excitement ; and they prepared for immediate 
war to bring the apostates to punishment. 



120 



AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 



The cooler judgment of Joshua and of Eleazer 
the high -priest, however, suggested the pro- 
priety of sending a deputation to inquire into 
the matter. The men whose act had raised 
this commotion were much startled at the 
design thus imputed to them, of seeking the 
very object which it had been their solicitude 
to avert. They explained their real intention, 
with which the tribes west of the river were 
not only satisfied, but pleased. 



give them his last counsels, and receive from 
them the renewed assurance of their faithful- 
ness and obedience to the Divine institutions. 
After briefly sketching their past history, and 
pointing out the special mercies of God to- 
wards them, he called upon them to decide at 
once and solemnly, whether they would accept 
the high destinies and consequent obligations 
to which they had been called, or would rather 
conform to the practices and worship of 




JOSHUA SENDING BACK THE TWO TRIBES AND A HALF. — Josh. xxii. 4. 



Several following years were distinguished 
by no great actions. The tribes, having 
already as many towns and as much land as 
their numbers allowed them to occupy, do not 
seem to have prosecuted the war with much 
vigor, but were contented with the rest and 
plenty they actually enjoyed. 

About fourteen years after the final distri- 
bution of the lands, Joshua, being then far 
advanced in years, and knowing that his end 
drew nigh, convened the people, that he might 



nations around them, 
my house," he added 



But as for me, and 
' we will serve the 
Lord." The people answered : " The Lord 
our God will we serve, and His voice will we 
obey ! " 

This amounted to a formal renewal of 
the covenant into which they had entered at 
Sinai. So they intended it, and so it was 
accepted by Joshua, who wrote down the terms 
of it in the book of the law ; and by way of 
public testimonial, he, according to the custom 



JOSHUA DIVIDING THE LAND. 



121 



of the times, set up a great stone of memorial 
under a tree which grew near the sanctuary 
of God. The words he used on this occasion 
clearly point out the object and leading idea 
of such stones of testimony: " Behold, this 
stone shall be a witness unto us ; for it hath 
heard all the words of the Lord which He 
spake unto us : it shall therefore be a witness 
unto you, lest ye deny your God." Monu- 
ments of this kind, in the shape of single 
stones, or heaped up, or variously arranged, 
or formed into pillars of memorial, call to 
mind the still subsisting and similar records 
of a remote age, which are found in different 
parts of the world, and which are not wanting 
in Syria and Palestine. 

Not long after this Joshua died, at the age 
of one hundred and ten years (b. c. 1582), 
being the oldest man then in Israel, unless 
Caleb were still alive. 

An Ancient Hero. 

The character of Joshua affords an interest- 
ing study to those who take interest in the 
history of the Jewish people. At the first 
view he may seem to derive his eminence only 
from the greatness of the circumstances in 
which he is placed ; but a closer inspection 
-shows him always, under the Divine King, at 
the head of these circumstances, and develops 
many traits of character which claim our ad- 
miration and respect. In him we find that 
rare combination of talents which go to form 
at once the warrior and the statesman ; and if 
his career was less brilliant and his position 
less commanding than that of Moses, he 
showed himself equally fit for the peculiar 
services which devolved upon him, and for the 
station to which he was called. He was 
crave without temerity, active without precipi- 
tation, and possessed the rare art of making 
himself obeyed without becoming imperious. 
He shrank from no difficulties, he neglected 
no duty, and he suffered no advantage to be' 
lost. 

In the passage of the Jordan, the judgment 
of Achan, the taking of Ai, we find nothing 
neglected which might cause the miracle to 



make a profound impression, the punishment 
to be acknowledged just, and the victory to be 
decisive. The generation which he governed 
was superior to that which came out of Egypt, 
and he was in consequence better obeyed than 
Moses. As a minister of the Divine judg-' 
ments, he executed them without weakness or 
failure, but also with calmness, and without 
passion or fury. His piety is gentle, though 
decisive, and his confidence firm, though mani- 
fested more in action than in words. In his 
last charge to the people, and in the effect 
which his solemn farewell was framed to pro- 
duce, we recognize the pupil of a Moses, and 
a faithful servant of the Theocracy. Lastly, 
we behold in Joshua a conqueror more void 
of pride, and more dead to ambition, than any 
other which history records. 

The death of Joshua was soon followed by 
that of Eleazer the high-priest, who was suc- 
ceeded by his son Phinehas. Gradually also 
" the elders who outlived Joshua " dropped 
off, and the people were left without that di- 
rection and control for general objects under 
which they had hitherto been. It must not, 
however, be supposed that they were entirely 
without control and government. This was 
by no means the case ; the division into tribes 
gave them hereditary chiefs and heads of 
families, whose authority was great within the 
tribes to which they belonged, and quite suffi- 
cient for the purposes of internal government. 
This explains how it was that the Israelites 
managed their affairs even so well as they did 
in the centuries between the death of Joshua 
and the election of Saul. The appointment 
of the so-called judges does not explain it, for 
there were few of them who had any substan- 
tial authority, or whose influence extended 
over more than a part of the nation. 

But although the division into tribes was, as 
now in Tartary and Arabia, sufficient for in- 
ternal government of the tribes themselves^ it 
was insufficient for national objects. But if it 
be asked how it happened that this was not 
provided for by the appointment of some one 
to succeed Joshua, it is answered that- provision 
zvas made, and that the Israelites in the troubles 



122 



NATIONAL CALAMITIES. 



which befel them reaped the fruit of neglecting 
to avail themselves of this provision, and of 
carrying into effect the Divine intention re- 
specting the general government. 

Joshua's Mission Accomplished. 

Moses had a special mission to emancipate 
the people, and to furnish them with laws and 
institutions suited to the condition they were 
destined to occupy. Joshua had a special 
mission to conduct the same people into the 
land of Canaan, and put them into possession 
of their heritage. Both these missions had 
been accomplished, and then it behooved the 
people to go upon the rules which the law had 
laid down for their government. 

But the people were not sensible of their 
importance to them. Finding that they had 
in their tribes such a government as they under- 
stood and had been used to, they soon fell 
back upon their separate interests, and neg- 
lected the more general and larger object in 
which the whole nation was concerned. The 
theocratical government was hence neglected, 



and became inoperative for purposes of good 
by not being used. And ere long, as they 
were still subject to external pressure from the 
Canaaniteswho remained unsubdued, the whole 
frame of society fell into disorder from the 
want of proper cohesion in its parts, and the 
nation was subject to the calamities which it is 
the purpose of the Book of Judges to record. 

For a considerable time after the death of 
Joshua and the elders who outlived him, the 
Israelites, who had quite as much land and as 
many towns as they could well occupy, rested 
quiet, minding their own affairs, and taking no 
pains to drive out those Canaanites who still 
.remained unsubdued, and held possession of 
the strongest posts in the country. The latter 
were thus enabled to gather strength and con- 
fidence, and as the wonderful victories of the 
Israelites and the miraculous interpositions of 
the Divine favor in their behalf became more 
remote, they began to imagine that the in- 
vaders were not, after all, so formidable as had 
at first been supposed, and their lost hopes 
were somewhat restored. 




CHAPTER XIII. 



REMARKABLE HEBREW WOMEN. 




BSERVING that it had 
become necessary for 
them to reduce the 
power of the inhabit- 
ants, in order to secure 
what they had already 
won, the Israelites once 
more appeared in arms, 
bent on further conquests. 

They marched against Jeru- 
salem, and, having carried and 
taken possession of it, they put 
the inhabitants to the sword, and 
set it on fire. Hebron was also 
at this time captured from the 
Canaanites, as well as a great 
many other large towns ; and the 
general result of the war was to put the 
southern part of the country in substantial 
possession of the Israelites. At Jerusalem 
only the lower city had been taken, and 
although the Benjamites took possession of it, 
as it lay within their boundary, and repaired 
the damage it had sustained in the war, they 
allowed the Jebusites to live in it with them. 
This course was also followed in most of the 
other great towns which were taken ; and 
although it probably arose from their own 
numbers being insufficient to occupy advan- 
tageously all the towns which were taken by 
them, the intermixture was clearly contrary to 
the Divine intention, and proved in the end a 
great snare and danger to the chosen people. 

They gradually adopted the manners, cus- 
toms, and abominable practices of the natives 
with whom they thus mingled, and soon began 
to adopt their modes of worship and to serve 
their idols. This was probably under the 
notion that these were the gods of the country 
— the native gods — and as such entitled to 
homage from all the inhabitants of the land. 



This idea of local gods was the besetting sin of 
ancient nations ; it is frequently noticed in the 
Scriptures, and we know that the Israelites 
themselves were exceedingly prone to this 
notion. 

The downward course which the nation was 
now taking is exemplified by the historical 
anecdotes which occupy the last four chapters 
of the Book of Judges, forming a sort of ap- 
pendix to it, the particulars in which are 
referred to the times of confusion which fol- 
lowed the death of Joshua and of the elders 
who survived him. The first of these anec- 
dotes is as follows : The history of Micah 
furnishes a very interesting example of the ex- 
tent to which even the Israelites, well disposed 
in the main, had become familiarized with 
superstitious and idolatrous practices, and the 
curious manner in which they managed to 
make a monstrous and most unseemly alliance 
between the true doctrine in which they had 
been brought up, and the erroneous notions 
which they had imbibed. 

A woman of Ephraim had, through a mis- 
taken zeal, dedicated a large quantity of silver 
(about five hundred and fifty ounces) to the 
Lord, intending that her son should make 
therewith a household deity, in the hope that 
by this means she might procure to her house 
the blessings of one who had absolutely for- 
bidden all worship by images. Her son Micah 
knew not of this sacred appropriation of the 
money, and took it for the use of the house. 
But on learning its destination, and hearing 
his mother lay her curse upon the sacrilegious 
person by whom she supposed it to have been 
stolen, he became alarmed and restored her 
the silver, and received it again from her with 
directions to give effect to her intention. This 
he did. He provided an image, and all things 
necessary to the performance of religious ser- 

(123) 




(124) 



REMARKABLE HEBREW WOMEN. 



125 



vices before it, including vestments for a priest. 
He set apart one of his own sons as priest, 
until he should be able to procure a Levite to 
take that character. 

He had not long to wait. It would seem 
that the dues of the Levites were not properly- 
paid at this time; for a young Levite who had 
lived at Bethlehem felt himself obliged to leave 
that place and seek elsewhere a subsistence. 
Happening to call at Micah's house, he gladly 
accepted that person's offer to remain and act 
as priest for the recompense of his victuals 
and two suits of clothes (one probably sacer- 
dotal) and eleven shekels of silver. Micah 
was delighted at this, completion of his estab- 
lishment, and, with most marvelous infatua- 
tion, cried, " Now I know Jehovah will bless 
me, seeing I have a Levite to be my priest." 
Things went on tranquilly for a time. But it 
happened that the tribe of Dan could not get 
possession of more than the hilly part of its 
territory, as the Amorites retained the plain, 
which was the most rich and valuable part. 
They therefore sought elsewhere an equivalent 
territory, which might be more easily acquired. 
Having ascertained that this might be found 
in the remote, but wealthy and peaceable, 
town and district of Laish, near the sources of 
the Jordan, a body of six hundred men was 
sent to get possession of it. 

From the persons they had previously sent 
to explore the country they had heard of 
Micah's establishment ; and so far from mani- 
festing any surprise or indignation, they 
viewed the matter much in the same light as 
Micah did himself. They envied him his idol 
and his priest, and resolved to deprive him of 
both and take them to their new settlement. 
They did so, notwithstanding his protest and 
outcries ; and as for the Levite, he was easily 
persuaded to prefer the priesthood of a clan 
to that of a single family. His descendants 
continued long after to exercise the priestly 
office,, in connection with this idol, at Dan, 
which was the name the conquerors gave to 
the town of Laish ; and it is lamentable to have 
to add that there is good reason to suspect 
that this Levite was a grandson of Moses. 



The other of these anecdotes records the 
atrocious treatment which a Levite and his 
wife received at Gibeah, in Benjamin. The 
tribe of Benjamin, when required by the other 
tribes to give up or punish the offenders, re- 
fused to do either, and took arms to resist the 
evident intention of the others to enforce jus- 
tice. A most unnatural war ensued, which 
ended in the all but total extinction of the 
tribe of Benjamin. That tribe was renowned 
for its valor and its skill in arms ; and there 
was a body of young men among them who 
could use both hands alike in the use of the 
sling, wherewith they could fling stones to a 
hair's breadth without missing. But all their 
bravery, all their skill, availed them not against 
the united host of Israel. Their stout resist- 
ance only served to kindle the fierce passions 
of their opponents, and the end of the war 
only left six hundred men of the tribe, who had 
posted themselves among the rocks of Rim- 
mon, and who were spared to prevent the utter 
extinction of a tribe in Israel. 

Idolatry and Crime. 

During the administration of Othniel, the 
nephew of Caleb, which continued during forty 
years, the nation prospered, for it remained 
substantially faithful to its God and King, and 
followed His laws and ordinances. But when 
the salutary control which this judge had 
exercised had ceased, the people gradually 
relapsed into idolatry and crime, and new 
afflictions became necessary for them. 

After this the Israelites enjoyed a long 
period — eighty years — of peace and safety, 
terminating b. c. 1426, being 182 years after 
the passage of the Jordan. It was towards 
the end of this period that the Philistines, after- 
wards so conspicuous in the sacred history, 
made their first appearance in the field as the 
enemies of Israel. But it was probably in this 
instance little more than a border foray ; for 
the party was put to the rout by a body of 
husbandmen with their implements, led by 
Shamgar, whose own weapon was an ox-goad. 

It is also in this interval that we are to place 
the history of Ruth and Naomi, which forms 



126 



NAOMI AND HER DAUGHTERS. 



so refreshing an episode in the accounts of daughters-in-law. By this time the famine 
sin, strife, and war, which form the bulk of the had ceased in Israel, and Naomi resolved to 



history of this period. It is a domestic history, 
and the only one which is given with the same 
degree of detail in all the Scripture. It thus 
affords a most interesting picture of the private 
life of the Hebrews of a remote time, to which 
the abundant touches of natural sentiment, 



return to her own people. Orpah and Ruth 
proposed to go with her ; but she resisted, 
and urged them to remain in their own coun- 
try, and among their own friends. Orpah 
yielded, and went to her friends, but Ruth was 
not to be moved. She said : " Intreat me not 




RUTH GLEAN I XG. 



true feeling, and unaffected piety impart that 
peculiar charm which is felt by every reader. 

It relates that during a famine in the land 
of Israel a man of Bethlehem, named Elim- 
elech, went to sojourn in Moab with his wife, 
Naomi, and his two sons. During their stay 
in that country the father died, and the widow 
was left with her sons, whom in due time she 
married to two damsels of Moab, one named 
Orpah and the other Ruth. Ere long her 



to leave thee, or to return from following after 
thee ; for whither thou goest I will go ; and 
where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people 
shall be my people, and thy God my God ; 
where thou diest will I die, and there will I be 
buried ; the Lord do so to me, and more also, 
if aught but death part thee and me." Naomi 
could not resist this, and they returned to 
Bethlehem together. 

Naomi was full of painful thoughts on re- 



sons died also, and she was left with her two I turning to the place as a lone widow, which 



REMARKABLE HEBREW WOMEN. 



127 



some years before she had quitted strong in 
her husband and hopeful in her two sons. 
The memory of her good name still, however, 
lingered in Bethlehem, and when she appeared 
in its streets people asked, " Is this Naomi ? " 
to which in the reawakened anguish of her 
soul she answered : " Call me not Naomi, 
meaning ' pleasant,' but call me Mara, signify- 
ing ' bitter,' for the Almighty hath dealt very 
bitterly with me. I went out full : and the 
Lord hath brought me home again empty. 
Why then call ye me Naomi ? " 

Kindness of Boaz. 

The return was in spring, about the begin- 
ning of the barley harvest ; and, as soon as 
they were a little settled, Ruth went forth to 
glean in the fields. The harvest-field to which, 
by the kind providence of God, this fair stranger 
was conducted, belonged to a pious, kind, and 
wealthy land-owner called Boaz. Her story 
had become well known in the place, and her 
generous and faithful conduct had, unknown 
to her, invested her with a kind of sacredness 
in the eyes of the good people of Bethlehem, 
and won for her their respect and love wher- 
ever she appeared. Hence the overseer readily 
gave her permission to glean in the field ; and 
when the owner himself came, and was told 
who the strange-looking damsel was, he spoke 
kindly to her, and told her not to seek any 
other place for gleaning, but to keep fast 
by his maidens, and partake freely of the 
victuals which he had provided for his 
reapers. 

Astonished at this kindness, she bowed her- 
self very low before him, and said : " Why 
have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou 
shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am 
a stranger ? " He then told her the good 
report he had heard of her conduct to Naomi, 
and added : "A full reward be given thee of 
the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings 
thou art come to trust." Overcome by find- 
ing so much kindness among. strangers, Ruth 
answered : " Let me find favor in thy sight, my 
lord ; for that thou hast comforted me ; and 
for that thou hast spoken friendly to thine 



handmaid, though I be not like one of thine 
handmaidens." 

Not content with this, Boaz strictly enjoined 
his people to treat the damsel with respect, 
and privately told the reapers to drop some of 
their corn purposely for her to gather up. 

Thus favored, poor Ruth throve well in her 
gleaning ; and when in the evening she beat 
out that which she had gleaned, it made little 
less than a bushel of barley. This extraor- 
dinary success attracted the attention and 
inquiries of Naomi, who, when she heard the 
name of Boaz, recognized his nearness of kin, 
and advised Ruth to glean only in his grounds. 
When the harvest was over, the mother-in- 
law, in her care for the damsel's welfare, be- 
came aware of the duties which she owed to 
the childless house of her husband. By the 
Hebrew law it was the duty of the next of kin 
to marry the widow of one who died childless, 
that the first-born of the marriage might 
succeed to the estate, and be counted as the 
son of the deceased. Under this law Naomi 
conceived that it was the duty of Boaz to 
make Ruth his wife, and in that case it was 
her own duty to the deceased to claim that he 
should do so. The threshing in the open-air 
threshing-floor followed the reaping, and Na- 
omi knew that Boaz reposed at night beside 
the heap of threshed corn in that place. 
Thither she advised Ruth to go, and to claim 
" that he should throw his skirt over her," and 
by that action avow his intention to take up 
the obligations which devolved upon him. 

Ruth Wedded to her Benefactor. 

Accordingly she went, wrapped up in one 
of those ample veils which women still wear 
in the East. Boaz hesitated at a requisition 
made so unexpectedly, and at such a time and 
place ; but his hesitation arose from the knowl- 
edge that there was a nearer kinsman on whom 
the duty and claim in the first place devolved. 
This he told her ; but spoke kindly to her, and 
said that, if the other person declined to per- 
form the part of a kinsman to her, he would 
do so, " for thou art a virtuous woman." 

That very day Boaz repaired to the gate, 



128 



MARRIAGE OF RUTH. 



where in those days most public and judicial 
business was transacted, on account of the 
facilities offered by the constant passage of the 
inhabitants between the town and the neigh- 



matter before him as a question respecting the 
right of redeeming a piece of land to be sold 
by Naomi. The kinsman was willing to this 
extent to perform the legal duty which de- 




RUTH. 



boring fields. He had not waited long before I volved upon him ; but when it was further 



the nearer kinsman of whom he had spoken 
passed by, and he called to him, and, in the 
presence of the elders of the city, laid the 



explained that it involved the necessity of mar- 
rying Ruth, as the widow of the deceased heir, 
he drew back, saying, " I cannot redeem it for 



REMARKABLE HEBREW WOMEN. 



129 



myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance : re- 
deem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot 
redeem it." Then, to indicate the transfer of 
his right, he took off his sandal and gave it to 
Boaz, which, being done in the presence of 
witnesses specially called upon to notice the 
act, constituted a binding and legal act of 
transfer. It is thought that the person who 
received the shoe preserved it in record of the 
transaction ; and it is possibly from this custom, 
or another of similar meaning, that a person 
who has taken the place which had belonged 
to another is said to stand in his shoes. 

This mention of sandals affords us occasion 
to remark that the word translated " shoe," in 
our authorized version of the Scriptures, must 
generally be understood to denote sandals. 
We are not, however, to infer that shoes, or 
rather slippers and buskins, were altogether 
unknown ; but such were more common in 
the times of the New Testament than of the 
Old, and were more used by foreigners than by 
native Jews. But in those later times, when 
Jews from all lands repaired to Jerusalem at 
the different festivals, it is probable that san- 
dals, shoes, and buskins of most of the ancient 
forms represented in our engravings, were seen 
in Jerusalem. 

Israel Delivered by Deborah. 

This obstacle being happily surmounted, 
Ruth became the wife of Boaz. The first-born 
son, named Obed, from whom sprang Jesse, 
the father of David, was considered as the 
grandson of Naomi, and her neighbors accord- 
ingly congratulated her : — " Blessed be the 
Lord, which hath not left thee this day without 
a kinsman, that his name may be famous in 
Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer 
of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age ; 
for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who 
is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne 
him." 

Towards the end of the long interval of 
eighty years, during which these incidents 
occurred, the Israelites again fell into evil 
courses, and were again brought under punish- 
ment. 

There was a woman named Deborah, cele- 



brated for her piety and wisdom, who had 
probably been considerably instrumental in 
bringing about the recent reformation, and 
who was so highly esteemed by the people 
that they brought their differences to her for 
decision, so that she is said to have judged 
Israel. Her dwelling was under the palm-tree 
between Ramah and Bethel, afterwards known 
as " Deborah's palm-tree." 

To this woman the mission of deliverance 
came ; and as she could not herself take the 
field, she called Barak, one of the tribe of 
Naphtali, to take command of the troops, 
which he was instructed to raise, to the num- 
ber of ten thousand men. 

Deborah's Triumphant Song-. 

A battle was fought with the opposing host, 
which was commanded by Sisera, the most 
renowned general of his time. Sisera escaped 
from the field of battle, after suffering utter 
defeat, but was slain in a tent, whither he had 
repaired for concealment and rest. Jael, wife 
of one of the nomadic chiefs, drove a nail into 
his temple as he was lying asleep. 

He was scarcely dead when the pursuers 
arrived, headed by Barak himself— the com- 
mander in those ancient wars being usually 
solicitous of taking or slaying the opposing 
general with his own hand. Jael went forth 
to meet them, and accosted Barak with, 
" Come, and I will shew thee the man whom 
thou seekest." He then went with her into 
the tent, and beheld the redoubtable enemy 
of Israel lying dead, with the tent-nail in his 
temples, and knew that he had died by a 
woman's hand and with a woman's weapons. 

This great victory was commemorated by 
Deborah and Barak in a triumphal ode, which 
fcrms a favorable and interesting specimen of 
the early poetry of the Hebrews. It begins 
with an animated picture of the oppressed 
condition in which the Israelites had lately 
been, marked not by descriptions of particu- 
lars, but by suggestive points 

" The highways were unfrequented, 
And in by-paths travellers travelled; 
Deserted were the villages in Israel, 



130 



DEBORAH'S SONG. 



Until that I, Deborah, arose, 

Until I arose to be a mother in Israel." 

The song then proceeds to praise the tribes 
which hastened to take arms at the call of 
Deborah and Barak, while those who neglected 
it, especially the tribes beyond the Jordan, are 
pointedly censured : 

"Among the streams of Reuben, 
Great were the resolvings of heart. 
Wherefore didst thou sit still among thy folds, 
And listen to the bleatings of thy herds ? 
Gilead abode beyond Jordan ; 
And Dan, why remained he quiet by the ships? 
Asher dwelt at ease on the shore of the sea, 
And abode tranquil by his havens." 

Then follows a vivid description of the battle, 
and of the death of Sisera ; and then, by a 
master-stroke of poetical skill, the scene 
changes, and the mother of this great com- 
mander is introduced as awaiting with im- 



patience for his triumphant return, of which 
no doubt was entertained : 

" Through a window the mother of Sisera looked out, 

And called through the lattice : 
' ' Wherefore delay eth his chariot to come? 

Why linger the paces of his chariots ? ' 

The wise among her noble ladies answered her, 

Yea, she returned answer to herself: 
• Lo, they have found, they divide the spoil, 

A maiden, two maidens to each warrior; 

A spoil of dyed garments for Sisera.' " 

And answered, that the victors tarry to divide 
the rich spoils they have won. Leaving the 
disappointment of these high expectations to 
be inferred from what had been already stated, 
the ode, with an apparent abruptness, which is 
in itself a beauty, concludes with : 

" So perish all thine enemies, Jehovah ! 
But they who love Him are as the going forth of the sun 
in his strength." 




CHAPTER XIV. 

A MAN OF VALOR. 




AVING gained the great 
victory which the fore- 
going song commemo- 
rates, the Israelites se- 
cured a repose of forty 
years ; towards the end 
of this period they had 
again fallen into their 
wonted idolatries, and 
were punished by the devastation of 
their country under the hands of 
the Midianites and other Eastern 
tribes. This was a very terrible visit- 
ation. It will be remembered that 
the Midianites had been all but ex- 
terminated by Moses, when they, in conjunc- 
tion with the Moabites, had seduced the 
Israelites to sin in the matter of Bael-Peor. 
From the conduct of the Midianites, now that 
they had the upper hand, it would seem that 
this fatal event in their history was still, after 
two hundred years, well remembered by them 
-and bitterly avenged. For we are told that 
" because of the Midianites, the children of 
Israel made them the dens which are in the 
mountains, and caves, and strongholds." 

It would seem from what follows that their 
mode of proceeding was precisely similar to 
that of the Arabs and other nomade people 
when they make annual incursions into culti- 
vated but weakly defended districts. They 
did not abide constantly in the land, but came 
up in the early summer, soon as the early pro- 
duce began to be collected, and remained 
through all the season of produce until the 
autumn, when they withdrew into their des- 
erts. The oppression consisted therefore in 
seizing the produce of the ground, and of 
spoiling the people of all their portable posses- 
sions. 

The description given of their course of 



proceeding is a very graphic picture of the 
circumstances which take place under similar 
conditions at the present day : " And it was 
so, when the Israelites had sown, that the 
Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and 
the children of the East, even they came up 
against them ; and they encamped against 
them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, 
till thou comest unto Gaza, and left no suste- 
nance for Israel, neither' sheep, nor ox, nor 
ass. For they came up with their cattle and 
their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for 
multitude ; for both they and their camels were 
without number; and they entered into the 
land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly 
impoverished because of the Midianites, and 
Israel cried unto the Lord." 

That cry was heard in heaven, and a deliv- 
erer was raised up for them. The person 
chosen on this occasion was Gideon, the son 
of Joash, of the family of Abiezer, who, when 
the messenger of the Lord appeared, was 
threshing out corn secretly in so unusual a 
spot as beside the wine-press, to conceal it 
from the Midianites. Gideon first perceived 
the heavenly messenger as a man sitting under 
a neighboring oak. The stranger accosted 
him with, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty 
man of valor." To which Gideon promptly 
answered, " If the Lord be with us, why then 
hath all this befallen us ? " This misgiving 
answer the angel met by bestowing upon him 
the high commission to deliver Israel : " Go 
in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel 
out of the hand of the Midianites : have not I 
sent thee? " 

Gideon at first attempted to excuse himself 
on the ground that his family did not possess 
in their tribe such a degree of influence as 
would justify or support so hazardous an 
undertaking; but when further urged, he inti- 

(131) 



132 



AN ANGEL'S VISIT. 



mated his willingness to encounter the toil 
and danger, provided that he had assurance of 
the stranger's own authority to bestow such 



whereby it seemed to become an offering to 
God. This satisfied Gideon, but created an- 
other alarm, lest the sight of a supernatural 



a commission upon him. Nothing further j being was the harbinger of death : "Alas, O 
passed at the moment, and Gideon hastened Lord God ! " he cried, " for because I have 
to prepare the refreshment which the rules of j seen an angel face to face;" but before he 
hospitality required him to offer the traveller, ] could express all his fears the Lord said to> 




gideon's fleece. — jud. vi. $y. 

and for which he prevailed upon the latter to j him : " Fear not : thou shalt not die." Gideon 
stay. He soon returned with a dressed kid then, in the first feeling of his gratitude, raised 



and unleavened cakes in a basket, and with 
broth in a pot. The stranger directed him to 
set them down upon the rock hard by, and 



an altar to the Lord, whom he addressed by 
the name of Jehovah-Shalom, "the God cf 
Peace ; " and, without more delay, he prepared 



then furnished the testimonial which the ! himself for the high task to which he now 
doubts of Gideon required, by causing the knew that he had been called. He seemed to 
whole to be consumed by a spontaneous fire, I be multiplied into a thousand men. 



A MAN OF VALOR. 



133 



The first achievement of Gideon was the de- 
struction of an altar to Baal, which seems to 
have belonged to his father's establishment, 
but in which the people of the place took a 
general interest. Taking with him ten of the 
servants on whom he could rely, he proceeded 
to demolish the idolatrous structure, and set 
up in its place an altar to Jehovah, on which 
he offered sacrifice. In the morning, when 
the people of Ophrah discovered what had 
been done, they broke out into great anger, 
and on hearing that the daring act had been 
performed by Gideon, they demanded that his 
life should pay for the sacrilege. 

Let Baal Plead for Himself. 

But Joash, who, in his anxiety for his son, 
forgot for the moment his own interest in the 
forbidden worship, interposed with an argu- 
ment which seems to have had at all times ex- 
traordinary power over the minds of the idola- 
trous Jews — " If Baal be a God (he said), let 
him plead for himself;" or, in other words, 
leave him to avenge his own cause, if he is 
able, upon the frail mortal who has provoked 
his anger. They yielded to this : and the ab- } 
sence of any present stroke of Baal's anger ' 
seems to have shaken their minds, and dis- 
posed them to look upon Gideon with some- 
thing of awe and confidence. It was from this 
that the hero obtained his second name of Jerub- 
baal, meaning with whom " Baal contends." 

This seems to have been designed as a sort 
•of preparation for the great work which lay 
before him. A great and suspicious move- 
ment took place in the wandering hordes, who, 
having collected their forces, passed over into 
the plain of Esdraelon, and lay there encamped. 
Upon hearing of this, Gideon felt that the time 
for action was come ; and he summoned first 
his own kinsmen, the house of Abiezer, to 
assist him in repelling the host of Midian. 
Their prompt obedience enabled him to send 
with the name of authority to summon the 
northern tribes of Manasseh, Zebulun, Asher, 
and Naphtali to his standard. This call was 
obeyed, and he found himself at the head of 
thirty-two thousand men. 



But while Gideon thus encouraged others, 
he was not himself without misgivings respect- 
ing the result of his perilous undertaking. 
Hence he was induced to implore an unambig- 
uous token of the Divine concurrence, in the 
form of such a miracle as he should ask to be 
performed. Some think that it was more to 
encourage his followers than on his own ac- 
count that he made this singular request. The 
sign he desired was, that the dew should fall on 
a fleece of wool, while the ground on which it 
lay continued dry. This happened according 
to his wish, and he wrung from the fleece a 
bowlful of water, while the ground was per- 
fectly dry. The marvel was here in the co- 
piousness of the dew ; for that some dew should 
be on the fleece, while none could be perceived 
on the ground, would have been in entire ac- 
cordance with the laws of nature. Gideon 
could not but know this, and therefore, to 
place the matter beyond all doubt or cavil, he 
implored that the sign should be reversed, and 
that the fleece should be dry, while the ground 
was moistened by the deposition from the 
atmosphere. This also was done; and here 
the interposition of Heaven was most manifest, 
for wool having a much greater attraction for 
moisture than common dust or clay has, it was 
not natural that the fleece should be dry when 
there was moisture on all the ground. 

Cowards Not Wanted. 

Having no longer any doubt that Jehovah 
was on his side, and that the victory with 
which his arms were to be crowned was to 
proceed from the blessing of Heaven, he 
readily adopted a suggestion, communicated 
to him from above, for impressing upon the 
minds of his soldiers the same salutary con- 
viction. One would think that the number of 
thirty-two thousand men was by no means 
too large for the conflict with the innumerable 
hosts of Midian ; but the object of the Di- 
vine King was to reduce this to a number 
manifestly inefficient, that there might be no 
mistake as to the source from whence deliver- 
ance came, and that Israel might not boast 
that by the strength of his own arm the yoke 



134 



VALIANT DEEDS. 



of Midian had been broken. Gideon was 
therefore ordered to proclaim that all who 
were fearful and faint-hearted might withdraw 
to their own homes. Many whose hearts had 
seemed stout while the danger was remote 



room for boasting might be altogether ex- 
cluded, means were taken to reduce even this 
force to a -mere handful of men, manifestly un- 
equal of itself, or, as an instrumental means,, 
to defeat the hordes of Midian and Amalek.. 




GIDEON DESTROYING THE IDOLS OF BAAL. Jud. 



shrunk, now that the enemy was before them, 
and twenty-two thousand quitted the field. 

But ten thousand brave men still presented 
a formidable band, equal in numerical strength 
to the troops of Barak, who defeated the im- 
mense host of Sisera ; and therefore, that 



Gideon took his ten thousand men to the 
water, and those who went down upon their 
knees to drink from the stream were set apart 
from those who drank by raising the water to 
their mouths in the hollow of their hands. 
The former were ten thousand, the latter three 



MAN OF VALOR. 



135 



hundred; and the smaller number was that 
with which the Lord declared that he would 
deliver Israel. In the following night Gideon, 
attended by his servant Phurah, went down to 
the host of Midian, having been promised en- 
couragement from overhearing the remarks of 
the Midianites upon the state of their affairs. 
He heard one man report to another, beside 
whom he lay, a dream, representing a cake of 
barley bread rolling down from the hills, and 
overturning the tents of Midian. " This is 
nothing else," said his companion, " save the 
sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of 
Israel ; for into his hand hath God delivered 
Midian and all his host." 

Gideon's War-Cry* 

Gideon needed no other encouragement 
than the knowledge that such an impression 
as this existed among the Midianites ; and he 
forthwith returned to his men. He perceived 
that his best course would be to work upon 
the alarm which already existed among the in- 
vading host. He therefore provided every 
man with a trumpet in one hand, and with a 
lamp concealed in a pitcher in the other. He 
then divided his troop into three companies of 
one hundred men each, directing them to ad- 
vance upon the host of Midian on different 
sides, and in all respects to follow his example. 
Accordingly, when they had advanced suffi- 
ciently near, they halted, withdrew the lamps 
from the pitchers, dashed the pitchers to the 
ground, and then blew a tremendous blast 
upon their trumpets, and shouted, " The sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon ! " A similar cry 
has sounded many a time since then. 

The Enemy Put to Flight. 

The sudden blaze on different sides of the 
camp, the crash, the sound from trumpets suf- 
ficient for a large host, and the ensuing shout, 
perfectly confounded the rude Midianites thus 
aroused from sleep. They deemed themselves 
surrounded by a mighty host, and rushed 
amazedly about, slaying each other, as every 
one among them deemed the person he en- 
countered an enemy. The men who had been 
dismissed the preceding day made themselves 



useful in pursuing the fugitives, and con- 
tributed to render the rout of the enemy and 
the deliverance of Israel most complete. The 
Ephraimites, who had not been called into ac- 
tion, now voluntarily came forward and ren- 
dered good service by seizing the fords of 
the Jordan and destroying such of the de- 
feated invaders as attempted to escape to their 
own country. Here two of the princes of 
Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, fell into their hands ; 
and they struck off their heads and sent them 
to the victorious Gideon on the opposite side 
of the Jordan. The haughty Ephraimites 
were, however, not sparing in their rebukes of 
Gideon for not having in the first instance 
called them to the field ; but with great tact 
he averted their wrath by extolling their last 
exploit and by speaking lightly of his own 
deeds in comparison. 

The hero was in hot pursuit of Zeba and 
Zalmunna, two of the invading enemies, who 
had succeeded in crossing the river and were 
retiring with a considerable body of men to 
their own land. Gideon followed hard after 
them with his chosen band, and at length 
came up with them. Then, perceiving the 
small number of his men, they were en- 
couraged to stand on their defence. But the 
battle ended in the total discomfiture of Zeba 
and his colleague, who fell alive into the 
hands of the conqueror. When they were 
brought before him, he asked them what man- 
ner of men were certain Israelites whom they 
had surprised and slain on Mount Tabor. 
They answered : " As thou art, so were they ; 
each one resembled the children of a king." 
On which he exclaimed with anguish : "They 
were my brethren — even the sons of my 
mother ! As the Lord liveth, if ye had saved 
them alive, I would not slay you." That he 
had under any circumstances intended to spare 
their lives, shows that the usages of war had 
already become somewhat more mild than 
they had been, or that Gideon was not dis- 
posed to enforce them rigorously. 

Now, however, the duty of an avenger for 
his brother's blood devolved upon him ; and 
he transferred it to his eldest son Jether, whom 



136 



FORTY YEARS OF PEACE. 



he desired " to fall upon them." But the youth 
was awed by the majestic presence of these 
staid warriors, and shrunk from the task. On 
which the captive princes said to Gideon : 
" Rise thou and fall upon us : for as the man 
is, so is his strength ; " and on this hint he 
arose and slew them on the spot. 

The Avenger. 

Another painful matter remained ; this was 
the punishment of certain cities, Succoth and 
Pen u el, which had refused any succor to his 
weary troop when pursuing the retreating 
princes, and had even added insult to wrong 
by the manner in which the refusal was con- 
veyed. For this he cast down the tower of 
Penuel, and slew the chief men of the city. 
The punishment of Succoth is not so well un- 
derstood. He threatened " to tear their flesh 
with the thorns of the wilderness and with 
briers ; " and it is added, that on his triumphant 
return " he took the elders of the city, and 
thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with 
them he taught the 'men of Succoth." The 
most painful interpretation of this is the most 
probable, namely, that the expressions allude 
to an ancient and very cruel mode by which 
persons were put to death under torture, by 
having thorns and briers laid over their naked 
bodies, and then drawing over them some 
heavy implement of husbandry — being, as 
supposed, the same treatment to which David 
subjected the Ammonites. 

So great was the relief which the Israelites 
now experienced, and so sensible were they of 
the high qualities which Gideon had evinced, 
that they formally offered to make him king, 
and to entail the crown upon his descendants. 
But Gideon, knowing that they had no right 
to make such an offer, which was altogether 
adverse to the spirit of the theocratical insti- 
tutions, answered with great promptness and 
decision : " I will not reign over you, neither 
shall my son reign over you. Jehovah, he 
shall reign over you." The only return which 
he required for his great services was that they 
should bestow upon him the collars and ear- 
rings which had been taken from the bodies 



of the slaughtered Midianites. This they very 
willingly did : and with these spoils he made 
an ephod, which he placed in his own city of 
Ophrah. 

This is supposed to indicate that he set up 
a sacerdotal establishment, with priests, vest- 
ments, and Urim and Thummim, at the place 
where he had formerly built an altar and 
offered sacrifice to Jehovah. If so, Gideon 
acted doubtless with the best intentions ; but 
the proceeding was irregular and contrary 
to the law, which directed that there should be 
but one establishment for sacrifice to the 
whole people — that one being the place of the 
tabernacle, where the Divine Presence abode 
" between the cherubim." We are not, there- 
fore, surprised to learn that this establishment 
eventually "became a snare to Gideon and to 
his house." 

The Israelites enjoyed forty years of peace 
under the administration of Gideon, who died 
in 1273 b. c, leaving behind him not fewer 
than seventy sons. One of them, named 
Abimelech, succeeded in persuading the people 
of Shechem, his mother's native town, to be- 
stow upon him the crown which his father had 
refused : as a preliminary to this step, he had 
massacred all his brothers except the youngest, 
named Jotham, who succeeded in making his 
escape. This person could not restrain him- 
self from making his appearance at Shechem 
to give vent to his indignation and disgust 
when he found that the citizens had made 
Abimelech king. He did this in the well- 
known and ingenious apologue of the trees 
making choice of a king, which is without 
doubt the oldest composition of the kind which 
has reached our times. After delivering it, 
Jotham withdrew to Beer, and remained there 
till the death of Abimelech, who three years 
after was wounded by a piece of millstone 
cast by a woman's hand over the wall of a 
town he was besieging, and at his own request 
was despatched by his armor-bearer. 

The succeeding governments of Tola and 
of Jair covered a period of forty-four years ; 
and we may infer that in their time the Israel- 
ites prospered, for the Book of Judges, which 



A MAN OF VALOR. 



137 



•is, -in fact, an account of the diseases in the 
Hebrew commonwealth, records nothing con- 
cerning the time in which they ruled. 

After the death of Jair the people relapsed 
into idolatry, and for their chastisement the 



oppressions to which they were subjected be- 
came so grievous that they at length turned 
to the Lord, confessed their sins before Him, 
and implored Him to pity their great affliction. 
Then, trusting in the Divine succor, they re- 




ABIMELECH SLAIN BY HIS ARMOR-BEARER. Jud. ix. 54. 



Ammonites were allowed to master them, and 
to keep them under subjection for eighteen 
years. This calamity particularly affected the 
tribes beyond the Jordan, who occupied a 
country which had in part belonged of old to 
the Ammonites, whose existing territory was 
still upon the border of their dominions. The 



solved to take the field against their enemies. 
They therefore assembled in considerable num- 
bers at Mizpeh, while the Ammonites lay en- 
camped in Gilead. There was the impulse, 
the readiness to act, and men prepared for 
action. But they were without a head. After 
so long a subjection, which had been preceded 



138 



STORY OF JEPHTHAH. 



by a still longer peace, there was not one 
among them who seemed to have sufficient 
experience in war to act as their leader. The 
only person they could think of was one Jeph- 
thah, the illegitimate son of Gilead, a person 
of some consequence in the half-tribe of 
Manasseh beyond the Jordan. 

This man had been turned adrift by the 
family on the death of the father, and with- 
drew into the land of Tob, where he became 
the chief of a set of wild fellows of desperate 
fortunes, who subsisted by predatory excur- 
sions, border forays against the enemies and 
oppressors of Israel. This course of proceed- 
ing by no means tended to render them un- 
popular in Israel ; and accordingly Jephthah 
became the person to whom all eyes turned in 
this singular emergency. A deputation was 
accordingly sent to him without delay. 

Jephthah's Bash Vow. 

The hero's experience in life had not been 
calculated to teach him confidence in man or 
reliance upon popular impulses. He, there- 
fore, after some sharp remarks upon the treat- 
ment he had received in Gilead, refused to 
accept the arduous duties offered to him unless 
they would undertake that he should remain 
their head after his immediate service had 
been completed. This stipulation for power 
was in a spirit different from that of Gideon, by 
whom even regal power was refused when 
spontaneously offered. But the circumstances 
were different ; and if Jephthah had not been 
aware of peculiar facilities which his uncon- 
nected position offered to those who might 
wish to shake him off, he would not have 
deemed it necessary to stipulate for that which 
it was not usual to refuse. The delegates, 
however, readily acceded to the terms which 
Jephthah offered, and swore to observe them. 

The first act of the new commander was to 
send an embassy to the Ammonites, to demand 
the reason of their invasion of the territory of 
the Israelites. This was a very remarkable 
step, and seems to show that by this time 
society had come to expect that there should 
be sonic good reason for invasion and warfare. 



Accordingly the Ammonites returned what 
they considered a good reason, alleging that 
the territory which the Hebrews possessed in 
that quarter had formerly belonged to them, 
and that they had a right to recover possession 
of it. Jephthah replied that the Israelites had 
taken the land not from the Ammonites but 
from the Amorites, by whom they had long 
before been dispossessed ; and, moreover, that 
it was a land which the Lord had given to 
them, and which, therefore, they had a right to 
possess. The Ammonites, however, were not 
convinced by these reasons, and the armies 
advanced to give each other battle. 

When Jephthah left his home to lead the 
army of Israel to battle he uttered the rash 
vow that if the Lord gave him victory over his 
enemies, whatsoever came forth out of his house 
to meet him on his return "shall surely be the 
Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offer- 
ing." He was victorious. The Lord delivered 
the Ammonites into his hands, and they were 
smitten from Aroer unto the plain of the vine- 
yards with a very great slaughter. He re- 
turned to his house in peace ; and the one 
j whom by his vow he had foredoomed — the 
one who came forth from his house to meet 
him on his return — was his own daughter, his 
only child — " beside her he had neither son 
nor daughter." She went forth exultingly, 
with timbrels and with dances, to greet her 
victorious father. But he no sooner beheld 
her than his strong heart gave way beneath 
the stroke, and he rent his robes, crying, "Alas, 
my daughter ! thou hast brought me very low ;. 
for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, 
and cannot go back." But the daughter in- 
herited the heroic qualities of her father. In 
the general blessing and benefit her own doom 
seemed a light matter to her, and she answerer.. 
" My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth. 
unto the Lord, do to me according to that 
which hath proceeded out of thy mouth ; for- 
asmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance of 
thee upon thine enemies." 

All she asked was a reprieve of two months, 
" to bewail her virginity upon the mountains;" 
which must be interpreted with reference ta 



A MAN OF VALOR. 



139 



the fact of its being in Israel held the greatest 
possible calamity for a woman not to become 
the mother of children. At the end of two 
months she returned, and we are told that her 
afflicted father " did with her according to his 
vow." The plain reading of the sacred text 
would lead every one to conclude that he 
offered her up for a burnt-offering. If he did 
so he committed a horrid crime under mis- 
taken views of religious duty; and this has led 
many pious commentators to endeavor to clear 
his memory from this stigma. The ground 
which has been taken is, that his vow implied 
that he would sacrifice what was fit for sacri- 
fice; but if that which came forth to meet him 
were not fit for a burnt-offering, it should be 
the Lord's in some other way, and it is there- 
fore concluded that the daughter was in this 
case consecrated in perpetual celibacy to the 
service of Jehovah. This ground is now, how- 
ever, generally abandoned by sound scholars, 
and few hesitate to believe that Jephthah 
really did sacrifice his daughter. 

A Father's Sacrifice. 

The fact is so understood by Josephus, and 
lamented by him ; and as he could not fail to 
know the prevailing impression among his 
countrymen, his corroborative testimony is of 
much value for the interpretation of the inci- 
dent as a point of history. He says that 
Jephthah blamed his daughter for being so 
forward in coming forth to meet him ; for that 
his vow obliged him to offer her in sacrifice to 
the Lord. He adds, " However, this action 
was not ungrateful to her, since she was to die 
upon occasion of her father's victory and the 
liberty of her fellow-citizens. She only de- 
sired her father to give her leave for two 
months to bewail her youth with her country- 
women, and then she consented that at the 
end of the forementioned time he might do 
with her agreeably to his vow. Accordingly, 
when the time was over, he sacrificed his 
daughter as a burnt-offering, presenting such 
an oblation as was neither conformable to the 
law nor acceptable to God ; nor weighing with 
himself what opinion the hearers would have 



of such a practice." Nothing can be plainer 
than this ; and the general opinion of both 
Jewish and Christian antiquity has been in 
agreement with it ; the notion that the hero 
did not sacrifice his daughter being of com- 
paratively modern prevalence. 

The fact seems to be that the Israelites,, 
having been long plunged in idolatry and in- 
fected with idolatrous iniquities, and in habits 
of too familiar intercourse with their heathen 
neighbors, had imbibed their notions respect- 
ing the meritoriousness of human sacrifice ; 
and a man who had led a wild life like Jeph- 
thah was not likely to be well informed on 
points which even quiet people had neg- 
lected. 

Supinely the Israelites sank down ; mingled 
freely with the people, indulged in their 
enervating luxuries, adopted their manners,, 
bowed at their altars — made themselves vile. 
Then came the alternations of returning loy- 
alty to the King of Heaven, and of open defiance 
and rebellion to his rule. Whenever they 
turned to him up rose a hero, who smote the 
Canaanites, and, for the time, restored the 
glory to Israel, and rest to the land ; but when 
the hero died, the people turned again to their 
evil ways and only cried aloud for Heaven's 
help when the bondage was too bitter to bear. 

See how these heroes rise before us : Here 
is Othniel, a younger brother of that Caleb 
who, with Joshua, came safely through the 
wilderness. Nothing can withstand this bold, 
strong man, and the land has rest. 

Here is Ehud, the left-handed, with a 
double-edged knife on his right thigh. He 
means to slay a tyrant, and you see him, on 
the pretence of a secret errand, enter the sum- 
mer pavilion of king Eglon, and by-and-by 
spring forth without his dagger, fast close the 
doors, and escape to the quarries. 

See Shamgar, son of Anath, wielding with 
his strong hand no better weapon than an ox- 
goad, but slaying of the enemy " heaps upon 
heaps." 

See Gideon, secretly threshing a little 
wheat by the wine-press, a nervous terror on 
his fine, sagacious face, lest the oppressor 



140 



ISRAELITISH HEROES. 



should come down and seize upon it ; aye, and 
a. sort of contempt for himself that he should 
be one of a people so enslaved. But a heav- 
enly glory shines upon him, and he is another 
man A barley-cake shall indeed — as the 
soldier dreams — fall into the camp, and over- 
turn their tents ; but it shall come with trum- 
pet, pitcher, and torch, and the cry shall be, 
" The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." 

See, rising up, the clouded face of Jephthah, 
offspring of a left-hand marriage. He lias 
been cast out until, in the time of trouble, all 
eyes have been turned to him — knowing his 
prowess — he, a widower, dwelling apart with 
his only child. Somewhat indignantly he 
answers to the cry of his countrymen, goes 
to their help, vows a vow, and the enemy is 
discomfited before him. 

What a triumphant march follows ! what 
shouts, what fanfares ! all nothing to the great 
ovation which awaits the captain when he ap- 
proaches his own city — his own home, and 
over his threshold skips his darling child, 
singing and leaping with attendant maidens, 
resolved to be the first to meet him. See. he 



is struck down! If the thunderbolt had fallen 
it had been better — he has sworn to sacrifice 
the first living thing which meets him from 
his home. And he has respect unto his vow. 
Rises before us a strong man and a mighty 
— a Nazarite from his birth. "A rough 
believer," so he has been called, and appro- 
priately enough ; a strong-limbed and strong- 
passioned man, with a depth of savage good- 
ness in him. These hard, haughty lords, who 
rule with so high a hand, shall learn some- 
thing from him. He has torn a lion as he 
would rend a kid, and will have no mercy 
upon them. Wondrous are the things which 
he accomplishes, bravely working as a brave 
patriot works, but a woman — oh, shame it 
should be so ! — a woman betrays him, and 
with his eyes out he gropes in blindness and 
darkness, the scorn and derision of his foes. 
There comes a day of reckoning, when, brought 
forth to make them sport, his strong arms on 
the pillars which support the house, he pulls 
down the light structure, and there is a very 
great slaughter, in which the hero's life is 
lost. 




CHAPTER XV. 



MARVELOUS FEATS OF SAMSON. 




LTHOUGH Jephthah knew 
that Jehovah was the God 
of Israel, and that he alone 
ought to be worshipped by 
his people, he had but con- 
fused notions even on this 
point, for in his message to the Am- 
monites he appears to recognize 
Chemosh as their god in the same 
sense in which Jehovah was the God 
of Israel. He seems to have thought 
it enough to worship the Lord in the 
same way that other nations worshipped their 
gods, and to have supposed that what they 
deemed invaluable could not be otherwise to 
Him. We know that in after-times human 
sacrifice was practiced in Israel in the face of 
far greater light than existed in the generation 
to which Jephthah belonged, and in the pres- 
ence of the temple and altar of Jehovah ; and 
knowing this, it does afford just ground for 
surprise that there should have been so much 
hesitation felt in allowing that a rough sol- 
dier, living in an idolatrous age, and in a part 
of Israel less than any other open to the influ- 
ence of the theocratical institutions, should 
have deemed himself bound by the obliga- 
tions of his vow to immolate his daughter. 

That the deed was unlawful is very certain ; 
but it is not the less probable on that account. 
It is, however, a monstrous conception of the 
painters and others that the high-priest was 
the sacrificer, and that the sacrifice was made 
at the altar of the Lord. The awful deed was 
probably perpetrated at some old altar in the 
country beyond the Jordan, and there is much 
reason to apprehend that Jephthah himself 
struck the blow which left his own heart 
desolate. 

It is singular that the victory of Jephthah 
over the Ammonites was followed by a mis- 



understanding with the powerful tribe of 
Ephraim, similar to that which had followed 
the victory of Gideon over the Midianites. 
This tribe seems never to have perceived that 
its assistance could have been of use until the 
occasion for taking the field had passed away 
and the enemy was completely routed ; and 
then it came forward with complaints that it 
had not obtained a share of the honor and the 
spoil. Gideon had pacified them with one of 
those soft answers which turn away wrath : 
the sterner Jephthah tried the same treatment ; 
but having less self-control, he allowed their 
gross insults to rouse his anger, and he took 
prompt and skilful measures for making them 
repent of their offensive movements. 

They had crossed the Jordan in arms, and 
were bent on mischief; and Jephthah, who had 
at first been disinclined to come to blows, no 
longer hesitated to give them battle. They 
were utterly routed, and when those who had 
escaped the battle-field attempted to recross 
the river into their own country, they found 
i the fords in the hands of the men of Gilead, 
who hit upon an ingenious contrivance for dis- 
tinguishing them as Ephraimites, which they 
could not have done by their persons or attire. 
It seems that they were unable to pronounce 
the Hebrew s/i, but gave it the sound of s. 
This amounted to something like the differ- 
ence in our provincial dialects ; but seems 
more remarkable in so small a country as 
Palestine. All the men who came to the river 
were required to pronounce the word Shib- 
boleth, meaning a " stream," and if they gave 
it as Sibboleth, were smitten down as Eph- 
raimites. 

The victories of Gideon and of Jephthah 
appear to have secured a long period of tran- 
quility to the Israelites ; for the historian 
records little more than the names of the three 

(141) 



142 



BIRTH OF THE GIANT. 



following judges. Jephthah died after having 
ruled Israel six years. After him was Ibzan 
of Bethlehem, who was the parent of thirty 
sons and as many daughters. He ruled seven 
years ; and after him came Elon, who ruled 
ten years ; and he was followed by Abdon, 
who during eight years judged Israel. 

It required no long course of prosperity to 
corrupt the Israelites, and to turn them aside 
from that God to whom they were indebted 
for it. The reader of Scripture is so accus- 
tomed to this, that he only wonders at the 
unusual duration of some of the intervals of 
faithfulness and rectitude. They now sinned 
once more, and were brought very low under 
the yoke of the Philistines, which lay heavy 
on them for forty years. 

The Deliverer of Israel. 

The deliverer whom God next raised up to 
redress the wrongs of the chosen people was, 
in many respects, the most extraordinary per- 
sonage who appears in the more ancient He- 
brew history, and whose course of proceeding 
it appears most difficult to reconcile with our 
notions of a Divine commission and a theo- 
cratic government. This was Samson, who 
was born about the time this servitude com- 
menced, and who about the middle of it was 
in a condition to act upon the high commis- 
sion which he so imperfectly fulfilled, and to 
exercise the marvelous gifts which his low 
vices so often deprived of the effects for which 
alone they had been intrusted to him. 

His birth was by a miracle. An angel an- 
nounced that a deliverer of Israel should be 
born ; and it was directed that he should be 
regarded as a Nazarite from birth, wearing his 
hair forever unshorn and abstaining from 
wine and strong drink. The father was not 
present at this interview. His name was 
Manoah, an inhabitant of Zorah, a small town 
of the tribe of Dan, to which he belonged. 
Manoah was astonished at the tidings which 
his wife imparted to him, and prayed that he 
might also be privileged to receive the assur- 
ance from the same heavenly messenger. The 
angel accordingly reappeared to both the des- 



stined parents, and a scene took place not un- 
like that which had formerly attended the 
angel-visit to Gideon. Manoah, as directed, 
offered a kid with a meat-offering upon the 
rock, and as the flame went up towards heaven 
the angel disappeared from their view in the 
rising flame, and vanished out of sight. 

Samson's Great Strength. 

The child in due time was born, the name 
of Samson was given to him, and he was 
brought up as a Nazarite. He was then found 
to be' endowed with strength greatly beyond 
that of the sons of men, and which was des- 
tined to become the instrument through which 
he, as the champion of the Lord's people, was 
to work for the deliverance of Israel. He 
early sought for opportunities of signalizing 
his valor and uncommon strength against the 
enemies of his country ; and, ere long, his 
personal achievements appear to have attached 
to his name such a degree of notoriety as to 
render him an object of dislike and terror to 
the inhabitants of the Philistine border. It 
was, in fact, his vocation to " find occasion " 
against the Philistines, which might enable 
him to exert his mighty powers to their detri- 
ment; by which their power might be weak- 
ened and their plans confused, without expos- 
ing his own nation to responsibility for his 
acts. 

The time for the full deliverance of Israel 
was not then come : it was the task of Samson 
to " begin " that deliverance by weakening the 
power and resources of the Philistines by such 
acts as centred their attention on himself per- 
sonally. To fulfil this, his destiny, it came to 
pass that he, while still a youth, fell in love 
with a Philistine damsel of Timnath. The 
parents, who did not know that this attach- 
ment " was of the Lord," objected to his mar- 
riage with an idolater, when there were so 
many fair damsels in Israel well suited to his 
choice. But finding his resolution fixed, they 
reluctantly agreed to go with him to Timnath 
to ask the damsel in marriage. 

The necessary preliminaries being settled, 
the marriage was solemnized with feasting, 




SAMSON SLAYING THE LION. Jud. XIV. 6. 



(143) 



144 



SAMSON'S RIDDLE. 



which, according to the custom of the time, 
lasted seven days. It was usual on such oc- 
casions for the bridegroom to invite a number 
of his relatives and friends, who were to do 
the honors of the ceremony and to perform 
other duties arising- from the occasion. In 
this case, however, thirty Philistines were as- 
signed to Samson as companions, either from 
his being distant from his own home, or, more 
probably, for a check upon a person so danger- 
ous and formidable. It was usual in those 
days for the guests assembled at such feasts to 
exercise their- wit in proposing and solving 
enigmas and riddles : and in compliance with 
this custom, Samson put forth a riddle, and 
proposed thirty dresses as the forfeit to be 
given by him if they solved it within seven 
days, or by them if they failed to do so. The 
riddle was — 

"Out of the eater came forth meat, 
And out cl the fierce came forth sweetness." 

It was founded on an adventure which befel 
him in one of his journeys to Timnath, when 
he slew a young lion, in the dry hide-bound 
skeleton of which he afterwards found a swarm 
of bees and a quantity of honey. 

The Riddle Solved. 

The solution of this riddle was beyond the 
skill of the Philistines; but being unwilling to 
seem outwitted or to incur the expensive 
forfeiture, they beset the bride, and by threat- 
enings induced her to solicit from him the 
solution, which she imparted to them, and 
they were thus enabled on the seventh day to 
answer : 

" What is fiercer than a lion ? 

And what is sweeter than honey ? " 

Samson took no pains to conceal his disap- 
pointment and suspicion ; and he made it an 
occasion for exercising the powers with which 
he had been gifted for the avengement if not 
the deliverance of his people. He went down 
to Askelon, and slew thirty Philistines, whose 
blood-stained raiment he brought to Timnath, 
and gave to their countrymen as the forfeit of 
his riddle. Then, in deep disgust at the part 
taken by his wife, and probably suspicious of 



her fidelity in other respects, he returned to 
his paternal home, leaving her with her friends. 
But after a while his heart relented, and he 
again went down to Timnath to see his wife, 
and found that she had during his absence 
been bestowed in marriage upon the chief of 
the young men who had been his companions 
at the wedding-feast, and who had behaved so 
scandalously to him. 

This was not only a great wrong in itself, 
but afforded confirmation to his former sus- 
picions. His wrath, therefore, rose very high, 
and he made this another occasion of ven- 
geance against the Philistines. This vengeance 
was exercised in a very singular manner. He 
caught three hundred foxes (or jackals), and, 
coupling them together, fastened burning 
fuses between the tails of each couple, and in 
this manner set them loose among the stand- 
ing corn of the Philistines, which was thus at 
once set on fire in many different quarters. 
The flames at that season of the year spread 
so rapidly and widely among the standing 
crops and the vineyards as to cause a most 
extensive and ruinous destruction. 

Some exceptions have been taken to this 
transaction, on the score of the difficulty of 
catching so many as three hundred foxes. But 
jackals, not foxes, are usually denoted ; and 
as they are gregarious, the number might, 
without insuperable difficulty, have been caught 
by Samson and other persons employed by 
him for the occasion. Jackals would also 
answer the purpose better than foxes, which 
would have fled immediately to their holes, 
and not have wandered about the fields of the 
Philistines. 

The Philistines Take Revenge. 

When the author and occasion of this great 
calamity became known to the Philistines they 
resolved to remove at once the cause of his 
anger rather than expose themselves to the 
repetition of such attacks ; and they therefore 
went to Timnath and destroyed by fire the 
parties of whom Samson had so much cause 
to complain. But this was not the way to 
pacify the Jewish hero, who no sooner heard 
of it than he fell upon a band of their country- 




10 



SAMSON AND DELILAH. Jud. XVI. 1 6. 



(145) 



146 



A THOUSAND PHILISTINES SLAIN. 



men and vanquished them with much slaugh- 
ter. He, then, foreseeing the consequences, 
withdrew to the top of the almost inaccessible 
rock Etam, in the tribe of Judah. 

The Philistines do not appear to have re- 
garded these feats of Samson as acts of war or 
revolt on the part of the Hebrews ; their atten- 
tion was fixed upon the person of the hero ; 
and now, finding, by dear experience, that his 
enmity was as implacable as his strength was 
great, they determined by one great stroke to 
put an end to the vexatious warfare which he 
carried on upon their borders. They there- 
fore marched a body of troops into Judea, with 
the intention of seizing this eagle in the eyrie 
to which he had fled, and established a regular 
encampment in the neighborhood, with the 
view, apparently, of starving him into a sur- 
render. 

The men of Judah were alarmed at these 
proceedings, and dreaded the consequences 
which the hero's acts seemed likely to bring 
upon their own heads. They therefore went 
and remonstrated with him, hinting their wish 
that he would allow himself to be delivered 
up as a pledge and security of future peace. 
After some hesitation he consented so far as to 
allow them to bind him and conduct him to 
the presence of the enemy. But no sooner 
did he come before them, and while their 
triumphant shout rose high in air, than the 
supernatural spirit was roused within him ; he 
burst the strong cords that bound him as if 
they had been burnt tow, and, seizing the first 
weapon which came to hand, which was the 
jawbone of an ass, he flew upon the host and 
slew a thousand men therewith. 

Not long after having committed this slaugh- 
ter among the Philistines, Samson, with mar- 
velous hardihood, ventured to go to Gaza, 
one of their fortified cities, and there took up 
his abode. He was not long permitted to 
remain in Gaza undisturbed, for the news of 
his arrival soon transpired, and a strong watch 
was set at the gate to arrest him when he 
should attempt to depart. But the hour of 
their triumph was not yet come ; for, being 
made acquainted with this movement on the 



part of the Philistines, he arose at midnight, 
and not content with bursting open the gates, 
he wrenched them away, posts, bars, and all, 
and bore them off upon his shoulders to the 
top of a hill about two miles from Gaza on the 
road to Hebron. 

Samson was, however, at length betrayed 
into the power of his enemies by a woman 
named Delilah, for whom he entertained a 
base affection. The lords of the Philistines 
no sooner heard of this unhappy connection 
than they resolved to employ this woman as 
the instrument of his destruction. They 
promised her large sums of money to induce 
her to employ all her insinuations to find out 
the cause of his supernatural strength, which 
they manifestly supposed to depend on some 
peculiar observance, which, if he might be 
induced to neglect, his strength would fail 
him, and they might with impunity avenge 
themselves upon him. 

Samson Betrayed. 

Accordingly Delilah employed all her arts 
to gain the desired information, and after many 
vain efforts Samson at length disclosed to her 
that he had been constituted by the Lord a 
perpetual Nazarite, which condition was be- 
tokened by the unshorn state of his hair; but 
that if he renounced the condition of a Naz- 
arite by shaving his head, the spirit of the 
Lord, in which lay his great strength, would 
depart from hirii, and he should become as 
other men. In consequence of this disclosure 
she contrived, while he was asleep, to shave 
off his hair; and the Philistines, who were 
lying in wait, seized upon him, put out his 
eyes, and, placing him in strong fetters, carried 
him to Gaza, where he was confined in the 
prison-house and made to grind at the mill 
like a slave. 

Milton, in his " Samson Agonistes," which, 
apart from its poetical merits, is a beautiful 
and critical study of the life and character of 
the hero, thus pictures him in this condition : 

" O change beyond report, thought, or belief: 
See how he lies at random, carelessly diffused ; 
With languished head unpropt, 



MARVELOUS FEATS OF SAMSON. 



147 




SAMSON GRINDING IN THE PRISON-HOUSE. Jud. Xvi. 21. 

tines assembled to hold an annual festival in 
honor of their idol Dagon. Having met in 
the house or temple of that idol, it occurred 
to them to enhance their gladness and the 
glory of their god by the sight of their cap- 
tive in his misery, and his abject condition. 
He was accordingly sent for, and was placed 



As one past hope — abandoned, 
And by himself given over; 
In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds 
O'er- worn and soiled : 

Can this be he, 
That heroic, that renowned, 
Irresistible Samson ? " 

Some time after this the lords of the' Philis- 



148 



;amson's death. 



in the area or enclosed court of the building, 
the flat roof of which was crowded with the 
Philistines, who made him the object of their 
mockery and sport. His hair had, however, 
begun to grow again, and with its growth he 
felt the consciousness of returning strength. 
In this consciousness he desired the lad who 
led him about to let him rest against the cen- 
tral pillars, upon which the main weight of 
the building rested. This being granted, the 
blind hero breathed a prayer to the Lord to 
strengthen him, that he might be once more 
avenged of the Philistines ; and, laying hold 
of the two pillars, shook them with such vio- 
lence that " the house fell upon the lords and 
upon all the people that were therein : and 
the dead which he slew at his death were 
more than they which he slew in his life." 
Availing themselves of the consternation 
which this transaction occasioned in the place, 
the friends of Samson came down, and extri- 
cating his body from the ruins, bore it away 
and buried it between Zorah and Eshtaol, in 
the sepulchre of his father Manoah. 

" God of our fathers! what is man, 
That thou towards him with a hand so various, 
Or might I say contrarious, 

Temper'st thy providence through his short course, 
Not evenly, as thou rulest 

The angelic orders, and the inferior creatures mute, 
Irrational and brute ? 
Nor do I name of men the common rout, 
That, wandering loose about. 
Grow up and perish, as the hummer-fly, 
Heads without name, no more remembered 
But such as thou hast solemnly elected, 
With gifts and graces eminently adorned, 
For some great work, thy glory. 
And people's safety, which in part they effect: 
Yet towards these, thus dignified, thou oft 
Changest thy countenance, and thy hand, with no regard 
Of highest favors past 
From thee on them, or them to thee of service ! " 

Milton 's "Samson Agonistes." 

Great, brave men, these judges in Israel. 
How the writer of the Letters to the Hebrews 



dwells upon them as instances of Faith ! 
"And what shall I say more, for the time 
would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, 
and of Samson, and of Jephthah — who through 
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous- 
ness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped 
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were 
made strong — of whom the world was not 
worth)'." 

But we must not suppose that it was the 
men alone who waxed valiant in fight in those 
terrible days which immediately followed on 
the Israelitish invasion of Canaan. In all 
ages of the world women have shown them- 
selves strong and earnest when the hearts 
of men have failed within them. When a 
woman's naturally gentle nature is roused, her 
indignation knoweth no bounds ; but she is 
circumspect in her ways, and seldom acts 
rashly. In the enumeration of the worthies 
who were raised up for the deliverance of 
Israel, occurs the name of Barak — he was a 
soldier — a captain of the host, but he achieved 
victory through the help of two women : 
Deborah taught him how and when to smite, 
and Jael completed his conquest by slaying 
the chief enemy with her own hands. Truly 
a very redoubtable captain ! " Up ; for this is 
the day that the Lord hath delivered Sisera 
into thine hand." 

Sisera is a man of war — a hero — and is con- 
fident of success. But his troops reel and 
stagger; his horsemen fall upon each other; 
his iron chariots are overthrown ; this mere 
handful of men have cast his whole army into 
the uttermost confusion ; and there stands this 
wondrous woman, judge and prophetess, her 
intensity of passion sympathetically conveyed 
to the army — a strength to them, a weakness 
to the foe. And now the victory is achieved, 
all the great host slain or scattered, and 
mighty Sisera himself a fugitive. 



CHAPTER XVI. 




THE PROPHET SAMUEL. 



LI, the high-priest, ap- 
pears as the person 
who "judged Israel" 
after Samson. There 
are many who believe 
this to have been act- 
ually the case : but it 
is now more generally 
understood that the 
civil government of the Jews 
was administered by Eli from 
about the middle of the Philis- 
tine servitude, and throughout 
all the period in which Samson 
employed his strength on the 
western border against the op- 
pressors of Israel. Under this 
view, that which seems to be the commence- 
ment of a new government after the death of 
Samson, appears to be no other than a con- 
tinuance of that which existed in his lifetime. 
Under the operation of the constitution as 
established by Moses, the government naturally 
devolved on the high-priest, in the absence of 
any specially appointed judge; and therefore, 
instead of being surprised that Eli should in 
this instance have been also judge, we may 
rather wonder that this did not oftener occur. 
It was during this administration of Eli 
that the prophet Samuel was born under cir- 
cumstances which seemed to point him out as 
one destined for great things in Israel. His 
father, named Eikanah, was a Levite. He 
with his wife, Hannah, used to go regularly 
to Shiloh, to worship at the tabernacle, which 
was still in that place. In one year she there 
prayed with great fervency for a son, and 
vowed that in case he were granted to her, the 
child should be wholly given as a Nazarite to 
the Lord. As she prayed, her agitation was 
so manifest, that it attracted the notice of Eli, 



as " he sat upon a seat by one of the posts of 
the tabernacle : " and he hastily supposed that 
she was under the influence of strong drink. 
But. she replied, " No, my lord, I am a woman 
of sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine 
nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul 
before the Lord ; " on which the priest said, 
" Go in peace : the God of Israel grant thee 
the petition thou hast asked of him." 

The prayer of the afflicted woman was 
heard : a son was given to her, and she called 
his name Samuel. From that time Hannah 
went no more up to Shiloh till her son was 
old enough to be taken to the tabernacle and 
left there. When this time came they all went 
up together, and, after the usual offerings, the 
now happy mother took her child and brought 
him before Eli. She reminded him of her 
former prayer, and now informed him, " For 
this child I prayed," and that having given him 
to the Lord, she had now come to perform her 
vow. She then gave utterance to her feelings 
in an exulting song, which forms a pleasing 
specimen of the sacred poesy of the age before 
David. She then departed, leaving the child 
at the tabernacle, who, as he grew up, was em- 
ployed in such light duties as a child could 
discharge, and which Levitical lineage author- 
ized him to perform. Hannah had other sons 
as well as daughters ; but she failed not year 
by' year to visit Shiloh, to embrace the son 
whom " she had lent unto the Lord." 

Eli himself was a man of undoubted piety, 
and of the most sincere intentions ; but his 
sons, Hophni and Phinehas, proved worthless 
persons, who were guilty of the most criminal 
abuses of their priestly office. Their conduct 
became at length so utterly depraved and 
atrocious, that the people began to shun the 
attendances at Shiloh, which brought them in 
contact with persons who made their sacred 

(149) 



150 DEATH OF ELI'S SONS. 

office a cloak for all kinds of wickedness and I office. As they continued their evil courses, 
wrong-doing. They were reproved by their I a prophet was sent to Eli denouncing the pun- 




THE CHILD SAMUEL IN THE TEMPLE. — I Sam. iii. 4. 

father; but his reproof was too gentle, and | ishments of Heaven against them ; predicting 
unaccompanied by the strong measures of re- that Hophni and Phinehas should die "both 
straint which became his high and venerable I in one day," and that, after Eli's death, the 



THE PROPHET SAMUEL. 



151 



high-priesthood should be rent from his family 
and bestowed upon another. 

Meantime the young Samuel continued 
under the care of Eli, in the diligent discharge 
of the light duties confided to him, " minister- 
ing before the Lord, girded with a linen ephod." 
He was chiefly employed about the person of 
the aged high-priest, who became much at- 
tached to him. Once, when the lad was about 
twelve years of age, a voice called to him in 
the night, as he lay in a chamber near to and 
within call of that of the high-priest. 

The boy supposed that Eli hao called him, 
and hastened to receive his commands. But 
Eli had not called, and he was sent back to his 
couch. The voice again called, " Samuel, 
Samuel ! " and the lad again hastened to Eli, 
-with the same result. This being repeated a 
third time, the high-priest perceived that the 
call was supernatural, and told the lad that if 
the voice again called to him he should answer, 
*' Speak, Lord ; for thy servant heareth." The 
child did so, and he then received a Divine 
-communication to the same effect as that which 
the prophet had previously declared. " Be- 
hold," said the voice, " I will do a thing in 
Israel, at which both the ears of every one that 
heareth it shall tingle. In that day will I per- 
form against Eli all things which I have spoken 
•concerning his house : when I begin, I will 
also make an end. For I have told him that 
I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity 
which he knoweth ; because his sons made 
themselves vile, and he restrained them not." 

Samuel lay quiet till the morning, and was 
afraid to impart to Eli the heavy tidings with 
which he had been charged. But, on being 
pressed by his venerable patron, who knew that 
something unusual had transpired, he made 
all known to him. On hearing the awful mes- 
sage, the aged priest bent his venerable head 
and said : " It is the Lord ; let Him do what 
seemeth Him good." 

From this time forward it became known 
that Samuel was a prophet favored with reve- 
lations from God, which he made known to the 
people; and, as for some time there had not 
been in Israel any person thus favored — thus 



privileged with access to the counsels of the 
Divine King — the attention of all Israel was 
strongly drawn towards one who had, as it 
were, grown up under their eyes, in his con- 
stant attendance at the tabernacle. 

During all this period the Israelites appear 
to have been still under the oppression of the 
Philistines. In the fourth chapter of the Second 
Book of Samuel we come abruptly to an 
account of warlike operations, without being- 
able clearly to discern the object for which they 
were undertaken — whether from the desire of 
the Philistines to rivet more strongly the yoke 
of Israel, or from some attempt of the Israel- 
ites to shake it off. The first battle was fought 
at Aphek, and the Hebrews were routed with 
the loss of four thousand men. 

Excitement in the Hebrew Camp. 

On this the Israelites took up the notion 
that if the ark of God were brought into the 
field they could not fail to be victorious over 
their enemies. They therefore sent for it to 
Shiloh ; and it was brought to the army under 
the care of the sons of the high-priest, Hophni 
and Phinehas. When the sacred symbol en- 
tered the camp the whole army shouted for joy, 
as if already triumphant. The consternation 
of the Philistines was proportioned to the ex- 
ultation of the Hebrews ; and their feelings on 
this occasion enable us to perceive the estima- 
tion in which Jehovah was held by them, as 
the God of the Hebrews, which was the point 
of view in which He was regarded by them. 
They said : " Woe unto us ! for there hath not 
been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us ! 
who shall deliver us out of the hands of those 
mighty gods ? These are the gods that smote 
the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wil- 
derness ! " 

Like valiant men, however, the Philistines 
did not permit this dread to discourage them, 
but rather regarded the greatness of the danger 
as an incentive to mightier exertions — " Be 
strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye 
Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the 
Hebrews, as they have been to you. Quit 
yourselves like men, and fight ! " The result 



152 



THE FALL OF DAGON. 



read the Hebrews a terrible lesson of mis- 
placed confidence upon mere symbols, which 
were as nothing apart from the living presence 
which the symbol represented. They were 
beaten ; the ark of God was taken by the Phil- 
istines, and Hophni and Phinehas were killed 
in defending their sacred charge. By this one 
act, which made their death more worthy than 
their lives, they restore themselves, in some 
degree, to our good opinion ; but it was no 
longer possible for anything that they did or 
left undone to avert the ruinous effects of their 
former misdeeds, or to recall the doom which 
had gone forth from heaven against them and 
theirs. They died both in one day, as had 
been foretold ; and if their friends could have 
had any comfort left, it must have been found 
in the fact that no shame, but honor rather, 
attended their last hour. 

The Ark Taken by the Philistines. 

Meanwhile there were hearts at Shiloh that 
trembled for the fate of the battle, and for the 
ark of God. Among them was that of Eli, 
who, in his anxiety, caused his seat to be set 
by the wayside that he might catch the 
tidings as they came. Tidings of evil are 
seldom long delayed. A fugitive speedily 
came from the battle-field with his clothes 
rent, and earth upon his head. He announced 
that Israel had fled before the Philistines — 
that Hophni and Phinehas were slain — and 
the ark of God was taken. At that terrible 
word, the blind old man fell from his seat, 
and his neck was broken by the fall. 

The Philistines carried the ark in great 
triumph to Ashdod, and supposing that they 
had overcome the God of Israel by the 
mightier power of their own Dagon, they 
deposited it as a trophy of victory in his temple. 
It was the foresight of this triumph over the 
Lord of Hosts which had occasioned the 
death of Eli and filled Israel with dread. 
But it proved fatal to the Philistines and to 
their idol ; for it then behooved the Almighty 
to vindicate the honor of his own great name 
from the triumph of the heathen. Accord- 
ingly it was found the next morning that the 



image of Dagon had fallen from its place, be- 
fore the ark, and was broken in pieces. 

They found their idol lying on the floor, 
prostrate before the ark of God. This might 
have been an accident, they thought; and 
therefore they again set up their monstrous 
idol more securely in its high place. But the 
next morning it had not only again fallen 
down, but was broken into pieces. 

Next, the inhabitants of Ashdod were 
afflicted with a grievous disorder, the emerods, 
which was very general and intensely severe; 
this was accompanied by a plague of mice, by 
which the produce of their fields was con- 
sumed and spoiled. Taking these visitations 
in connection with the former event, they 
failed not to ascribe them to the wrath of the 
God of Israel, for the presence of his ark 
among them : and resolved to try whether he 
might not take more pleasure in some of their 
other cities. They therefore sent it to Gath, 
the inhabitants of which, being forthwith 
afflicted in the same manner, lost no time in 
forwarding it to Ekron ; but the truth began 
by this time to be suspected, and the Ekron- 
ites received it with horror, and cried, " They 
have brought about the ark of the God of Israel 
to us, to slay us and our people." Nor were 
they mistaken in their anticipations, for there 
was soon a grievous destruction throughout 
the city, for " the hand of God was very heavy 
there," and they were visited by severe judg- 
ments while the ark remained in their camp. 

There could be no longer any reasonable 
doubt that the pestilence by which the Philis- 
tines were thus wasted was sent among them 
on account of the ark, and they resolved to- 
restore it to the Israelites. Their priests 
recommended that an oblation, or trespass- 
offering, should be conveyed along with it, 
and, agreeably to the practice of those super- 
stitious times, they further suggested that the 
gold of which this offering was to consist 
should be wrought up into figures having a 
direct reference to the evils with which they 
had been afflicted. They made five golden 
emerods and five golden mice, according to 
the number of the lords of the Philistines, and 




WELCOMING THE RETURN OF THE ARK. 1 Sam. vi. 1 3. 



(153) 



154 



OPPRESSIONS OF THE PHILISTINES. 



deposited them in a coffer which they placed 
beside the ark in the new car which they made 
for the purpose of conveying the sacred chest 
to its own land. It was usual for the heathen 
thus to convey their sacred arks and shrines, 
and they adopted it On this occasion, being 
ignorant that the Jewish law required the ark 
of God to be borne by the priests. 

A Severe Judgment. 

To the ark they yoked two milch cows, 
which had not been accustomed to the draught, 
and which they left to take their own course. 
The cows, as if directed by a Divine impulse, 
went direct towards the border village of 
Beth-shemesh in Judea, without once turning 
aside or attempting to go back, although their 
calves had been shut up at home. The vil- 
lagers who were abroad in the fields employed 
on the crops hailed the return of the ark with 
the most unbounded joy; and concluding that 
on so remarkable an occasion they might dis- 
pense with the strict observance of the law, 
which forbade sacrifice to be made at any 
other place than that at which the tabernacle 
was fixed, they slew the two cows, and offered 
them up as a burnt-offering to Jehovah. This 
breach of a very stringent commandment, 
together with the irreverent curiosity which 
they manifested to examine the contents of 
the ark, occasioned the death of seventy per- 
sons ; and by this the inhabitants were so 
terrified, that they besought the inhabitants 
of the neighboring city of Kirjath-jearim to 
relieve them from the care of so formidable a 
deposit. The men of Kirjath-jearim complied 
with this request, and the ark was suffered to 
remain twenty years in this place before it 
was restored to the tabernacle at Shiloh. 

The Hebrews were still under the yoke of 
the Philistines, who soon appeared against 
them in strong force. The Hebrews, who had 
then no war in their thoughts, were terrified 
at this demonstration; but, being encouraged 
by Samuel, they stood upon their defence, and 
in the battle which ensued were victorious 
over the Philistines, who were compelled to 
give up the cities they had taken from the 



Israelites, and to leave them their independ- 
ence. 

This great event completely established 
Samuel's influence over the people ; and he 
took advantage of this to bring about a more 
complete reformation by going frequently about 
among them, attending to the affairs they 
brought before him, and exhorting them to 
continue steadfast in the worship and service 
of the Lord. 

Many years passed peaceably and prosper- 
ously under the benign rule of Samuel, whose 
advancing years at length induced him some- 
what to relax his labors by associating his 
sons with him in the management of affairs. 
He then discontinued his circuits, and fixed 
his residence at Ramah, where he superintended 
the northern part of the land; while his sons, 
who established themselves at Beersheba, took 
charge of the southern districts. 

The sons of Samuel grievously misconducted 
themselves in the high trust confided to them. 

| "They walked not in his ways, but turned 
aside from hence, and took bribes, and per- 
verted judgment." This, with the prospect 
of what might be likely to follow on the 
death of Samuel, gave the Israelites occasion 

i to desire a king " to rule them like all the na- 
tions," and they took measures accordingly. 

This was not the true remedy, to a nation 
privileged like theirs. 

Discontent of the People. 

Samuel felt all this, and was well aware 

j that they were actuated by an impatient and 

I discontented spirit, and by a fondness for the 

imitation of the customs and institutions of the 

i neighboring nations, to the neglect of those 

peculiar institutions and peculiar privileges 

which distinguished them from all the nations 

of the earth. 

Samuel would not venture to return a defi- 
nite answer to the demand of the people for a 
king without first consulting the Lord, who 
was pleased to command him to protest most 
solemnly against the proposed change, and to 
declare in the strongest manner his reproba- 
tion of their rejection of Himself. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL 




N the noble speech in which he 
set forth the evils of the kingly 
government, Samuel draws a 
striking picture of the mon- 
archical power as it then ex- 
isted and was exercised. He 
describes the compulsory im- 
pressment of all likely young 
men for the service of the king 
in the army and the court, and 
to be his horsemen, to run be- 
fore his chariots, and to work 
for him in trades and agricul- 
tural labor. Their daughters also should be 
taken in the same manner for the domestic 
service of the royal household ; and the king 
would not in the end fail, on one ground or | 
another, to take their heritages from them, to 
bestow them in reward upon his courtiers and 
officers. It reminded them also that the king 
would demand a tithe of their produce, as was 
the custom of the time, to support the ex- 
penses -of the state. This was the strongest 
point to place before them ; for they already 
by the law were required to pay this tenth to 
Jehovah as their king. This could not be re- 
linquished ; and as the temporal sovereign 
would still expect the regal tenth, they would 
in fact be burdened with a charge twice as 
heavy as that which any other nation was 
called to bear. The prophet concluded with : 
u 'And ye shall cry in that day because of your 
king which ye shall have chosen, and the Lord 
will not hear you in that day." 

The people were not, however, moved from 
their purpose by this representation ; they an- 
swered, " Nay, but we will have a king to rule 
over us:" on which Samuel, with grief of 
heart, dismissed them for the present to their 
homes, with the understanding that a king 
would be provided for them. 



The person on whom the nomination fell 
was Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Ben- 
jamin. This person, having gone far from 
home in the, vain search after some strayed 
asses, found himself near Ramah, and con- 
cluded, by the advice of his attendant, to con- 
sult "the man of God" who dwelt in that 
place. He accordingly came before Samuel, 
furnished with a small present, according to a 
custom which is still kept up in the East. He 
no sooner appeared than, according to a pre- 
monition from God, the prophet recognized in 
him the destined king of Israel. He gave him 
a hint to this effect, which Saul met by men- 
tioning the smallness of his tribe and his want 
of family influence. Nothing more passed 
just then : but the prophet treated the stranger 
with marked distinction, induced him to stay 
with him over night, and in the morning 
early walked forth with him from the town. 

On the way, Samuel stopped, poured on 
Saul's head a vial of anointing oil, declaring 
that by this act the Lord anointed him " to be 
captain over his inheritance." He then kissed 
him ; and to show that in this he acted by 
Divine authority, he proceeded to tell him all 
the incidents which would occur in his jour- 
ney home. Everything happened accordingly. 
He first met two men who told him that the 
lost asses were found, and that his father had 
become anxious at his prolonged absence. At 
another place, "in the plain of Tabor," he met 
three men, one carrying three kids, another 
bread, and a third a bottle of wine. They 
saluted him, and offered him some bread, 
which he took. After this he encountered a 
company of young men belonging to the 
school of the prophets, who were returning 
from the. high place, uttering sacred chants to 
the sound of the psaltery, tabret, pipe and 
harp. Here, as Samuel had foretold, a fit of 

(155) 



156 



SAUL PROCLAIMED KING. 



holy enthusiasm came upon him, and he has- 
tened to join them in their sacred exercises. 
It was, Ave are told, in this circumstance that 
the proverb originated, " Is Saul also among 
the prophets ? " He then reached home, but 
kept secret, even from his own relatives, the 
communication which Samuel had made to 
him. 

Some time after the prophet again called the 
people together in Mizpeh, to complete the im- 
portant affair which they had left.in his hands. 
He caused the tribes to cast lots, and the lot 
fell on Benjamin ; the lot was then taken for 
the families of Benjamin, and fell on that of 
Kish ; the lot was then cast for the members 
of that family, and the name of Saul was pro- 
duced. Saul had attended at Mizpeh, but had 
withdrawn from the assembly as he saw the 
crisis approaching. He was, however, sought 
for, and when brought forward, the people 
perceived with satisfaction that " there was 
none like him among the people," as he was 
taller by the head and shoulders than any one 
in all that crowd. A distinction of this sort 
was highly acceptable among ancient nations ; 
and when the Israelites noticed it in Saul they 
shouted heartily, " Long live the King! " 

Saul's Great Victory. 

Shortly after these transactions, Jabesh- 
Gilead, a city on the borders of Amnion, 
beyond the Jordan, was assaulted by the Am- 
monites, and the inhabitants were reduced to 
such extremities that they offered to capitulate, 
but could obtain no better terms than that 
every one of them should have his right eye 
put out, to disqualify him from using the bow- 
in war. To these savage terms the Jabcsh- 
Gileadites agreed to submit in case nothing 
occurred for their advantage within seven 
days. In this desperate extremity they thought 
of applying to the newly-appointed king, who 
had quietly returned to his former occupations, 
and was engaged in following the herds when 
the messengers arrived. 

The heart of Saul rose to the greatness of 
the occasion. Then and for ever he laid aside 
the small cares of pasture and tillage, and put 



on the warrior and the king. Fired with gen- 
erous wrath at the indignity thus offered to 
Israel, he imperatively summoned, by swift 
messengers, the men of Israel skilled in arms 
to join their king. Three hundred and thirty 
thousand armed men almost immediately came 
to him in Bezek, and with this force he hast- 
ened across the river, and by a forced march 
appeared before Jabesh-Gilead before the seven 
days had expired. The Ammonites were de- 
feated with great slaughter, and the beleaguered 
city relieved. 

Saul's conduct on this occasion, crowned as 
it was by such eminent success, did more for 
him in popular opinion than his prophetic 
nomination or even his imposing figure. The 
people escorted him in triumph to Gilgal, 
where the victory was celebrated with many 
sacrifices, and the new king was confirmed by 
acclamation in his kingdom. 

Samuel, who was present at Gilgal, and was 
now obviously called upon to resign his ex- 
ecutive authority, took the opportunity of ad- 
dressing the people. When we consider the 
greatness of the occasion — the last of an old 
order of government peaceably laying down his 
power to the first of a new line of rulers — and 
when we look at the vastness of the audience, 
composed of the flower of the nation which it 
represented, we are prepared to pay much at- 
tention to the speech of Samuel, as one that 
must be remarkable, and may be important. 
It was both : " Behold," he said, " I have 
hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said 
unto me, and have made a king over you. 
And now, behold, the king walketh before 
you ; and I am old and gray-headed : and I 
have walked before you from my childhood 
unto this day. Behold, here I am. Witness 
against me this day before the Lord and before 
His anointed: whose ox have I taken? or 
whose ass have I taken ? or whom have I de- 
frauded ? whom have I oppressed ? or at 
whose hand have I received any bribe to blind 
mine eyes therewith ? " Considering the cir- 
cumstances under which justice and govern- 
ment are and always have been administered 
in the East, this is an appeal which few judges 




(157) 



158 



SAMUEL REPROVING SAUL. 



or governors would venture to make. But 
here the people answered with one voice, 
" Thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed 
us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's 
hand." 

Thunder and Rain. 

The prophet then proceeded to explain and 
vindicate the course of the Divine conduct 
towards the nation from the commencement 
of their history till then ; and by showing the 
sufficiency of the theocratic government, he 
again brought forward their criminality in de- 
manding a king, " when the Lord their God 
was their king." Nevertheless, if they and 
the king over them continued to serve the 
Lord, his blessing should still rest upon them, 
and render them prosperous. The prophet 
then, to show that he spoke by Divine au- 
thority in denouncing the course they had 
taken, called upon the Lord to send thunder 
and rain as a sign to them ; and accordingly 
a thunder-storm, attended by heavy rains, 
came on, although the time of the year, it 
being then the wheat harvest, was one in which 
these phenomena are not naturajly exhibited 
in the climate of Palestine. This made a 
strong and salutary impression upon the peo- 
ple, and contributed to maintain Samuel in 
that degree of regulating authority which was 
most important, if not essential, at the com- 
mencement of the new order of affairs. 

The victory of Saul over the Philistines ap- 
pears to have established his reputation among 
the surrounding nations ; and from this period 
the most warlike of them quailed before him, 
and were defeated in a succession of easy vic- 
tories. 

Now the Amalekites were invaded in their 
own land, and all but those who escaped the 
hot pursuit were destroyed. Saul, however, 
acting upon the impulses of pride and avarice, 
or moved by a sentiment of compassion which 
his mission did not sanction, spared the life of 
Agag, the king, and allowed the troops to re- 
serve the more valuable parts of the spoil. 
This renewed instance of disobedience and 
presumption, in a matter which had become a 
point of blood-honor to the nation, sealed the I 



fate of Saul. Truly does Solomon say that 
" Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty 
spirit before a fall." So it was with the first 
Hebrew king, who was never so well satisfied 
with himself, never more exalted in spirit, than 
at this moment, when all this glory was passing 
from him. In this elation of heart he set up a 
monument of his victory in the land of Carmel 
(not Mount Carmel), through which he passed 
on his way to Gilgal. 

At. Gilgal Samuel came to him. The king 
went forth to meet the prophet, and informed 
him that he had faithfully fulfilled the Divine 
behests. But Samuel was not deceived. The 
disobedience of the king had already been 
made known to him ; already the doom Saul 
had brought down on his own head had been 
imparted to him ; and so much was he attached 
to the wrong-headed prince, that he greatly 
grieved at the tidings, and " cried unto the 
Lord all night." When, therefore, Saul claimed 
the merit of high obedience to himself, the 
prophet answered with indignation, " What 
meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in 
mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I 
hear?" Saul answered, that the cattle had 
been spared for the purpose of sacrifice to the 
Lord. On this Samuel more distinctly pointed 
out his disobedience ; but he still persisted 
that he had fulfilled his commission, and'made 
a merit of having spared the cattle for sacrifice. 
To which Samuel replied, " Hath the Lord as 
great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, 
as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, 
to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
than the fat of lambs." He added, that idol- 
atry itself was not a greater sin before God 
than disobedience ; and concluded with the 
terrible words, " Because thou hast rejected 
the word of the Lord, he also has rejected 
thee from being king." 

Having fulfilled this painful duty, Samuel 
turned to depart, but Saul laid hold of the 
skirt of his mantle to detain him, and it was 
rent in his hand ; and the prophet seized this 
as a symbol of the great fact he had already 
in other words declared — " The Lord hath 
rent the kingdom of Israel this day, and given 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL 



159 



it to a neighbor of thine who is better than I was offered to God, and Samuel at length 
thee." Solicitous to preserve appearances be- 1 consented. Before his departure he ordered 




DAVID ANOINTED BY SAMUEL. 1 Sam. XVI. 1 3. 

fore the heads of the nation, Saul still, how- 1 Agag, the king of the Amalekites, to be put 
ever, pressed him to remain while worship | to death; and the captive monarch, who 



160 



THE SWEET SINGER. 



deemed himself safe under the protection of 
Saul, learned that there was in Israel a power 
above that in which he trusted. 

From this time Samuel withdrew himself 
entirely from Saul, and never again visited him 
during his subsequent reign. 

The Sc:i cf Jesse. 

Scon after this Samud received the Divine 
instructions to proceed to Bethlehem, and 
anoint as king, or rather, for the succession to 
the crown, one of the sons of Jesse, a descend- 
ant of Boaz and Ruth, inhabiting that city. 
Understanding that Jesse had several sons, 
the prophet directed them to be brought be- 
fore him. But the Divine intimation, which 
the prophet expected, did not point out any 
of them ; and learning that the youngest son, 
David by name, was out with the sheep, he 
directed him to be sent for. He soon entered, 
in all the freshness of youth and beaming with 
intelligence; and immediately the Divine word 
came to the soul of the prophet, "Arise, 
anoint him ; for this is he! " He accordingly 
arose, and poured upon his head the anointing 
oil ; and then he returned to his own house in 
Ramah, and David to his sheep. 

At this time the symptoms of the malady 
which darkened the days of Saul, and which 
threw him by turns into fits of melancholy 
madness and of frantic passion, became distinct 
and manifest. His courtiers, perceiving that 
this visitation was of that kind over which 
music had power, urged him to retain about 
his person a skilful player on the harp, whose 
strains might calm his mind and disperse the 
clouds which gathered around it. It hap- 
pened that David was renowned for his min- 
strel skill, and was named as one eminently 
suitable for this office. 

The person who mentioned his name to the 
king described him as " a son of Jesse the 
Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing and 
a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and 
prudent in matters, and a comely person, and 
the Lord is with him." Saul therefore sent a 
somewhat arbitrary message to Jesse, " Send 
me David thy son, who is with the sheep." 



He accordingly came, and made himself very 
useful to the king, who held him in high 
esteem. We are told that " Whenever the 
evil spirit was upon Saul, David took an harp 
and played before him, so Saul's spirit was 
refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit 
departed from him." How long he remained 
at court is not very clear; but we afterwards 
find him again at home, and again feeding his 
father's sheep. 

The Philistines had by this time recovered 
from their last defeat, and now reappeared in 
the field with a most powerful army, which 
they marched into the land of Israel, and en- 
camped at Azekah, whither Saul hastened to 
confront them. The Philistines then put for- 
ward a gigantic warrior named Goliath, who 
in highly insulting language challenged the 
Hebrew host to send forth one of their num- 
ber to engage with him in single combat, the 
result of which should decide the fate of the 
war. This huge warrior, who was about ten 
feet high, and of proportionate bulk, was 
accoutred in complete armor, the first we read 
of in Scripture ; and the enumeration of the 
articles of which it was composed is, even in 
an antiquarian point of view, highly interest- 
ing, and shows his enormous strength. 

David and Goliath. 

" He had an helmet of brass upon his head, 
and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the 
weight of his coat was five thousand shekels 
(twelve hundred and fifty ounces) of brass, 
and he had greaves of brass upon his legs, 
and a target of brass upon his shoulders. 
And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's 
beam, and his spear's head weighed six hun- 
dred shekels (three hundred ounces) of iron, 
and one bearing a shield went before him." 
This suggests a lively idea of the ancient pan- 
oply of war, and in the details great similarity 
appears to the array of the Memlook guards 
of Egypt of a former day. Indeed, the pic- 
ture given by Forbin of one of these guards 
and his attendant might almost stand for a 
picture of Goliath and his armor-bearer, and 
a far more interesting one than any of the 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 



161 



numerous pictures from fancy which have ever i a sword, which afterwards became famous in 
been given. The weapons are the sam \ also, | the historv of David. 




DAVID AT THE BROOK. — I Sam. xvii. 40. 



with the addition of the club and battle-axe; 
for the sequel shows that, besides the spear 
mentioned in the above account, the giant had 
II 



The effect which the view and challenge of 
this enormous warrior produced upon the Is- 
raelites was fully as great as the Philistines 



162 



DAVID SLAYS GOLIATH. 



could have expected. They were peculiarly 
liable to be impressed by considerations of 
bulk and stature ; and Saul himself was head 
and shoulders taller than any of his people. 
The man and his challenge struck the Hebrew 
host with dismay. The custom of nations pre- 
vented them from declining this mode of set- 
tling the war when proposed by the enemy, but 
who among them was able to compete with 
this huge Philistine ? Day after day the 
proud unbeliever strode forth from the Philis- 
tine camp and defied the armies of Israel ; and 
among all the heroes of Saul not one was 
found to take up the awful responsibility 
which the combat imposed. 

At this juncture David arrived in the camp, 
sent by his father to inquire after, and convey 
provisions to, his three elder brothers, who 
were with the army. He heard the challenge 
of Goliath, and seeing that it provoked no 
response, he was fired with indignation, and 
offered to go out himself against the haughty 
infidel. This being reported to the king, he 
sent for him ; and finding him a mere youth, 
whom he did not recognize in his present 
garb, he feared to risk the fate of Israel upon 
his arm, and endeavored to dissuade him from 
the undertaking. But David assured the king 
that, in his reliance upon the Divine protection 
and succor, he felt fully confident of success, 
and was assured that the same power which 
had at different times strengthened him to slay 
a lion and a bear in defence of his flocks would 
also deliver him out of the hand of the Philis- 
tine, and win a signal victory for Israel. 

The Deadly Sliiig. 

Saul then consented, and proceeded to arm 
the youthful champion with his armor and to 
gird him with his own sword. But finding 
himself encumbered with accoutrements to 
which he was unused, David again took them 
off, and proceeded to action provided only 
with a sling and with five smooth stones, 
which he selected from the brook and put into 
his shepherd's bag. When the giant beheld 
the unarmed youth advance against him he 
felt insulted by such fragile opposition, and, 



addressing David with great disdain, " cursed 
him by his gods." The son of Jesse retorted 
with great animation, expressing his full con- 
fidence that the God of Israel would show that 
he could save " without sword or spear," by 
giving him the victory that day. Then, while 
the giant came on with ponderous tread, the 
young hero nimbly fitted a stone in his sling, 
and cast it with so true an aim, and with an 
arm so powerful, that it smote Goliath in the 
forehead, and, crushing through flesh and 
bone, lodged in his brain. He had scarcely 
fallen when the victor flew upon him, and, 
having no weapon of his own, smote off the 
monster's head with his own sword. / 

The Maidens' Song- of Triumph. 

With a shout that rent the earth as the 
champion fell the Hebrew host rushed for- 
ward to follow up the stroke upon the Philis- 
tines, who fled in panic and confusion at a re- 
sult so unexpected by them. A great slaughter 
was committed upon them, and the pursuers 
returned with many captives and much spoil. 
Great was the joy in Israel at this deliverance. 
The maidens came forth to meet the warriors 
with triumphal songs, of which David was 
made the hero, although Saul was not for- 
gotten. They sang : 

Saul hath slain his thousands, 
And David his ten thousands. 

This preference was heard by Saul with 
great displeasure, and was perhaps the first 
circumstance which awakened that jealousy 
of David which troubled the rest of his reign. 
Jonathan, the son of Saul, was, however, of a 
far different mind. His admiration of the 
young hero was most intense, and he hastened 
to cultivate an acquaintance with him, which 
ripened into that tender and most faithful 
friendship which David has rendered im- 
mortal. 

Saul, although vexed, was not yet become 
ungrateful, nor indeed was it possible for one 
who had wrought so great a deed in Israel as 
David, to be neglected without an outrage on 
public opinion. The king, therefore, gave him 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 



1C: 



an important command in the army. This I fested, that his popularity daily increased, and 
afforded him an opportunity of distinguishing I the jealousy of the king ripened in the same 




DAVID SLAYING GOLIATH. — I Sam. XVli. 54. 

himself; and so brilliant were his exploits, I proportion into dislike and hatred. As he 
and so engaging were the qualities he mani- 1 thus gave way to evil passions, his dreadful 



164 



DAVID SAVED BY MICHAL. 



disease returned with redoubled force; and 
once, when the son of Jesse was attempting- to 
soothe him, as of old, with his harp, the king- 
in his madness cast at him his javelin with the 
intention of smiting him " even to the wall ; " 
but David evaded the stroke and left the royal 
presence. It was possibly for the purpose of 
removing the temptation to crime from him- 
self that the king then sent him away to com- 
mand the troops on the frontier; but his pop- 
ularity still increasing, Saul ere long recalled 
him to court, and offered one of his daughters 
in marriage. This honor was due to David, 
as the king had held it out as an inducement 
to any one who should combat with and over- 
come Goliath ; but it had hitherto been with- 
held. 

David's Bride. 

Now, however, the king happened to learn 
that an attachment had arisen between David 
and his daughter Michal, and he resolved to 
give her to him, in the hope of the connection 
being made the means of his ruin. With pre- 
tended liberality and kindness he declared that 
he required no other dowry for his daughter 
than that he should distinguish himself against 
the enemies of Israel, in the time which must 
elapse between the betrothal and the actual 
marriage. The hope of the king was that he 
would be destroyed in the daring acts into 
which he knew he would thus be led. But 
David performed all that was required of him, 
and returned safe and triumphant to claim his 
bride, who could not then be withheld from 
him. 

This did not tend to lessen the enmity of 



The increase of reputation which he thus ob- 
tained exposed him anew to the wrath of the 
king, who on his return to court attempted to 
assassinate him; but not succeeding in his 
design, he determined to have him arrested 
on the following day, that he might have an 
opportunity of slaying him in confinement. 

Then, fearing that he might escape during 
the night, he stationed guards around the 
house, with instructions to seize him in the 
morning. But David was this time saved by 
his wife, the faithful Michal, who' gained intel- 
ligence of this design, and contrived the escape 
of her husband by letting him down in a basket 
from one of the windows. He then went for 
counsel and encouragement to the aged Samuel 
at Ramah. Saul was now grown desperate, 
and no sooner heard of the place of his retreat 
than he sent a detachment of soldiers to ap- 
prehend him. But they no sooner beheld the 
venerable prophet among his pupils, " the sons 
of the prophets," uttering their, holy chants, 
than, under a Divine influence, they laid aside 
all their fierceness, and sat down utterly sub- 
dued among these holy persons. Saul sent 
again and again, with the same result; and at 
length, not to be balked of his prey, he pro- 
ceeded himself to Ramah ; but the same influ- 
ence overshadowed him ; disarmed, subdued,, 
he cast aside his upper garment, aqd lay down 
meek and humble at the feet of the prophet. 

David's Faithful Friend. 

When the king had returned home, David, 
supposing that some salutary change might 
have been wrought in his mind, and that it 



Saul, who at length went so far as to give ; behooved him to make one more effort to main- 
orders to his confidential attendants, and even tain his position, went also to Gibeah to con- 
to Jonathan, to seize any favorable opportunity suit with Jonathan respecting the course he 
that offered of making away with David, should take. That faithful friend promised to 
Jonathan, however, pleaded so earnestly for , take means to ascertain his father's present 
his friend, that Saul relented, " and sware, as feeling, and meanwhile enjoined him to remain 
the Lord liveth," not to slay him. After this j concealed in the fields, without entering the 
Saul intrusted David with the command of | town, that his arrival might not be suspected, 
the whole army to oppose the Philistines, who The conversation which passed between these 
had again invaded his dominions. His usual : admirable friends as they walked together in 
success attended him in this expedition, the the fields is reported with unusual minuteness 
enemy being routed and completely subdued. | in the sacred record, and gives a vivid impres- 




SAUL ATTEMPTS THE LIFE OF DAVID. 1 Sam. XVlii. II. 



(165) 



166 



JONATHAN'S LOVE FOR DAVID. 



sion of the nobleness of Jonathan's heart, see- 
ing that the object of his ardent and generous 
friendship was one whom he knew to be des- 
tined to exclude himself from the succession 
to the throne. But, in the emphatic language 
of Scripture, "he loved him as his own soul," 
and was well content to think that David 
should hereafter sit upon the throne of Israel, 
and had for himself no other desire than to 
remain his bosom friend and counsellor. 

The day after this interview was the feast of 
the new moon, when it seems to have been the 
custom of the king to dine with his princes and 
great officers. The king, we are told, " sat upon 
his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by 
the wall ; " by which we learn that the seat of 
honor was then, as at present, in the East, in 
the corner at the upper end of the room ; and 
it must, as now, have been in the right-hand 
corner, from the king being able to throw his 
javelin. After what had passed at Ramah, 
the king expected that David would be pres- 
ent at table in his usual place. He, however, 
took no notice of the first day; but on the 
second inquired after him. Jonathan replied 
that he had given him leave to absent him- 
self, and this would account for his absence. 

Saul's Anger. 

On this the evil spirit raged high in the un- 
happy king. He broke forth into the grossest 
vituperation of his own son, whom he re- 
proached in being a party tc his own dishonor, 
for he said, with bitterness, "as long as the 
son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou 
shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom ! 
Wherefore, now, send and fetch him unto me, 
for he shall surely die." But Jonathan began 
to vindicate his friend; on which the king, 
quite beside himself with passion, cast his 
javelin at him to smite him. After this Jona- 
than knew that there was no hope for David, 
to whose hiding-place he proceeded to make 
known to him this result, and to give a reluc- 
tant consent that he should seek among 
strangers the safety which was denied him in 
his own country. 

Before quitting the land of Israel David 



proceeded to Nob, a city of Benjamin, where- 
the tabernacle then stood, and requested the 
high-priest Abimelech to provide him and his 
few attendants with provisions for his intended 
journey, as well as with armor for himself- 
Having been led to believe that he was upon 
public business which required secrcsy, the 
high-priest was prevailed upon to give him a 
quantity of the bread which had lately been 
removed from the table as shcw-bread, and 
which, in strict propriety, it was lawful for the 
priests only to eat ; and there being no other 
weapon at the tabernacle, he allowed him to 
have the sword which he had himself taken 
from Goliath, and which had afterwards been 
laid up in the tabernacle as a trophy of vic- 
tory. 

On departing from Nob David took the 
somewhat strange step of proceeding to Gath, 
one of the chief cities of the Philistines, in the 
hope of being allowed to remain there under 
the protection of the king Achish. The offi- 
cers of the king were, however, by no means 
inclined to overlook the victory over Goliath, 
and the various disgraces which the Philistine 
arms had sustained at his hands ; and they 
counselled the king to avail himself of the op- 
portunity of ridding himself of so redoubted 
an enemy. This so alarmed David that he 
feigned madness, and mimicked the actions of 
a lunatic so well that he was allowed to depart 
unmolested. 

In returning to his own land David found 
it expedient to avoid inhabited places, and to 
seek refuge in caverns, woods and wildernesses. 
In the first place he betook himself to the great 
cave of Adullam, where many of his relations,, 
who had become obnoxious to Saul, joined 
him, some to seek his protection, and others 
to afford him their assistance. Here also came 
to him a number of men of broken fortunes 
and unsettled dispositions, who were glad to 
put themselves under the command of so re- 
nowned a leader, and who formed a small but 
valorous troop of about four hundred men. It 
was about this time that the king of Moab, 
being at variance with Saul, sent a messenger 
to David to invite him to his court. He ac- 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 



167 



cordingly repaired thither, and after having 
secured a quiet retreat for his aged parents, 
returned with his few troops into the land of 



When Saul heard of David's return he 
called his attendants and courtiers around 
him, and threatened his utmost vengeance 




DAVID AND JONATHAN. 1 Sam. XV'iii. I. 

Judah, where his friends were most numer- j against any of them who failed to render him 
ous, and abode for a time in " the forest of j every assistance in discovering David, or to 
Hareth," secure in his secluded retreat I reveal whatever came to their knowledge of 



168 



THE PRIESTS SLAIN. 



his movements and designs. On this an 
officer named Doeg, by birth an Edomite, who 
had been present at Nob when the high-priest 
assisted David, stepped forward, and reported 
with considerable exaggeration what he had 
witnessed. The dark rage of Saul rose high 
at this information ; and he immediately sent 
to Nob to call Ahimelech and the attend- 
ing priests before him. The summons was 
promptly obeyed. When the king charged 
Ahimelech with conspiracy and treason for 
the assistance rendered to the son of Jesse, the 
high-priest firmly but respectfully vindicated 
himself, and declared his perfect ignorance of 
the alleged designs or intentions of David when 
he rendered him assistance as to the king's 
son-in-law. 

But the thirst for blood was strong upon 
the maddened king, and he was but too happy 
to find any objects on which, with the slightest 
show of reason, it might be gratified. With- 
out heeding the defence, he turned to his 
guard and ordered them to slay the priests of 
the Lord. But they were for the moment 
protected by their sacred character, and every 
one shrunk from the deed. On this the king 
turned to the accuser Doeg, and commanded 
him to slay them ; and froi» this foreign mer- 
cenary he found ready obedience. Eighty- 
one of the priests of God fell that day under 
his sword ; and he then, under authority from 
the king, proceeded to Nob, where, with the 
assistance of others, he destroyed the families 
of the priests resident there. The only per- 
son of the priestly family who escaped was 
Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, who fled for 
safety to David in the forest of Hareth. He 
was well received, and became the priest or 
chaplain of the band. 

About this time the city of Keilah, in Juclah, 
was besieged by the Philistines, and David, by 
the Lord's direction, hastened with his small 
troop to the relief of the place. He succeeded 
in defeating the enemy and putting them to 
flight, and on retiring from the pursuit entered 
with much spoil the city he had delivered. 
When Saul heard that he was in this place he 
prepared to march against him, intending to 



blockade the city, and compel the inhabitants 

to give up David. But he made his escape 

from the place before the king arrived with 

his troops, and withdrew into the wilderness 

of Ziph. 

A Timely Escape. 

The people of the town of that name, how- 
ever, made the place of his retreat known to 
the king, who immediately maiched in pursuit 
of him. Of this movement David received 
timely warning, and withdrew into the wilder- 
ness of Maon, whither he was closely pursued 
by Saul. The royal troop had nearly sur- 
rounded David and his small company, when 
the king received intelligence that the Philis- 
tines had invaded his dominions, which com- 
pelled him to abandon his present object, and 
march against them. 

David was thus delivered from a most dan- 
gerous position. But the king had no sooner 
repelled the Philistines than he resumed with 
eagerness the pursuit of David, who had by 
this time taken refuge in the rocky wilderness 
of Engedi. The king followed him there, 
and on his arrival went into a cave unaccom- 
panied by any of his attendants. It happened 
that David was at that very time in the farther 
parts of this same cave, and was urged by his 
men to avail himself of this opportunity of 
ridding himself of his inveterate enemy, who 
was so keenly bent on his destruction. But 
the son of Jesse repelled with horror the sug- 
gestion to " stretch forth his hand against the 
Lord's anointed." He wished, however, to let 
Saul see how completely he had been in his 
power, and therefore drew near to him stealth- 
ily, and cut off the skirt of his robe. 

When the king had quitted the cave David 
went out also, and called after him, " My lord 
the king ! " And when Saul looked back, he 
bowed low before him, and proceeded to ad- 
dress him in very forcible but respectful and 
even pathetic language. He assumed that 
the king had been misled by ill advisers and 
slanderous reports, and justified his own fidel- 
ity and the innocence of his intentions; in 
proof of which he produced the skirt, which 
had just been severed from his robe. Saul 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 



169 



could not withstand this ; he was for the mo- 
ment convinced of David's innocence and of his 
own guilt in pursuing him thus inveterately. 
His stern nature was softened, and his diseased 
mind rightened by a gush of tender emotions. 
He said, " Is this thy voice, my son David ? 
And Saul lifted up his voice and wept." He 
admitted that under the same circumstances 
he should not have acted so generously ; he 
avowed his knowledge that David was his 
destined successor to the throne, and declared 



voted services to the nation, and fully sensible 
of the great loss they had sustained, assembled 
in large numbers at Ram ah to assist at his 
funeral, and to make lamentations for him. 

While David was in the wilderness of Paran, 
into which the cattle-owners of Judah were 
accustomed to send out their flocks and herds 
for pasture, David, although obliged to live 
much after the manner of the Bedouins, re- 
strained his troop from disturbing the abundant 
flocks of a wealthy sheep-master called Nabal, 




DAVJD SPARES THE LIFE 

that his mind would be satisfied if he would 
pledge himself by an oath not to extirpate his 
posterity when he came to the crown. David 
most willingly entered into the required en- 
gagement, after which they separated, Saul 
returning to his capital, and the son of Jesse, 
who had but little faith in the king's temporary 
convictions, withdrawing into the wilderness 
of Paran. 

About this time the prophet Samuel died, 
and the people, mindful of his long and de- 



of saul. — I Sam. xxiv. 4. 
and, on the contrary, protected them from the 
depredations of the Arabs. Afterwards, when 
he returned northward, he heard that Nabal 
was engaged in shearing his sheep ; and, as 
the season was one of festivity, and much pro- 
vision was usually laid up for the occasion, 
David sent to beg that some victuals might be 
furnished to his troop in acknowledgment of 
the part he had acted in the desert. This was 
refused by Nabal in highly insulting language, 
which David resented so deeply that he imme- 



170 



DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 



diately put his troop in motion to wreak ven- 
geance upon him and his. 

But on the road he was met by Nabal's wife, 
Abigail, who had expected some such result 
from her husband's churlishness, of which she 
no sooner heard than she directed her ass to 
be saddled, and, attended by two servants, she 
set forth with a liberal present of choice pro- 
visions to meet and pacify the incensed war- 
rior. In this, by her good sense, address, and 
comeliness, she prevailed so well, that David 
was thankful, on second thoughts, for having 
been prevented in executing his fell purpose ; 
and when he afterwards heard that Nabal was 
dead, he sent and solicited the widow to be- 
come his wife, when she was found to be 
nothing loath to share the destinies of the 
handsome hero and future king of Israel. 
David had before this entered into marriage 
with Ahinoam, a woman of Jezreel ; his first 
wife, Michal, Saul's daughter, being separated 
from him, and bestowed by her father upon 
another. 

Saul Spared by David. 

After this David removed from the wilder-; 
ness of Paran to the hill Hachilah, in the j 
wilderness of Ziph, and the inhabitants of the 
town so called again sent tidings to Saul of i 
the circumstance. All his convictions and 
good resolutions had by this time passed away, | 
and he was prepared to pursue the son of 
Jesse with all his former eagerness. He hast- 
ened after him at the head of three thousand 
chosen men ; and having arrived, he rested his 
troops during that night, resolving to attack 
him on the following morning. David, how- 
ever, succeeded during the night in secretly 
entering the camp of Saul, attended only by 
his cousin Abishai, and advancing to the place I 
where the spear planted in the ground marked j 
the station of the chief, without being perceived 
by the guards, who soundly slept, he took! 
away the cruse of water which stood beside [ 
the king, and also the spear which was planted 
at his bolster, and then withdrew, after resist- 
ing the solicitation of Abishai for permission 
to destroy him as he slept. 

David then repaired to a safe point on an 



eminence at some distance, and in a loud voice 
called to Abner, the captain of Saul's host, re- 
proving him for his negligent guard of the 
royal person, and held up the spear and the 
cruse of water, to show the danger to which 
the king had been exposed, and how com- 
pletely it had been in his power to destroy him 
if he had been so inclined. Saul overheard all 
this, and his heart smote him. He could not 
but feel that, after what had passed at the 
former interview, David had stronger reason 
than before to feel aggrieved and wrathful ; 
and this act of generous forbearance struck 
him even more forcibly than the former had 
done. He could not restrain his rising emo- 
tions, but cried, " Is that thy voice, my son 
David ? " and in answer to the firm and earnest 
remonstrance of Jesse's son, he admitted with- 
out reserve the guilt and folly of his own con- 
duct: "I have sinned; return, my son David, 
for I will no more do thee harm, because my 
life was precious in thine eyes this day ; be- 
hold, I have played the fool, and have erred 
exceedingly." It is these touches of relenting 
nature, these gleams of light, beaming now and 
then through the fissures of his fractured 
mind, which create an interest in behalf of this 
unhappy king, and preserve him from aversion 
or contempt. A mind thus capable of feeling 
and appreciating a noble and generous action 
could not itself be naturally ignoble or ungen- 
erous. 

David, however, had little confidence in the 
permanency of these salutary impressions on 
the king's mind, and, so far from accepting 
his invitation to return to court, he deemed it 
right to leave the country entirely. He there- 
fore again repaired to Gath with his followers, 
who had ere this increased in number to six 
hundred. It seems a strange step again to 
venture where he had before been so ill re- 
ceived ; but he was now in very different cir- 
cumstances, and it is not unlikely that he had 
received from king Achish an intimation that 
he might now reckon upon his protection. 
To prevent jealousies, the Philistine king pre- 
sented him with the town of Ziklag as a 
residence for himself and followers, and here 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 



171 



he was soon joined by a considerable number | refuse to accompany the Philistines in thei 



of adherents from his own tribe of Judah. 

Not long after they had settled in this place 
the Philistines resolved to invade the land of 



march against his countrymen. He therefore 
went, probably leaving his course in the field 
to be determined by circumstances. But 




SAUL SEARCHING FOR DAVID. 1 Sam. Xxiv. 2. 

when the Philistine forces from the different 
states met at Aphek, the other chiefs and 
princes expressed surprise at the presence of 
David, and, being very suspicious of his in- 



Israel, and the king of Gath called upon 
David to join the expedition. This was a 
dangerous and difficult dilemma, and David 
felt that he could not, without great danger, 



172 



CONSULTING A SORCERESS. 



tentions, prevailed upon Achish to send him 
back to Ziklag. 

On returning thither, David found that 
during his absence the place had been attacked 
and fired by the Amalekites, who not only 
carried away all the substance of David's 
people, but had also taken their wives and 
families as captives. 

So great were the rage and consternation 
of David's men at this discovery that he had 
well-nigh become the victim of their blind 
fury, for they talked of stoning him to death. 
" But David encouraged himself in the Lord 
his God;" and referred the matter to Him 
through the priest Abiathar, by vhom he re- 
ceived a favorable answer, whereby his fol- 
lowers were pacified. They then hastened 
southward in pursuit. During the march 
they fell in with an Egyptian slave, who, fall- 
ing sick on the road, had been abandoned by 
his master, one of the Amalekites who had 
assisted at the sack of Ziklag, and who, being 
refreshed by David's men, offered to lead them 
to the camp of the Amalekites. These ma- 
rauders were found enjoying themselves in sup- 
posed safety, eating, and drinking, and danc- 
ing, because of the great spoil they had won. 
In this condition they were quite unprepared 
for the vigorous assault of David's brave fol- 
lowers, and only four hundred of them, who 
fleC upon swift camels, escaped the sword. 

While David was engaged on this expedition 
the' attention of all Israel was fixed upon the 
great and decisive action between their king 
and the Philistines. 

Saul and the Witch of En dor. 

The armies lay encamped before each other, 
the Philistines at Shunem and the Israelites 
on the mountain of Gilboa, when, the night 
before the action, Saul, anxious and alarmed 
that he could obtain no intimation of the 
Divine will through the channels which were 
open under the theocratical institutions, left 
the camp at night and went to consult a re- 
puted sorceress who resided in the neighbor- 
ing village of FCndor. Me was disguised; 
but the woman, if she had never seen him 



before, could not but recognize the king of 
Israel, by the nature of his questions, and by 
the towering stature for which he was re- 
nowned throughout the land. 

He required her " to bring up Samuel ; " 
and accordingly the king beheld ascending 
from the earth the figure of " an old man 
covered with a mantle ; " but whether this was 
really the shade of Samuel, as the king be- 
lieved, or a phantom resembling him, has been 
much contested. Saul, however, prostrated 
himself before the figure; and in answer to 
the question, "Why hast thou disquieted me 
to bring me up?" answered, "God is de- 
parted from me, and answereth me no more, 
neither by prophets nor by dreams ; therefore 
I have called upon thee, to make known unto 
me what I shall do." The reply, uttered in 
severe language, announced that the time was 
come for the accomplishment of his doom, 
and indicated to him the fatal scene which the 
next day saw accomplished on Mount Gil- 
boa. Stunned by this intelligence, and ex- 
hausted by long fasting and anxiety, that un- 
happy king fell prostrate on the ground ; and 
it was not without difficulty that he was so 
far restored as to be able to take a little food 
before he quitted the dwelling of the necro- 
mancer. 

The next day the opposed hosts joined bat- 
tle, and Saul acted like one who was deter- 
mined to deserve, if he could not win, the 
victory. But the Philistines attacked his posi- 
tion with so much resolution that the Israelites 
fled before them, or were cut in pieces in the 
attempt to escape. The sacred historian seems 
to state the superior skill of the Philistines in 
the use of the bow as the proximate cause of 
this defeat ; the weapons of the Hebrews them- 
selves being chiefly the spear and shield. In 
vain did the king attempt repeatedly to rally 
them, and lead them forward to renew the 
action : the disorder was complete. The king, 
supported by a few faithful friends, maintained 
his ground till he was mortally wounded by 
an arrow, and his valiant sons lay dead at his 
feet. 

Escape was then hopeless ; and dreading, 



THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 



17:5 



worse than death, the ignominious treatment 
to which lie should be exposed if he fell alive 
into the hands of the Philistines, he implored 
his armor-bearer to thrust him through with 
his sword. The youth, overcome by his fears, 
and by a very natural reluctance to shed the 
blood of his master, the Lord's anointed, for 



Ashtaroth, as trophies of their victory, and in 
honor of their idols. The bodies of Saul and 
his sons they gibbeted on the wall of Bethshan 
— and this circumstance gave occasion for an 
act of generous valor which affords a refresh- 
ing contrast to many of the transactions of 
this period. The inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, 




THE HAGARITES EXPELLED BY THE REUBEN ITES. 1 ChlOll. V. IO. 

once refused obedience ; on which Saul, seeing] on the other side Jordan, no sooner heard of 
that no time was to be lost, fell upon his own this ignominy, than they were roused by a 
sword and expired; and the faithful armor- j grateful remembrance of the deliverance which 
bearer immediately followed the example. I Saul had wrought for them at the beginning 

The body of the king was found by the of his reign, and determined to rescue his re- 
Philistines, who took off the head, and sent it j mains from insult. Passing over the river by 
to one of their cities to be fastened in the 1 night, they stole away the mangled remains 
temple of Dagon, and his armor in that of | of the king and his sons from the wall, and 



174 



DAVID MOURNING FOR SAUL. 



bore them away to their own place, where, 
after bestowing upon them the usual honors, 
they buried the ashes under a tree, and fasted 
seven days. 

At the news of the defeat in Gilboa, terror 
spread through all the tribes of Israel. Even 
those who dwelt beyond the Jordan were no 
sooner informed of it than they retired into 
their strongholds in the mountains, leaving 
their cities in the plain to be occupied by the 
Philistines. 

David had not long returned to Ziklag, when 
the tidings of the events were brought to him 
by a young Amalekite, who brought with him 
the diadem and regal armlets of the fallen 
monarch. Judging that it would please David, 
the Amalekite embellished his account by 
claiming the merit of having put the king to 
death, at his own request, after he had been 
mortally wounded. But instead of obtaining 
the reward he expected, David, who had him- 
self more than once testified the highest respect 
for the royal person, ordered him to be put to 
death for having presumptuously lifted his 
hand against the Lord's anointed. He also 
manifested every token of sincere grief and 
sorrow on this occasion by rending his clothes 



and by other marks of mourning and lamenta- 
tion. Especially was David grieved and dis- 
tressed for his beloved friend Jonathan, and 
the lamentation which he composed on the oc- 
casion claims our admiration not less for the 
beauty of its composition than for the tone of 
generous affection by which it is animated. 

This remarkable friendship between David 
and Jonathan is one of the most pleasing in- 
cidents in the Old Testament history. One was 
the son of the king, and the other was the son 
of a shepherd; yet, being widely separated by 
their circumstances and their lot in life, they 
were strongly attached. There was much of 
nobility and whole-souled generosity in the 
nature of Jonathan. He was such a young 
man as one would hardly expect to find in the 
midst of his surroundings. These same qual- 
ities were possessed in a remarkable degree by 
David, who was fitted pre-eminently for his 
great career and the sphere he occupied. Be- 
ing at the head of the nation, vast respon- 
sibilties rested upon him. Many and griev- 
ous were his faults and failings, but his sin- 
cere affection for his friend Jonathan stands 
out in pleasing contrast to the sins by which 
his life was darkened. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 




KING DAVID. 



ING Saul was dead, and 
David long since had 
been anointed by Sam- 
uel ; still his right to 
the throne was not rec- 
ognized by the people 
generally. Those of Ju- 
dah were the first who 
acknowledged his claim, 
while Abner, Saul's uncle, pro- 
claimed Ishbosheth, his grand- 
nephew, king. It would ap- 
pear that no tribe save that 
of Judah took part in the nom- 
ination of David, but that all the 
other tribes agreed in the election 
of Saul's only surviving son. He 
was a weak, incapable man, and no doubt 
Abner merely seized upon him as a tool for his 
own advancement — feeble Ishbosheth might 
wear the crown, but Abner would practically 
be ruler in Israel. 

David established himself in Hebron, and 
for two years no hostile act was committed. 
At the end of that time Abner resolved on 
suppressing David's rule altogether. With 
this object he crossed the Jordan and invaded 
David's territory. David sent out Joab to 
meet him, and the opposing forces met near 
the pool of Gibeon. For some time they re- 
mained passive on both sides, each unwilling 
to strike the first blow, but at last the two gen- 
erals agreed to a device to excite the flagging 
zeal of their followers. Twelve men on each 
side were matched to fight against each other 
between the two armies, and so well were 
they matched that no sooner were they within 
reach of one another than each man seized 
his opponent by the hair of the head, the 
scalp, or beard, and sheathed his sword in his 



body, so that the whole twenty-four were 
killed on the spot. 

This spectacle aroused both armies, and a 
sanguinary battle followed. It ended unfavor- 
ably for Abner, whose army was defeated and 
he himself compelled to fly. Asahel, the 
brother of Joab, gave chase, and being a very 
swift runner would certainly have overtaken 
Abner, had not that wily and unscrupulous 
man stricken him with his spear and left him 
on the road for dead. Joab, and Abishai, 
another brother, were in hot pursuit of Abner, 
but night came on and the chase was given 
up, and Joab and Abner had a parley, which 
ended in both returning to their own places. 
The loss on the side of Joab was nineteen 
men and his brother Asahel ; on that of Abner, 
the loss was about three hundred and sixty. 

For more than five years after this engage- 
ment David dwelt peaceably at Hebron, and 
Abner, in the name of Ishbosheth, reigned 
over all but Judah. This might have gone on 
had not the assumption of Abner at last kin- 
dled a spark of manly feeling on the part of 
the weak and effeminate king. Ishbosheth 
ventured to expostulate with Abner, who re- 
torted with a storm of indignation : he plainly 
told the king that he and he alone had placed 
him on the throne of his father, and that he 
who made kings could unmake them. His 
behavior was very much akin to that of the 
earl of Warwick with Henry VI. of England. 
By his threats of transferring the kingdom to 
David Abner entirely silenced Ishbosheth ; 
but not content with this he made overtures 
to David for a treaty by which David should 
be recognized by all Israel. In order the 
more easily to facilitate this business Abner 
came to Hebron during the absence of Joab, 
and had an interview with David. Matters 

(175) 



176 



ABNER SLAIN BY JOAB. 



were amicably arranged between them, and 
Abner retired before the return of Joab. 

When Joab returned he was exceedingly 
indignant at what had been done, and secretly 
sent messengers to recall Abner. Joab was 
suspicious of Abner and jealous of the influ- 
ence which he might exercise over David; he 
knew very well that Abner could never rule 
the son of Jesse as he ruled the son of Saul, 
but still Joab felt that his own position in 
David's court would probably be compromised 
by Abner, and besides there was the killing 
of Asahel to be atoned. When Abner, there- 
fore, returned, Joab dissembled, led him into a 
retired place in order to discuss the proposed 
change, and stabbed him to the heart. 

David was overwhelmed with trouble when 
he heard what had been done. With all the 
signs of bitter mourning he followed the mur- 
dered man to the grave, and the people 
mourned with him and made great lamenta- 
tion. 

When Ishbosheth heard that Abner was 
killed he was completely dismayed, and the 
people, knowing his weakness and folly, were 
thrown into much anxiety. Two officers in 
the army, Rechab and Baanah, thinking to 
find favor with David, killed the king in his 
own bedchamber and carried his head to 
Hebron. They met with a well-merited re- 
ward. They were ordered for instant execu- 
tion, and were hanged at the pool of Hebron. 

David Proclaimed King. 

A wondrous and joyous spectacle followed 
this act of justice. David was recognized as 
king over the land. Not only came the elders 
to Hebron, but also thousands and tens of 
thousands of the people ; the choice men, not 
only of the neighboring tribes of Simeon, and 
Benjamin, and Ephraim, but also of the tribes 
beyond the Jordan, and of Issachar in the 
plain of Esdraelon, and of the tribes still 
farther north, up came they in great force, and 
never before had the valley of Hebron been 
thronged by so joyful a multitude. They 
would have David to be king over them. 
But, before fully accepting the crown, he made 



a league with the people, pledging himself to 
certain conditions; and they, on their part, 
pledging themselves to loyal fidelity to his 
rule. 

As king of the land, David's great effort 
was to secure its future capital. He deter- 
mined on the reduction of the fortress of Jebus, 
on Mount Zion. This had been held by the 
natives ever since the days of Joshua, and was 
thought to be impregnable. It fell before his 
victorious arms, and the Jebusites were put to 
the sword. Here, then, David established the 
metropolis of his empire under the name of 
Jerusalem, the city of David. 

A Marvelous City. 

Before any other city on the face of the 
globe, who would not prefer to visit Jeru- 
salem ? Apart from such superstition as, 
through the centuries of the Christian era, has 
inflamed the religious pilgrim seeking the 
Holy Land ; apart from such feeling of mingled 
piety and patriotism as perpetually urges the 
Israelite, in every land of his exile, to resort 
to the sepulchres of his ancient kings and the 
site of his ancient temple; simply in view of 
what is grand and hallowed in the numberless 
and matchless memories of Jerusalem, who 
would not esteem it a great privilege of his life 
to be permitted to stand within its gates and 
go amidst its scenes? 

The only other historic city which seems 
worthy of being compared, even for a moment, 
with Jerusalem is Rome. How much of the 
world's history, for two thousand years and 
more, is linked to the city of the seven hills 
on the banks of the Tiber? How venerable, 
how suggestive, every relic of ancient Rome, 
so much of which still lies buried beneath the 
wreck of centuries ! Yet Rome cannot so 
well be compared with Jerusalem as it can be 
contrasted. The Rome of history was the 
head of the secular world ; the Jerusalem of 
history was the head of the sacred world. 
Rome was the symbol of power and law ; 
Jerusalem was the emblem of Divine truth 
and salvation. In the empire of earth Rome 
reigned unrivalled ; in the domain of religion 



KING DAVID. 



177 



— of the Church — of faith — of heaven — Jeru- 1 viceroys anointed by himself ; we think of that 
salem was equally unrivalled. I Temple of Jehovah at whose entrance for cen- 




david's three mighty men. — 1 Chron. xi. 15-22. 



How are our minds stirred at the very men- 
tion of Jerusalem ! We think at once of" the 
throne of the house of David" — of God's 
12 



turies smoked the morning and the evening 
sacrifice, and to which gathered the nation an- 
nually, in festal or penitential assemblies; we 



178 



THE CITY OF DAVID. 



think of Him, the King of the Jews — the One 
greater than the Temple — whose goings about 
this city, whose death without its gate, whose 
departure from its neighborhood up to the 
right hand of the Father, have invested its 
localities with a celestial sanctity and glory. 

Perhaps the common impression received is 
that of a city crowning a sharp hill-summit, 
and the hill set in a basin, or amphitheatre of 
hills, from which, on every side, the spectator 
may look down upon or across to the city. 
This impression is only measurably correct. 
The general elevation of the region amidst 
which Jerusalem is placed is indeed great, 
being no less than from twenty-two hundred 
to twenty-six hundred feet above the level of 
the Mediterranean Sea, and thirteen hundred 
more above that of the Dead Sea. Yet, in 
reference to the adjacent country, the city is 
not elevated, and the "mountains" on which 
it is built can be considered such only in refer- 
ence to the deep, trench-like valleys which 
surround and penetrate it. 

The bulk of the city is not visible from any 
great distance, in any direction, and those ap- 
proaching it from the west or south — the great 
majority of visitors — obtain no good view of it 
whatever. The few who approach it from the 
north are much impressed with the appear- 
ance which it presents, as seen from Mount 
Scopus, a mile or so from the Damascus Gate. 
This was the point from which Titus, the Ro- 
man general, first saw the city. But the view 
from the Mount of Olives, on the east, is such 
as one seldom obtains of any city, and is most 
justly renowned. Several things conspire to 
make this impressive. First, of course, is the 
great height of the spectator above the city ; 
next is the nearness ^of the view, due to the 
steep incline of Olivet ; next is the dip of the 
city's general surface eastward, lifting its 
farther edge so as to bring the whole extent 
the more fully under the spectator's eye ; and 
next is the fact that the Mosque of Omar, in 
the midst of its great open area, the sublime 
feature of Jerusalem, is in the foreground, and 
displayed to happiest advantage. 

Probably this is the most impressive view, 



of any sort, presented to human eyes anywhere 
on the wide earth. One beholds, indeed, not 
merely the spectacle which greets his outward 
vision, but looks through this to that yet sub- 
limer spectacle of temple and palaces, and all 
sumptuous splendors of marble and gold, pre- 
sented first when king Solomon had realized 
his magnificent schemes for glorifying his 
capital and the place of Jehovah's abode, and 
again when Herod the Great had so success- 
fully imitated him. 

And the view is made still more profoundly 
impressive by the thought that it is the same 
which met the gaze of the Saviour when " He 
beheld the city, and wept over it." We stand 
where Jesus stood. And, as we look, we think 
of Him who, for once in His life consenting to 
a recognition of His kingly claims, rode tow- 
ards His capital amidst the hosannas of His 
loyal people ; who yet, when the sight of the 
city burst upon Him, paused in His progress, 
and as if all-oblivious to the joy of the mo- 
ment, shed silent tears of human pity as He 
contemplated with omniscient eye the city's 
coming woe. 

Massive Walls. 

Jerusalem, as limited by its present walls, is 
nearly a square, having its sides toward the 
cardinal points of the compass. The - walls 
measure a length of only a little over half a 
mile on each side ; the entire circuit of the city 
being about two miles and a half. The height 
of the walls varies from thirty to forty feet, 
according to the unevenness of the ground; 
though around the temple area it is greater, 
reaching in some places even to sixty feet. 
The walls are about six feet thick, and are 
strengthened at intervals by towers and forti- 
fied gateways. Inside the parapet the space 
on the walls is broad enough for persons to 
walk; and in walking on the walls one ob- 
tains some of his best views of the city and 
its surroundings. 

It was apparently the lower city which 
early yielded to the devastating power of the 
tribe of Judah, while the upper city still held 
out until the time of David. The fact that 
the inhabitants of the hill Jebus, or Mount 



KING DAVID. 



179 



Zion, should be able thus to hold their fast- 
ness, and maintain their community for five 
hundred years, in the very heart of the 
Israelitish nation, is indicative of the great 
military strength of the position, and of its 
value to king David for his fortified capital. 
Hence, as soon as possible after his advance- 
ment to the throne of the united kingdom, 
David laid siege to Zion, with an army, ac- 
cording to Josephus, of over 200,000 men. 



And now, like the modern city of Berlin 
under the hands of Frederick the Great, Jeru- 
salem bloomed into sudden glory. All the 
successes of the new monarch, and all the 
extending prosperity of the nation, were re- 
flected in the rising splendors of the capitial. 
Especially was Jerusalem dignified, nay con- 
secrated, by being made the abode of the Ark 
of the Covenant, the chief though not exclu- 
sive seat of the tabernacle of the congregation, 



y t 



ife 




DAVID PROCLAIMED KIN 



The Jebusites, exulting in the supposed im- 
pregnability of their position, set their cripples 
and blind people on the walls to defend them, 
and taunted the besiegers with their unavail- 
ing efforts even against these ; but the walls 
were at length scaled ; the stronghold was 
secured ; David installed himself in it ; and. 
from being recognized as the hill Jebus, it 
took the name of the " City of David." Then 
began the career of the most renowned city 
on the face of the earth. 



— 2 Sam. v. 3. 

and the great resort for national worship. On 
Mount Zion a place was prepared for the 
shrine of the sanctuary, which for a long time 
had been in exile, and with high rejoicings it 
was set therein ; Mount Zion becoming hence- 
forth, even after the building of the Temple 
on Moriah, and the transference of the ark 
thither, the symbol of God's kingdom. 

Yet, conspicuous and mighty as Jerusalem 
became, under the thirty-three years of David's 
residence in it as his capital, the full height 



180 



ISRAEL'S VICTORIES. 



of its glory was not attained until King Solo- 
mon had endowed it with the imperial magnifi- 
cence characteristic of his reign. The reign 
of Solomon is much celebrated in the Scrip- 
tures, yet perhaps we seldom attain a just 
conception of its grandeur. Solomon inher- 
ited the fruits of David's vast conquests. He 
came into receipt of untold accumulated 
resources. And it was for him to realize and 
exhibit the glory which had been prepared 
for him — to construct the gorgeous fabric of 
which David had laid the strong foundation. 

See the extent of his territory — from Egypt 
and the Mediterranean Sea across to Assyria. 
See his alliances — with the mightiest powers 
of his time — with the Pharaohs, by a marriage 
into Egypt's royal family — with Hiram of 
Tyre, when Phoenicia was the great maritime 
country of the world. See his grand schemes 
for national aggrandizement — by Tyrian aid 
building a navy and importing the riches of 
all lands in voyages of three years' duration. 
See his widespread reputation for wisdom, 
for wealth, for sumptuous and stately living, 
when, to see and hear him, the Queen of 
Sheba was drawn to Jerusalem from her home 
" in the uttermost parts of the earth." 

Dazzling 1 Magnificence. 

Well, the full magnificence of Solomon's 
reign was realized in and expended upon Jeru- 
salem. First of all, on the platform of Mount 
Moriah, prepared by substructions whose 
arched solidity, in vast subterranean halls, 
excites the modern visitor's wonder, he reared 
the temple of Jehovah, and Moriah shone 
forth in the architectural splendor of hewn 
stone, and polished cedar, and brilliant gold, 
of spacious colonnades, and glittering pin- 
nacles. Then appeared on Mount Zion a 
palace for the king, and elsewhere another 
palace for the queen ; and next a grand bridge 
was made to span the valley between Zion and 
Moriah, giving a royal ascent into the house 
of the Lord. At the same time the walls of 
the city were extended and strengthened, and 
a boundless supply of water was gathered into 
reservoirs or opened from perennial springs 



beneath the city, and the lower suburbs be- 
came a paradise of gardens. 

And now Jersusalem realized its character 
as the symbol of the church and of heaven. 
The law now went forth from Zion, and the 
word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Jerusalem 
was now " the joy " and the " praise of the 
whole earth." 

The Warrior King. 

David as one of the first acts of his reign 
had brought up the Ark of God from Kirjath- 
jearim, and placed it in a new tabernacle ; 
but he yearned to build for it the splendid 
building which Solomon had the satisfaction 
of accomplishing. He made known his desire 
to the prophet Nathan, who at first encouraged 
him to do so, but he was afterwards divinely 
instructed to forbid the work being carried 
on. David was not to be the builder of the 
Temple, but great and rich blessings were to 
rest on him and on his posterity; and in the 
days of his son Solomon the House of the 
Lord should be built in Zion. David had 
soldier's work to do to establish the kingdom 
in righteousness. The Philistines and Moab- 
ites were still powerful and must be sub- 
dued, and David did not shrink from the 
work. 

With renewed energy David attacked the 
the Philistines, and Gath, the city of the giant, 
and numerous other towns, were forced to 
surrender. The Moabites also suffered severely. 
A stern, earnest, unflinching man, David 
spared not his enemies. Hadadezer lost, in 
an engagement .with the king, no less than 
a thousand chariots, seven hundred horse- 
men and of cavalry twenty thousand. The Syri- 
ans of Damascus came to the help of Hadadezar, 
but they were speedily defeated, with the loss 
of two and twenty thousand men. Seeing 
how easily David appeared to win the victory, 
and how the best drilled troops broke before 
his assault, the king of Hamath sent messages 
of peace, seeking to be henceforth regarded as 
an ally of King David. 

These victories, promptly followed by the 
placing of strong garrisons in all towns sus- 
pected of disaffection, helped to establish king 



KING DAVID. 



181 



David on his throne. No sooner was this ac- 
complished than he began to look about for 
some one survivor of the house of Saul, to 
whom, for the sake of Jonathan, he might 
show kindness. The desire of the king was 
soon made known, and there came an old ser- 
vant, named Ziba, and he told of Mephibosheth, 
a son of Jonathan, lame in both feet on account 
of having been dropped in childhood by his 
nurse who was fleeing with him ; and David 
received him most kindly, and made ample 
provision for his suitable state and dignity. 
He granted to him also the high privilege of 
eating, on certain state occasions, at the royal 
table; it was the same privilege which Saul 
had accorded to himself in the days of their 
old friendship, and was now gratefully returned. 

A Rough Diamond. 

There was a tender, affectionate nature under 
the rugged exterior of royal David. He re- 
membered former kindnesses, and this is what 
kings who have known tribulation have not 
always done. But when Nahash the king of 
the Ammonites died, and David — calling to 
mind how kind the man had been to him — sent 
a letter of consolation by his servants, his good 
intention was altogether misconstrued. The 
young king Hanun was led to believe he had 
deceitfully despatched his messengers to spy 
out the land. The suspicion of duplicity 
usually springs from a deceitful heart — " all 
seems jaundiced to the jaundiced eye." Act- 
ing on the impulse of the moment, Hanun 
committed an abominable outrage on David's 
servants : he shaved off half their beards, an 
act which scarcely any indignity could exceed. 
In addition to this he cut off their clothes 
short at the girdle. 

When David knew how his servants had 
been treated, he determined to punish the rash 
and impudent offender. Hanun the foolish 
sought help from his neighbors, and engaged 
at a great cost an army of hirelings — some- 
where about thirty-three thousand fighting 
men. Joab and Abishai were the commanders 
of the Israelitish forces, and they put the allies 
of the Ammonites to ignominious flight; they 



did not in their retreat measure the ground by 
inches, but fled precipitately, the Ammonites 
following their example. But these Syrian 
allies, perhaps somewhat ashamed of their 
conduct, attempted some time later to defy 
Israel. It ended, as might have been expected, 
in their total overthrow. David and his 
mighty men brought them into such thorough 
subjugation that they were glad to accept 
terms of peace, and to engage never more to 
enter into alliance with the Ammonites. 

An Extraordinary Crown. 

These Ammonites had to pay dearly for 
their folly. Within a few months Rabbah, 
their chief city, was invested by Joab, and 
taken by storm under David. There was a 
great slaughter and many captives taken ; the 
king who provoked the war doubtless per- 
ished, for his crown was taken by David — a 
crown as heavy as that described by Juvenal 
in his description of a Roman praetor. 

A heavy gewgaw (called a crown) that spread 
About his temples, drowned his narrow head, 
And would have crushed it with the massy weight, 
But that a sweating slave sustained the freight. 

David had taken no active part in the early 
scenes of this Ammonite campaign. Well for 
him if he had done so. While Joab continued 
the siege David fell into that grievous trans- 
gression which has left an indelible blot on his 
character. We need not re-tell the painful 
story. The sin was deep, and deep the peni- 
tence when the heart of the king was touched 
by Nathan's affecting parable. Penitence, 
however sincere, will not always avert punish- 
ment. The royal king had to mourn in bitter- 
ness for family troubles which speedily over- 
took him. 

Who so delightful in the eyes of the people 
as Absalom, who so dear to the heart of king 
David ! And king David's heart was a great 
heart and a golden heart, and he poured the 
feelings of his heart into those wonderful 
psalms which have ever since taken fast hold 
of all men. 

The psalms have been the language in 



182 



THE PSALMS OF DAVID. 



which the Jewish and the Christian Church I depth of pathos, and jubilant outburst the 
have alike approached the throne of the | Book of Psalms has not the faintest shadow 




THE NURSE FLEEING WITH MEPHIBOSHETH.— 2 Sam. iv. I -4. 

Highest. For strength, nervous vigor, sub- 1 of a parallel. It has been rendered into nearly 
limity of conception, versatility of matter, I all the languages of the world, and it has suf- 



KING DAVID. 



183 



fered in none ; it has been put into rhymes of 
the rudest description, but its natural beauty 
has remained the same ; it has been moulded 
into the most graceful verses which scholarly 
poets could produce, but its own original and 
exquisite grace has far outshone the scholars' 
work — the " apples of gold " have made us 
forget the baskets of silver. 

The life of David is in itself a grand psalm, 
the like whereof has not its equal. He was a 
man who combined transcendent genius with 
simple, genuine piety. Brave in battle, wise 
in council, he was both poet and musician. 
With rare skill could he sweep his hands over 
the throbbing strings of the lyre, calling forth 
melodies so sweet and tender as to soothe even 
the^savage soul of Saul. We may readily im- 
agine that many of David's psalms died away 
unuttered. Words are of small account when 
the soul converses with the Great Reader of all 
hearts ; the tear, the sigh, the moan, when the 
heart " lies awake in the depths of the breast," 
all cry out to heaven. David, in remembrance 
of the deep grief which came on him, could 
say, " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth 
because thou didst it." 

But to return to Absalom : Absalom, so 
captivating in person, so insinuating in man- 
ners, winning of all men golden opinions, was 
a double-tongued villain for all that. He was 
the favorite son of David ; by subtle scheming 
he had stolen away his father's heart, as he 
.afterwards stole away the hearts of the men 
of Israel. Handsome, affable, apparently gen- 
erous, Absalom was the beloved of his father, 
the beloved of the nation. He w r as no Reho- 
boam to say, " My father chastised ye with 
whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." 
Par from this, he stood forth as the people's 
friend, the earnest advocate of every popular 
movement; and with a reticence which told 
powerfully against the king's government, he 
would offer no opinion on judgments given, 
but with a tone and expression easily conceiv- 
able, and well calculated to make a deep im- 
pression, would simply say : " Would God I 
were judge in Israel." He was an expert in 
the arts of the politician. 



This beautiful, long-haired Absalom, this 
splendid creature, accessible to all men at all 
times, to all appearance gracious, gentle, gen- 
erous, became in time the very idol of the 
nation. David was a saint — though a deep 
sinner ; a sage, though he frequently erred ; 
a songster and a soldier of the true chivalric 
pattern without a doubt. But David was a 
rough man, and adorable Absalom, captivating 
alike in arts and arms, was the very reverse of 
the old veteran — and the people loved him. 
Falsehood, deceit, envy, hatred, and malice 
may wear the most counterfeit vizards. " See 
what a goodly outside falsehood hath." 

Plotting to Obtain the Throne. 

Absalom set his heart upon the throne. It 
is hard to lift sword against sire ; but it pre- 
sented no difficulty to this young man. There 
stood he, everybody's favorite ; or perhaps it 
were more just to employ an old phrase, and 
say, " the admiration of the one sex and envy 
of the other : " sinful to God, disloyal to his 
king, disobedient to his father, treacherous to 
his friends, inveigling the people to their ruin, 
yet carrying withal so smooth and bland a 
countenance that he might, as it were, have 
deceived the " very elect." 

Absalom brooded two years over a wrong 
done to his sister Tamar by his half-brother 
Amnon, and then invited all the princes to his 
estate to enjoy a sheep-shearing feast. Here 
he ordered his servants to murder Amnon, and 
then fled for safety to his grandfather's court at 
Geshur, where he remained for three 5'ears. 

David was overwhelmed by this accumula- 
tion of family sorrows, thus completed by 
separation from his favorite son, whom he 
thought it impossible to pardon or recall. 
But he was brought back by an artifice of 
Joab, who sent a woman of Tekoah to entreat 
the king's interference in an imaginary case 
similar to Absalom's. Having persuaded 
David to prevent the avenger of blood from 
pursuing a young man who, she said, had slain 
his brother, she adroitly applied his assent to 
the recall of Absalom, and urged him, as he 
had thus yielded the general principle, to 



184 



REBELLION OF ABSALOM. 



" fetch home his banished." David did so, but 
would not see Absalom for two more years, 
though he allowed him to live in Jerusalem. 

At last, wearied with delay, and perceiving 
that his exclusion from court interfered with 
the ambitious schemes which he was forming, 
the impetuous young man .sent his servants to 
burn a field of corn near his own, belonging 
to Joab, thus doing as Samson had done. 
Thereupon Joab, probably dreading some fur- 
ther outrage brought him to his father, from 
whom he received the kiss of reconciliation. 

David in Flight. 

When Absalom saw that the time for action 
was ripe, he declared himself king, and all the 
hearts of the men of Israel were after him. 
This proclamation of king Absalom was made 
at Hebron, but the intelligence soon reached 
the capital, and the old king, now stricken in 
years, and very weary, must hasten from Jeru- 
salem to escape the vengeance of the child of 
his heart. What to him Goliath's sword, or 
the jewelled crown of Ammon ? W r hat to 
him all the work he had wrought, all the vic- 
tories he had won ? 

It was a bitter day when David and those 
who remained faithful to him went forth from 
the palace, crossing over the brook Kidron, 
weeping with a loud voice; the king sorely 
weeping, with his head covered so as to con- 
ceal his features, and his feet bare. There is 
something affecting in the covered face ; 
when an ancient painter desired to express the 
depth of grief, he covered the face. And as 
David thus went forth there came a man of the 
tribe of Benjamin, cursing him and casting 
stones, and making a mockery of his sorrow. 

And in high state and glory Absalom en- 
tered Jerusalem, king in the room of his father 
David. Great things were to be expected, 
great things to be done. No love, no tender 
memories of old times disturb this man, or 
restrain him from the commission of the most 
audacious acts. He cares nothing for his 
father's suffering, flying now from his hand 
and concealing himself in the wilderness, as 
he aforetime had to do before Saul. 



David was, as we may imagine, utterly- 
miserable; but admiration for his bold son 
who had gained so great a triumph mingled 
with all his sorrow. Indeed, he felt more 
and more each day how much he was neg- 
lected by those who had been most loyal, 
how one by one they were missing from his 
company, but he did not despair. It was 
while in this condition he is said to have 
composed the seventy-first psalm, in which 
we find his heart, sickened of earth, turns 
naturally to heaven, and the plaintive cry 
rises, " Cast me not off in the time of old age, 
forsake me not when my strength faileth." 

There was Ahithophel, in whom David had 
hitherto confided as his chief counsellor, had 
joined in the Absalom conspiracy — who ^an 
trust their best friends ? David, however, did 
not seem to lose heart, for he trusted another 
friend, Hushai, to go over and, feigning ad- 
hesion to the prince's cause, outwit even the 
deep diplomatist Ahithophel. Everything 
seemed wrong; the times were out of joint ; 
there was something very rotten in the state 
of Israel. Zeba, who had taken care of 
Mephibosheth, was slyly trying to win his 
master's inheritance ; that master who had 
been so well used by the king, was amusing 
himself by the hope that this insurrection of 
the foolish young man, who had assumed all 
the insignia of royalty, would break down, 
and Saul's house be re-established. Israel 
would seem at this time to have been a great 
company of Ishmaelites, the only true man 
amongst them David, and David troubled by 
day and haunted by night with the dead face 
of Uriah. 

A Scheming Traitor. 

Hushai did his traitorous business ex- 
ceedingly well. He meant to deceive and 
betray the young pretender to royal authority,, 
who would have been a parricide if he could, 
and he did. Ahithophel gave the best of 
counsel for the furtherance of the cause he 
advocated — namely, prompt action, a vigorous 
pursuit of David, death to the king, root to* 
his adherents — once at war with a king, it has 
been said of rebels, 'tis he or you must die. 




JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON. 




DAVID PARDONING ABSALOM. 2 Sam. XIV. 33. 



(185) 



186 



DAVID'S GRIEF. 



But Hushai shook his head, and he was an 
old soldier; and with a man who is supposed 
to think deeply and to see every side of a ques- 
tion before he speaks, the lifting of the eye- 
brows, nay, the very impassive silence, is 
argument. Evidently Hushai did not agree 
with Ahithophel ; he counselled caution. This 
David was a very lion ; those who stood with 
him were desperate men ; all Israel must be 
gathered together, " as the sand that is by the 
sea-shore for multitude," hyperbolical ex- 
travagance accepted by vain Absalom, and then 
he — Absalom the Great — should take the com- 
mand in his own hands and go forth to battle. 

Gratified vanity is a strong incentive to ac- 
quiescence and to action. Absalom felt that 
Ahithophel had taken a liberty in suggesting 
that he would go forth and encounter the king. 
Hushai recognized his own soldierly ability, 
and was right in his plan. He imagined that 
the people would bestirred by his immediate 
presence, his countenance would " thaw cold 
fear." So Ahithophel went home a disap- 
pointed, thwarted man, to settie his affairs and 
then hang himself, while Hushai was sending 
word to David of what he had advised, and 
of what Absalom meant to do. The young 
men, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, were to convey 
the news ; they were out of the city, but a 
young woman whom nobody suspected, ex- 
cept a boy, bore the news to them. This 
meddlesome youngster went and told Absa- 
lom. There was immediate pursuit, but with 
no result, for a woman hid the messengers in 
a well, put the pursuers on a wrong track, and 
then hastened on the messengers to David. 

When David learned that Hushai's advice 
had been taken, he marched on Mahanaim, 
where his soldiers were refreshed and strength- 
ened by the generosity of two leading men in 
the neighborhood. Then David divided his 
forces into three companies : these divisions 
were commanded — the first by Joab, the se- 
cond by Abishai, and the third by Ittai the 
Gittite. A hasty review was held by the old 
soldierly king, looking with admiration on the 
stalwart fellows, who, even in extremity, were 
putting a bold face on the matter, and back 



and edge would stand by the king. But there 
was universal remonstrance against the king 
himself remaining with the army; the army 
would take the field, the king must abide 
in the city ; and he consented to the ar- 
rangement only that they should deal very 
tenderly with the young man, Absalom. 

Death of the Traitor. 

Forth in all the strength and glory of mili- 
tary array came Absalom, and the two forces 
encountered each other in a forest not far from 
Mahanaim, and known as the wood of Eph- 
raim. It appears to have been a place totally 
unsuited to a battle, for we read " the wood 
devoured more people that day than the sword 
devoured," which we may understand to mean 
that by falling into pits or swamps, or by 
getting entangled with the brushwood, and 
their progress impeded by the trees, both 
armies were thrown into great difficulties. 
But victory was on the side of David, and 
Absalom's men were put to the rout. 

Now it was Absalom's turn to be the fugi- 
tive ; he had put his own father to flight, and 
now it was his turn to fly ; and as he fled the 
mule on which he rode " went under the thick 
boughs of a great oak, and his head caught 
hold of the oak, and he was taken up between 
the heaven and the earth; and the mule that 

i was under him went away." It was while he 

| was in this miserable condition that he was 

i seen by one of the troopers, who'came and 
told Joab. With Joab there was no hesitation 
— no pity — " he took three darts in his hand 
and thrust them through the heart of Absalom 
while he was yet alive in the tree." And they 

I took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in 
the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones 

I upon him. 

There is something deeply touching in the 

j great grief of the king for his son Absalom. 
He was overwhelmed ; it wholly unfitted him 
for the activities of life. His grief is beauti- 

| fully expressed in these lines by Willis, pa- 
thetic enough to move the coldest heart : 

Alas ! my noble boy ! that thou should'st die ! 
Thou, who wert made so beautifully fair! 



KING DAVID. 



187 



That death should settle in thy glorious eye, 

And leave his stillness in this clustering hair! 
How could he mark thee for the silent tomb, 
My proud boy, Absalom ? 

Cold is thy brow, my son ! and I am chill, 
As to my bosom I have tried to press thee, 

How was I wont to feel my pulse's thrill. 

Like a rich harp-string, yearning to caress thee, 

And hear thy sweet " My father," from these dumb 
And cold lips, Absalom! 

The grave hath won thee. I shall hear the gush 
Of music, and the voices of the young; 

And life will pass me in the mantling blush, 
And the dark tresses to the soft wind flung ; 

But thou no more, with thy sweet voice, shalt come 
To meet me, Absalom ! 

And oh! when 1 am stricken, and my heart, 
Like a braised reed, is waiting to he broken, 

How will its love for thee, as 1 depart, 

Yearn for thine ear to drink its last deep token ! 

It were so sweet, amid death's gathering gloom, 
To see thee, Absalom ! 

And now, farewell ! 'Tis hard lo give thee up, 
With death so like a gentle slumber on thee : 

And thy dark sin! — oh ! I could drink the cup, 
If from this woe its bitterness had won thee. 

May God have called thee, like a wanderer, home, 
My erring Absalom! 

The remonstrance of Joab, however, and 
the discontent of the people, roused the mon- 
arch. He went back to reascend his throne 
amid the plaudits of the majority of his sub- 
jects. The example of Absalom made others 
ready for revolt. Sheba, a Benjamite, raised 
a second rebellion. Amasa was made com- 
mander-in-chief of the army sent out against 
him. This occasioned great offence to Joab, 
and he took his revenge by running his sword 
through Amasa's body. But Sheba did not 
escape. Discovering that this man had se- 
creted himself in a city called Abel of Beth 
Maachah, he marched upon it, laid open his 
trenches, and would have made a speedy end 
of the whole place had not a shrewd woman 
parleyed for peace and given him, as the price 
of his immediately withdrawing his troops, 
the head of the rebel. This ghastly price of 
the city's salvation was thrown to him over 
the wall. 

After this came the famine. There was no 
rest for David and more fighting with the Phil- 



istines hard and sore ; no rest for David, but 
still in his great heart a sense of security, of 
peace and joy not to be won by purple pomp 
and kingly glory. He would sing sweetly to 
the trembling chord of the lute — even though 
he sang a dirge. Still the passion of the man 
would sometimes rise above the resignation 
of the saint. He grew proud of his people ; 
in an ill-judged moment he determined on 
ascertaining their number, as if he who had so 
often expressed his real strength to be in God 
had forgotten all about God, and felt himself 
to be strong in his own strength. The evil 
was done and the trouble came. 

Now while in this Hebrew census there ap- 
pears on the surface no possible harm (it had 
been done by Moses), yet it seemed harmful 
in the sight of the people themselves, or else 
such a man as Joab — whose conscience was 
not particularly acute — would scarcely have 
objected to it. They did clerks' work slowly 
in those days, and to ascertain the population 
occupied more than nine months. The proba- 
bility is that David was set upon conquest, and 
was desirous of ascertaining how many men 
he could rely on, and this was repugnant to 
the people. It was Gad, " David's seer," his 
wise man, who came with the awful news that 
high Heaven would interfere, but that of three 
evils David might have his choice — famine, 
the sword, pestilence. David chose the last, 
and there is something affecting in his an- 
swer : 

" I am in a great strait : let us fall now into 
the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are 
great : and let me not fall into the hands of 
man." 

The plague raged through the land from 
Dan to Beersheba, and seventy thousand men 
are said to have perished. Then it stayed, 
and David worshipped before the Lord. 

David was by this time an old man, and felt 
that he was becoming unequal to the leading 
of a great people. He determined, like a wise 
man,, on the appointment of a successor. The 
right of David to appoint his successor seems 
to have been acknowledged by the people. 
Anticipating such an event, Adonijah, one of 



188 



JOAB'S REVENGE. 



David's sons, conspired with Joab and Abiathar 
the priest, and had himself proclaimed king. 
It was the madness of folly. All the strength 



solemnly anointed to his responsible office, 
Adonijah was feasting and making merry 
with his friends, when the intelligence of Solo- 



of the nation was with David, and he had de- inon's elevation reached him. He was over- 




DAVID INSTRUCTING JOAB TO NUMBER THE PEOPLE. 2 Sam. xxiv. 2. 

termined that his son Solomon should be king whelmed with terror, and sought a truce until 
in his room. On receiving the news of | he could make terms with the young king. 
Adonijah's rebellion, David acted promptly. This matter being arranged, he returned like a 
By sound of trumpet Solomon was proclaimed, disappointed coward to his own house, ac- 
and attended by all the court rode on the knowledging with all possible expressions of 
king's own mule to Gihon and was there | humility his penitence and loyalty. 



KING DAVID. 



189 



David survived the coronation of Solomon 
about six months. This period he employed 
in the development, for the benefit of his son, 
of those plans and regulations which had long 
been formed in his own mind for the erection 
of the Temple, the arrangement of service, and 
the government of the people. Great store 
had he collected of material ready for the 
building of the Lord's house, all was prepared, 
and never monarch ascended a throne under 
more advantageous circumstances than did 
Solomon, when David "slept with his fathers." 

David had extended his conquest on all 
sides ; but he had taught the people to be 
something better than soldiers — he had culti- 
vated amongst them the arts of peace, and 
Solomon's subjects were not only men of war, 
but men of business : though the sea-captains 
hugged the shore, they carried on in their 
argosies a considerable commerce, and the 



merchants of Jerusalem and all the large towns 
were driving a thriving trade. The farmers 
knew better how to carry on their agricultural 
labors,' how to manage their pastoral pursuits, 
at the end of David's reign, than they did at 
its beginning, and the work of the skilled 
artisan was better done and better paid for. 

It is said of Solomon that he made gold 
and silver to be as stones in the streets of 
Jerusalem; but he would not so readily have 
succeeded in doing this if the way had not 
been cleared for him by David. Everything 
was very prosperous when Solomon came to 
the crown — a contented people, accumulated 
treasure, friendly neighbors, and all that could 
conduce to earthly happiness, except the 
jealousy of Solomon's eldest brother, Adon- 
ijah, the wily designs of Abiathar the priest, 
and the heart-burnings of the veteran Joab, 
a threefold occasion for sagacity. 







CHAPTER XIX. 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 




OLOMON was declared 
by David to be his suc- 
cessor on the throne 
of Israel. This choice 
caused Adonijah, David's 
fourth and eldest surviv- 
ing son, to raise a revolt 
and proclaim himself 
king. The prophet Na- 
than informed Bathsheba, the 
mother of Solomon, of this 
outbreak, and arranged with 
her a plan to secure the inter- 
ests of her son. Bathsheba 
went into David's chamber, 
followed soon after by Nathan, 
to tell him that Adonijah reigned, 
in spite of his promise to Solomon, j 
The aged king had lost none of his 
prudence and decision. At his command, Za- 
dok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, sup- 
ported by Benaiah, with the body-guard of 
Cherethites and Pelethites, proclaimed Solo- 
mon king, amid the rejoicings of the people, 
and anointed him with the sacred oil, which 
Zadok took out of the tabernacle. At the 
news of this decisive act, Adonijah's followers 
abandoned him, and he himself sought sanc- 
tuary at the horns of the altar. His life was 
spared by Solomon upon his promise of sub- 
mission. "And it was told Solomon, saying, 
Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, 
lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the 
altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto 
me to-day that he will not slay his servant with 
the sword. And Solomon said, If he will 
show himself a worthy man, there shall not 
a hair of him fall to the earth; but if wicked- 
ness shall be found in him, he shall die. So 
king Solomon sent, and they brought him 
down from the altar. And he came and bowed 
(190) 



himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said 
unto him, Goto thine house." Adonijah sub- 
sequently gave proof of his disloyalty, and 
was put to death by Solomon's order. 

Solomon very soon made it appear, by an 
imposing public act, that he intended to rule 
in the spirit of the Mosaical institutions, and 
in the fear of God. He convoked the tribes, 
their elders, chiefs, and judges, and, followed 
by his people, he repaired to Gibeon, where 
the altar and the tabernacle then stood, al- 
though the ark was in Jerusalem; and there, 
with great solemnity, he offered a thousand 
holocausts at one time. These first sacrifices 
were worthy of a king who was designed by 
Providence to give the utmost splendor of 
which it was capable to the ritual service es- 
tablished by Moses. His zeal was not without 
its instant reward. The Lord appeared to him 
in a dream, and required him to ask whatever 
favor or benefit his heart desired. The trial 
implied in this permission was most critical and 
awful — a man full of ardor only just become a 
king, offered whatever he desired. Solomon 
came gloriously through it. He asked wisdom; 
and that choice is the best proof that could be 
given of the wisdom he already possessed. 
The words in which this choice is announced, 
and the accompanying prayer, are most inter- 
esting, touching, and noble, and, under all the 
circumstances, form one of the most striking 
incidents in all ancient history. 

The king, in that beautiful outpouring of 
his heart, calls to mind the benefits which his" 
father had received from the Almighty, and 
the continuance of the empire in his family, 
his own youth, his inexperience, the extent of 
his dominions, the multitude of his subjects; 
and he implored with ardor, as the highest 
and most precious boon he could receive, the 
wisdom necessary to enable him to govern 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



191 



well the chosen people of God. With a choice 
so sincere and humble the Lord was well 
pleased, and said, " Because thou has asked 



ingto thy words; lo, I have given thee a wise and 
an understanding heart ; so that there was none 
like thee before thee neither after thee shall any 




Solomon's coronation. — i Kings i. 45. 

this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long 1 arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee 
life, nor riches, nor the life of thine enemies, that which thou hast not asked, both riches 
but hast asked for thyself understanding to and honor, so that there shall not be any 
discern judgment, behold, I have done accord- among the kings like unto thee ail thy days.'* 



192 



SOLOMON'S WISDOM. 



The promise of long life was also added, on 
condition that he walked according to the Di- 
vine statutes and ordinances. 

Solomon awoke, and, fortified with these 
magnificent promises, returned with joy to 
Jerusalem, where, before the ark, he gave 
solemn thanks, offered new sacrifices, and 
feasted all his court. 

Next the sacred historian proceeds to pro- 
duce a proof, in a remarkable scene of Oriental 
justice, of the sagacity with which Solomon 
was now endowed, and which made that fact 
known to his people from one end of the land 
to the other. In those times, as at present in 
the East, persons of the most obscure condi- 
tion came to state their wrongs, to plead their 
causes, and maintain their rights and settle 
their disputes at the foot of the throne; and 
in the matters which are thus brought before 
the king for judgment, the humble condition 
of the parties is less considered than the dif- 
ficulty of the points under litigation. 

The Two Mothers. 

There were two women living together, both 
of whom were mothers. One of the children 
was overlaid, and died in the night ; but the 
woman who found the child in her bed when 
she awoke, alleged that not this child, but the 
one that lived, was hers, and she charged the 
other woman with having transferred the dead 
child to her bed, and taken the living one to 
her own. The point at issue therefore was, to 
whom the living child belonged, for both 
claimed it, and, from the nature of the case, 
the claim of neither could be supported by 
evidence. Where there was nothing to go 
trpon but the affirmation of the one party and 
the denial of another, the case seemed closed 
round with insuperable difficulties; but it oc- 
curred to the sagacious king that the natural 
feelings of a mother afforded a sure test by 
which the truth might be ascertained ; he 
therefore called for a sword, and said with ap- 
parent solemnity, that as there seemed no other 
way of deciding between such conflicting evi- 
dence, he would divide the matter in dispute — 
the living child — and assign half to each. 



In this or any civilized country no one 
would suppose such a proposal sincere ; it 
would have been too absurd and too barbarous 
for any one to imagine that it would be exe- 
cuted. But in the East decisions as arbitrary 
and eccentric as this are at the present day far 
from uncommon, and it is manifest that both 
the women fully believed that the king intended 
to give instant effect to this monstrous award. 
The king keenly watched the effect which his 
announcement produced. All the mother rose 
in the heart of the woman to whom the child 
belonged, and she cried out, " O, my lord the 
king, give her the living child, and in no wise 
slay it ! " But the other cried, " Let it be 
neither mine nor thine, but divide it." Here 
the question was solved in an instant ; no one 
could for a moment doubt which of them was 
the real mother, and the king said, " Give her 
the living child, and in no wise slay it — for she 
is the mother thereof! " Probably no one 
revered the king more than she. 

A proof of sagacity like this was well calcu- 
lated to strike the popular mind, and probably 
made upon the Israelites a stronger impression 
of the king's wisdom than did all the parables, 
proverbs, and songs which he is said to have 
composed, or all the sage sayings which he is 
isaid to have uttered. "All Israel heard of the 
judgment which the king had judged ; and 
they feared the king ; for they saw that the 
wisdom of God was with him to do judg- 
ment." 

The prosperity promised to Solomon was 
not less signal than his wisdom. He enjoyed 
during his reign profound peace, in conse- 
quence of the numerous victories which his 
i father had achieved and the conquests which 
he had made, whereby his undisputed dominion 
I extended from the border of Egypt to the Eu- 
phrates. His revenues from the tribute of the 
conquered nations alone were therefore very 
great, and many nomade tribes, and nations not 
i directly subject to his sway, found it prudent 
to obtain the protection and favor of so pow- 
erful a neighbor by paying annual tributes, 
which were ostensibly voluntary, and took the 
name of " presents," which seem to have con- 




THE JUDGMENT 



of solomon. — I Kings iii. 25. 



13 



(193) 



194 



ILLUSTRIOUS REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



sisted chiefly of vessels of gold and of silver, 
cloth, arms, aromatic drugs, horses, and mules. 
He also clearly perceived that a well-organ- 
ized government could not proceed without 
some regular sources of revenue, and he there- 
fore appears to have imposed an easy tax upon 
his native subjects, which does not seem to 
have been regarded as a grievance until the 
latter end of his reign, when the increased 
expenses of the government and court, with 
the falling off of some other sources of income, 
constrained him to increase its amount. 

Royal Magnificence. 

He also encouraged commerce, and made it 
a source of revenue ; and it has been calculated 
that the various dues and customs paid by the 
merchants engaged in foreign trade, including 
probably the produce of the royal monopolies, 
afforded a yearly revenue of not less than 
twenty-five million dollars. The principal 
monopoly was the trade with Egypt in horses, 
chariots, and linen yarn, which was managed 
by Solomon's factors, and which he was pro- 
bably enabled to engross through the good 
understanding between him and the king of 
Egypt, whose daughter he married, and who, 
on account of her exalted birth, must have 
been his queen or principal wife. To this may 
be added the maritime traffic by the Red Sea, 
the proceeds of which were shared by Solomon 
and the king of Tyre. 

Such were the principal sources from which 
Solomon drew a magnificent revenue, which 
he as magnificently expended in his most 
imperial establishments. He had four thou- 
sand stables, in which were kept forty thou- 
sand horses, with a proportionate number of 
various kinds of carriages. He appointed 
twelve officers, to whom different districts 
were assigned, and whose duty it was to pro- 
vide in monthly rotation the provisions required 
for the court; and some notion of the extent 
of the royal household may be obtained from 
the account which is given of the supply 
required for the consumption of one day : — 
Thirty measures of fine flour, threescore 
measures of meal, ten fat oxen, twenty out of 



the pastures, and a hundred sheep, together 
with harts, roebucks, deer, and fatted fowl. 
These provisions would suffice for several 
thousand persons, of whom we may therefore 
conceive the royal establishment to have been 
composed. 

The people, prospering in an equal degree 
from the new sources of wealth opened to 
them, and from the exemption from war which 
enabled them to enjoy the produce of their 
grounds in safety, disregarded the protection 
of walled towns, and lived dispersed upon 
their own lands, enjoying their abundance 
upon the spot where it was produced. This is 
the prosperous condition of life which the 
Scripture so often describes by " every one 
sitting under his own vine and under his own 
fig-tree, and no one to make him afraid." 
Thus prosperous, and thus unwasted by war, 
the population of Israel also amazingly in- 
creased during the reign of Solomon, and 
were " as many as the sand which is by the 
sea-shore in multitude, eating, and drinking, 
and making merry." 

All this could not be effected at once, but 
was the growth of years ; and we have some- 
what anticipated the order of events for the 
sake of a connected statement of the results of 
Solomon's system of government, and of the 
position which he was enabled to take on the 
demise of his father David. We may now 
return to trace the current of events. 

Embassy from the King of Tyre. 

Soon after Solomon's accession, Hiram, 
king of Tyre, who had been a great admirer 
and friend of David, sent an embassy to con- 
dole with the young king on his father's death 
and to congratulate him on his peaceable suc- 
cession. Presents of the costliest description 
were brought by Hiram's messengers. Solo- 
mon gladly availed himself of this opening for 
an intercourse and connection with the Tyrian 
king, whose assistance would, he knew, be of 
great advantage to him in the undertakings he 
had then in view. He therefore sent to open 
to him the designs he entertained, and invited 
him to render the same sort of assistance which. 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



195 



had been rendered to David when building his 
" house of cedars." Only the great forests of 
the Lebanon mountains could supply the tim- 
ber required for the undertakings of the Hebrew 
king; and such of those forests as lay nearest 



in the heights of the mountains, to the sea- 
shore. Hence the assistance which Solomon 
required from the king of Tyre was of very 
great if not of essential importance to him. 
Hiram was found to be very ready to enter 




HIRAM OF TYRE SENDING PRESENTS TO SOLOMON. 1 Kittys v. I. 



the sea were in the hands of the Phoenicians, 
among whom timber was in such constant 
demand that they had acquired great and 
acknowledged skill in th« felling of trees, and in 



into his plans ; and a treaty was soon com- 
pleted, under which Hiram engaged to provide 
timber from the forests of Lebanon, for the 
Temple and other buildings which Solomon 



the transportation o^ the trunks from the woods, 'contemplated, to convey it to the coast, and 



196 



BUILDING THE TEMPLE. 



to float it down in the form of rafts to Joppa, 
the port of Jerusalem. Solomon himself was 
to provide a portion of the labor in the moun- 
tains; and he engaged to pay for the services 
of the Tyrians by a stipulated quantity of 
wheat and oil. By this undertaking both par- 
ties had what they most wanted — Solomon 
timber for building, which his own territory 
did not yield; and Hiram provisions, which 
the' Phoenicians, confined to a narrow strip of 
land and devoted to trade and manufactures, 
were constrained to obtain from abroad, and 
could obtain with more convenience from the 
fertile inlying districts of Canaan than from 
any other quarter. 

Immense Number of Workmen. 

Hiram's workmen assisted in preparing and 
squaring stones for the Temple; and so numer- 
ous were the men — subjects of the two kings 
— employed in these preparations, that it re- 
quired three thousand men to superintend 
their labors. Solomon, who had certainly a 
considerable leaning towards arbitrary power, 
being" still in want of laborers, ventured to 
raise a levy of thirty thousand Israelites, whom 
he sent to assist the Phoenician timber-cutters 
in Lebanon — not all at once, but in alternate 
bands of ten thousand each, so that each band 
returned home and rested two months out of 
three. This relief, and the sacred object of the 
service, prevented the opposition which the 
king might otherwise have encountered. 

For the more heavy labor in the quarries, 
Solomon called out the remnant of the Ca- 
naanites, probably with those foreigners (or 
their sons) who had been brought into the 
country as prisoners or slaves during the wars 
of David, who had, indeed, left an enumera- 
tion of all the adult males among them for this 
very purpose. Their number was one hun- 
dred and fifty-three thousand six hundred; 
and according to the common custom of the 
East in such cases, these also, doubtless, la- 
bored in alternate bands. Such services were 
usually required from persons in their condi- 
tion, when any public work was in progress, 
and was not regarded as an oppression. 



Of these strangers seventy thousand were 
employed as porters to the others, and to the 
Phoenician artisans. They probably also had 
the heavy duty of transporting to Jerusalem 
the large stones, which sixty thousand more 
of them were employed in hewing and squar- 
ing in the quarries. Of these, the stones in- 
tended for the foundation were in immense 
blocks, and, as well as the others, were proba- 
bly brought from no great distance, as quar- 
ries of very suitable stone are abundant in the 
neighboring districts. These large stones were 
doubtless placed upon sledges and drawn by 
strings of oxen, after the manner indicated in 
the sculptured monuments of Egypt. 

Solomon also desired that Phoenician arti- 
ficers of all descriptions should be sent to 
Jerusalem, particularly such as excelled in the 
arts of design, and in the working of gold, 
silver, and other metals, as well as of precious 
stones ; nor was he insensible of the value and 
beauty of those scarlet, purple, and other fine 
dyes, in the preparation and application of 
which the Tyrians excelled. Men skilled in 
all these branches of art were largely supplied 
by Hiram. He sent also a person of his own 
name, a Tyrian by birth, who seems to have 
been a second Bezaleel, for his abilities were 
so great, and his attainments so extensive and 
various, that he was skilled not only in the 
working of metals, but in all kinds of work in 
wood and stone, and even in embroidery, in 
tapestry, in dyes, and in the fabrication of all 
sorts of fine cloths. This man was a treasure 
to Solomon, who made him overseer not only 
of the men whom the king of Tyre then sent, 
and of those whom David had formerly en- 
gaged and retained in his service, but also of 
his own workmen. Much of the glory of the 
Temple was due to him. 

Three years were consumed in these neces- 
sary preparations for building the Temple, and 
it was not until the fourth year of Solomon's 
reign that all things were in sufficient forward- 
ness to allow the foundations to be laid ; and 
in about seven years after, the whole building 
was completed. So effective and well-arranged 
were all the preparations, all the stones having 




■ ■:. 



1 






,; '' 5..". , illilll! 

(197; 




198 



PREPARING THE MATERIALS. 



been properly squared before they were 
brought to the spot, that the pile arose with 
little of the noise and confusion usually con- 
nected with the progress of so great an under- 
taking: we are, indeed, told that. there was 
" neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron 
heard throughout the house while it was in 
building." 

" No workman's steel, no ponderous axes rung ; 
Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung." 

Various accounts of the Temple of Solomon 
have been furnished by writers of different 
countries and ages. The subject has been, in- 
deed, so attractive, that entire volumes have 
been written on it. The result has, however, 
been far from satisfactory. The accounts have 
been framed from the description, which is 
itself not very easy to be understood, and 
which supplies so few facts, that much is left 
to be supplied by the imagination. Hence 
plans and descriptions have been produced 
bearing a most suspicious likeness to modern 
fabrics and styles of architecture, and which 
have manifestly been influenced in no small 
degree by the prevailing taste in the time and 
country to which the writer belonged. Thus, 
a view by a Spaniard will be very Spanish, by 
an Italian surprisingly Italian, and by a French- 
man wonderfully French. 

Style of Architecture. 

Viewing the Temple of Solomon by the 
light which the monuments of Egypt offer, 
has enabled an architectural writer, Mr. Bard- 
well, in his work on " Temples," to give an in- 
teresting account of this celebrated structure : 
and as this is the only statement respecting 
Solomon's Temple by a professional writer, we 
shall here introduce the substance of it: 

" With so much information before us at the 
present day, it is almost needless for me to 
assert that the Temple of Solomon was in the 
Egyptian style of architecture ; a moment's 
reflection will convince every unbiased mind 
that such must have been the case; since, al- 
though Greece had been colonized from Egypt 
nearly two hundred years before this, it is not 



at all likely, from the slow development of 
human improvement, that the style we call 
Greek had then superseded its Egyptian 
parent ; and what is conclusive upon this 
point, as we shall soon see, is, the Temple of 
Solomon had not, in its proportions and de- 
tails, anything in common with the temples 
of Greece. That the Jews had no peculiar 
style of their own, excepting so far as they 
were restricted from the use of figures of ani- 
mals in decorations, is also probable ; as, ever 
since they had settled in Canaan, four hundred 
years previous, they had been constantly en- 
gaged in the wars necessary to extend and con- 
serve their newly acquired territory, and, con- 
sequently, had no opportunity of cultivating 
the fine arts. 

" Besides, Solomon was in constant inter- 
course with the Pharaoh of his age, and mar- 
ried his daughter. Further, in no part of the 
world had temple architecture and the art of 
cutting and polishing stones ever arrived, be- 
fore or since, to such perfection as in. Egypt. 
The Tyrians, being at that time the great 
common carriers of the world, kept up an ex- 
tensive commerce with Egypt. I therefore 
infer from this and the before-mentioned rea- 
sons, that the masons were Egyptian, and 
the stone all prepared, fitted, and finished by 
them before it was brought to Jerusalem; 
since, moreover, there is nothing mentioned 
about the expensiveness of any article but the 
stone, ' costly stones, even great stones, stones 
of ten eubits, and stones of eight cubits.' 

" The oracle was an exact square, of thirty- 
seven feet six inches high, in the centre of which 
was a pair of folding-doors of olive-wood, 
seven feet six inches wide, very richly carved 
with palm-trees, and open flowers, and cheru- 
bim ; the floor of the Temple was boarded 
with fir ; the roof was flat, covered with gold, 
upon thick planks of cedar, supported by large 
cedar beams. The inside walls and the ceil- 
ing were lined with cedar, beautifully carved, 
representing cherubim and palm-trees, clusters 
of foliage and open flowers, among which the 
lotus was conspicuous ; and the whole interior 
was overlaid with sold, S o that neither wood 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



199 



aior stone was seen, and nothing met the eye 
but pure gold, either plain, as on the floor, or 
richly chased, and enriched with gems, upon 
the walls and ceiling. At a little distance 
from ' the most holy place,' like the railing of 
a communion-table, were fixed five massive 
gold candelabra, on each side the entrance, 
and between the candelabra were chains or 
wreaths of flowers, wrought in pure gold, 



one wing of each cherubim touching the other 
in the middle of the Temple, while the other 
wings touched the wall on each side; before 
them was the altar of incense, formed of cedar, 
and entirely overlaid with refined gold ; and 
on the sides of the Temple were arranged ten 
golden tables, five on each side, for the ex- 
hibition of the shew-bread, besides other 
tables of silver, for the display of above one 




THE ARK AND FURNITURE OF 

separating even the entrance of the oracle 
from the body of the Temple. Thus a distinc- 
tion was made in the apartments, one of them 
being considered more holy than the others. 

" Within the oracle was set the ancient ' ark 
of the covenant,' which had preceded them to 
the Promised Land, beneath two colossal 
cherubim, each nineteen feet four inches and 
a half high, with immense outspreading wings. 



the temple. — I Kings vi. 23. 

hundred gold vases of various patterns, and 
censers, spoons, snuffers, etc., used in the ser- 
vice of the temple. 

" It appears that the inside of the vestibule 
was also covered with gold ; from it a grand 
pair of folding-doors, nine feet four inches 
and a half wide, opened into the Temple. 
These doors were also overlaid with gold, 
embossed in rich patterns of churubim, and 



200 



A MAGNIFICENT EDIFICE. 



palms, and open flowers ; both pairs of doors 
had ornamented hinges of gold, and before 
the doors of the oracle hung a veil em- 
broidered with cherubim, in blue, and purple, 
and crimson. 

" Hiram the king had sent over from 'Tyre 
his clerk of the works, who superintended the 
building till it became necessary t'o set up the 
two great columns of the porch ; these had 
the usual proportions of Egyptian columns, 
being five and a half diameters high, and as 
these gave the great characteristic feature of 
the building, Solomon sent an embassy to 
fetch the architect from Tyre to superintend 
the moulding and casting of these columns, 
which were intended to be of brass ; these 
superb pillars were eight feet in diameter, and 
forty feet high. The Temple was surrounded 
on the north, south, and east by the inner or 
priests' court which had a triple colonnade 
around it." 

Looking forward a little to the completion of 
the edifice, and its dedication by the king, our 
architect proceeds : " Magnificent must have 
been the sight to behold the young king, clothed 
in royalty, officiating before the great altar, 
while the thousands of Levites and priests on 
the east side, habited in surplices, with harps, 
cymbals and trumpets in their hands, led the 
eye to the beautiful pillars flanking the doors 
of the Temple, now thrown open, and display- 
ing the interior brilliantly lighted up, while 
the burnished gold of the floor, the ceiling, 
and the walls, with the precious gems with 
which they were enriched, reflecting the light 
on all sides, would completely overwhelm the 
imagination, were it not excited, by the view 
of the embroidered veil, to consider the awful 
glories of the most holy place." 

Superb Decorations. 

After this description from the pen of an 
architect, it would be unfair to call the Temple 
of Solomon " a poor building," as some writers 
have done, under the impression that it owes 
all its greatness to the high terms which the 
Jewish writers employ in describing the most 
magnificent structure with which they were 



\ acquainted. The fact seems to be, that wherv 
: viewed as the work of a very early age, and 
with reference to the notions which then pre- 
vailed, Solomon's Temple may be considered 
magnificent ; although it is not to be com- 
; pared with more recent specimens of architec- 
j ture, as exhibited in the master-pieces of 
I Greek or Roman art, or even in the great 
cathedral churches of the Christian world. 
It is evident that the Jews knew nothing of 
the order of architecture; and, although it 
may be difficult to form a distinct idea of 
this their first and greatest work, it is very 
clear that they were fond of minute details 
and highly finished decorations, both in the 
engravings on stones and the ornaments in- 
wood and precious metals. 

Dedication of the Temple. 

If the expenditure of vast sums of money be 
taken as a standard of comparison, the pre- 
eminence of Solomon's Temple is more strik- 
ing, as we have no knowledge of any building 
which has been recorded to have cost so much 
in its erection. There is, indeed, great difficulty 
in forming an exact estimate of this cost. 
Some find the amount so large as would have 
sufficed to build the Temple with solid gold ; 
and without going into such extravagance of 
estimate, but contenting ourselves with the 

| lowest ever proposed, being thirty-five million 
dollars, it could not well have been otherwise 

; than a glorious structure, however little its 
general proportions or arrangements of. parts 

! may have been in accordance with modern 
taste. The many thousand laborers employed 
on it for seven years and a half is in accord- 
ance with the impression which we derive 
from the statement of the expense. 

All the works of the Temple being finished 
(b. c. 1005), the dedication of it was reserved 
for the next year, which was a year of Jubilee 
— that great periodical holy year of rest and 
joy to the Israelites, which few could hope to 
witness more than once in their lives. 

As the principal object to be served by the 
Temple was to afford a resting-place to the 
ark, the dedication was no sooner resolved 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



201 



upon than preparations were made for intro- 
ducing it with due pomp into the sanctuary. 
In the presence of nearly the whole nation, 
assembled at Jerusalem, including all the 
courses of priests and orders of Levites, the 
procession commenced from the city of David, 
where the ark lay, to the portals of the splendid 
edifice, accompanied with many instruments 
of music, and the cheerful sound of psalms 
chanted by the Levitical choirs. The psalms 
were selected or composed for this solemn 
service; and when the sons of Levi, bearing 
their precious burden, drew near the eastern 
porch, the singers broke forth in the triumphal 
strain — 

" Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 
And be ye lift, ye everlasting doors, 

That the King of Glory may come in." 

At the moment when the ark of the cove- 
nant was deposited in the holy of the holies, 
between the cherubim, the innumerable Levit- 
ical choirs thundered forth their well-known 
song — sent to the heavens by their united 
voices, and by the harmonious concord of a 
thousand instruments — 

" Praise ye Jehovah ! for He is good ; 
For His mercy endureth forever ! " 

At that moment, suddenly, as at the conse- 
cration of the tabernacle, the holy building was 
covered with a thick cloud, which filled it 
wholly, and which enveloped the priests in 
such profound obscurity that they were unable 
to continue their ministrations. This was a 
manifest symbol that the Lord had accepted 
this building as His house, and that His pres- 
ence had descended to dwell therein. The 
deep silence that ensued was broken by the 
voice of Solomon, who stood upon a brazen 
platform in front of the altar. He spread forth 
his hands towards heaven, and gave utterance 
to the noble and affecting prayer by which the 
house was set apart to the worship of the God 
of Israel, and in which the divine blessing was 
invoked upon all who should thereafter join in 
the venerable rites to which it was dedicated. 
It is observable how prominently and beauti- 



fully the idea is brought forward that the tem- 
ple was to be regarded as a house, a palace, 
which the Divine King was to fill with His 
presence, and in which He was to reside among 
His people. This was the true idea of the 
establishment, underthe peculiar circumstances 
of the Hebrew theocracy, and it is interesting 
to find that this view of the subject was so 
distinctly present to the mind of the young 
king. Yet the idea of any human structure, 
however magnificent, being the abode of the 
Lord of heaven and earth, struck him in the 
point of view which must be taken by any 
thoughtful mind. " But will God indeed 
dwell on the earth ? " he cried : " behold, the 
heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot con- 
tain thee ;— how much less this house which I 
have builded ? " Great was his astonishment. 

Costly Sacrifices. 

This great festival was followed by an enter- 
tainment of a more ordinary nature, suitable 
to the joyful commemoration which usually 
marked the feast of tabernacles. On this 
great occasion Solomon is said tc have offered 
a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and 
one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. In 
the first act of sacrifice the same mark of the 
Divine acceptance and favor was given as at 
the original establishment of the ritual service- 
in the wilderness ; for the victims, when laid 
out upon the altar, were consumed by fire 
from heaven; and the fire thus kindled was 
sacredly preserved and kept up — was never 
lost or extinguished, till the destruction of the 
temple by the Chaldaeans. The festivities of 
the season were continued a week beyond the 
usual period ; " and on the three-and-tvventieth 
day of the seventh month, he sent the people 
away unto their tents, glad and merry in heart 
for the goodness that the Lord had showed 
unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His 
people." 

Having thus accomplished this great duty,. 
the king turned his attention to the con- 
struction of various sumptuous buildings and 
great public works, suited to the honor of his 
crown and the dignity of his kingdom. 



202 



THE KING'S TREASURES. 



In the book of Ecclesiastes, which is sup- 
posed to have been written by him, there ap- 
pears a distinct and interesting allusion to 
these undertakings : " I made me great works ; 
I builded me houses ; 1 planted me vineyards ; 
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted 
trees in them of all kinds of fruit; I made me 
pools of water, to water therewith the wood 



of all sorts. So 1 was great, and possessed 
more than any who had been before me in 
Jerusalem ; also my wisdom remained with 
me." Connected with what precedes, there 
seems a very significant emphasis in this last 
clause, which it is not our present duty to de- 
velop. 

This passage is finely paraphrased, and the 

1 




FIRE FROM HEAVEN AT THE DEDICATION UF THE TEMPLE. — 2 Chron 



that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants 
and maidens, and had servants born in my 
house; also I had great possessions of great 
and small cattle, above all that were in Jeru- 
salem before me. I gathered me also silver 
and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings 
and of the provinces ; I gat me men singers 
and women singers, and the delights of the 
sons of men, as musical instruments, and that 



glories of Solomon's reign beautifully em- 
bodied, in the following extract from Heber's 
well-known poem on " Palestine : " 

Triumphant race ! and did your power decay ? 
Failed the bright promise of your earlier day? 
No : — bv that sword, which, red with heathen gore, 
A giant spoil, the stripling champion bore; 
By him, the chief to farthest India known, 
The mighty mnster of the ivory throne; 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



203 



In Heaven's own strength, victorious o'er her foes, 
Victorious Salem's lion banner rose : 
Before her footstool prostrate nations lay, 
And vassal tyrants crouched beneath her sway ; 
And he, the kingly sage, whose restless mind, 
Through nature's mazes wandered unconfined, 
Who every bird, anil beast, and insect knew, 
And spoke of every plant that quaffs the dew, 
To him were known — so Hagar's offspring tell — 
The powerful vigil and the starry spell, 
The midnight call, hell's shadowy legions dread, 
And sounds that burst the slumbers of the dead. 
Hence all his might; for who could these oppose? 
And Tadmor thus, and Syrian Balbec rose. 

Such, the faint echo of departed days, 
Still sound Arabia's legendary lays; 
And thus their fabling bards delight to tell 
How lovely weie thy tents, O Israel ! 

For thee his ivory load Behemoth bore, 
And far Sofala teemed with golden ore; 
Thine all the arts that wait on wealth's increase, 
Or bask and wanton in the beam of peace. 
When Tiber slept beneath the cypress gloom, 
And silence held the lonely woods of Rome ; 
Or ere to Greece the builder's skill was known, 
Or the light chisel brushed the Parian stone ; 
Yet here fair Science nursed her infant lire, 
Fanned by the artist aid of friendly Tyre: 
Then towered the palace, then in awful state 
The Temple reared its everlasting gate. 

Of the royal buildings erected by Solomon, 
particular notice is taken in Scripture of the 
palace which he built for himself, which the 
Jewish writers describe in very glowing- lan- 
guage; another palace which he built for the 
residence of Pharaoh's daughter; and "the 
house of the forest of Lebanon." Most writers 
take these to have been distinct and separate 
fabrics, but to those acquainted with the east- 
ern style of building and the arrangements of 
palaces, it will appear very clear that the king's 
own palace and that of his queen were no 
other than different quadrangles of the same 
-great pile of buildings — separate in their eco- 
nomical arrangements, but communicating with 
each other. The description given by Josephus 
confirms this impression, or at least shows that 
he took the same view of the subject. The 
quadrangle into which the great gate of gen- 



eral entrance opens usually contains the state 
apartments and offices, particularly the hall in 
which the sovereign gives audience, sits in 
judgment, and transacts all public business. 
Hence the royal court is very often called "the 
Gate," of which a familiar example is offered 
in the Ottoman Porte. 

The account of Josephus suggests that the 
palace, as a whole, consisted of three distinct 
courts, and communicating with their appro- 
priate buildings and offices; of which the one 
in the centre contained the state apartments, 
while that on the right hand formed the private 
residence of the king, and that on the left the 
harem or palace of the Egyptian princess; and 
this arrangement is so conformable to the 
usages which have always been maintained in 
the East, that we are disposed to take it as an 
ascertained fact. In this case "the house of 
the forest of Lebanon " was probably formed 
by the buildings of the central quadrangle, 
containing the hall of state. 

" It would be an endless task," says the Jew- 
ish historian, " to give a particular survey of 
this mighty mass of buildings ; so many courts 
and other contrivances ; such a variety of cham- 
bers and offices, great and small ; long and 
large galleries; vast rooms of state, and others 
for feasting and entertainment, set out as richly 
as could be with costly furniture and gilding; 
besides that all the service for the king's table 
was of pure gold. In a word, the whole pal- 
ace was in a manner made up, from the base 
to the coping, of white marble, cedar, gold, and 
silver ; with precious stones here and there in- 
termingled upon the walls and ceilings." 

Solomon's Gorgeous Throne. 

It is and always has been the etiquette of 
Eastern courts, that the king, as supreme mag- 
istrate, should to a certain extent administer 
justice in person, and be accessible to the com- 
plaints of all his subjects. In conformity with 
this usage, Solomon was wont to sit in the 
open porch of his palace, which was therefore 
called "the porch of judgment;" and this was 
an obvious application of the very ancient and 
still subsisting practice of making the gate the 



204 



UNRIVALLED SPLENDOR. 



seat of justice. Solomon's porch of justice 
seems to have been a large covered apartment, 
supported by pillars and entirely open in front. 

Here, upon a raised platform to which there 
was an ascent by steps, was placed the throne 
of Solomon, which is mentioned with such 
marked admiration in the Scriptural accounts, 
and with still stronger praise by Josephus. 

This consisted of a magnificent seat, placed 
upon a dais or platform, to which there was an 
ascent of six steps, on each of which were 
fixed the figures of two lions in gold, forming 
a sort of fence or balustrade to the ascent. The 
ascent between the twelve lions of gold, with 
the splendid seat at the top, must have formed 
a very magnificent throne, probably not unlike 
those which, in the mural paintings of Egypt, 
are appropriated to the gods and kings. The 
throne itself was of ivory, studded and en- 
riched with gold, and over it a semispherical 
canopy appears to have been suspended. Al- 
though there was no throne equal to this in 
any kingdom for costliness and splendor, yet 
in its general plan and character it corre- 
sponded with the thrones of the ancient .and 
modern East. 

Solomon built a new city and gave it the 
name of Tadmor (palm-tree), and this is the 
same city which afterwards became historically, 
as well as commercially, illustrious under the 
Greek name of Palmyra. The importance to 
which this city rose, and the prosperity which 
it long maintained, afford the best possible 
evidence of the wisdom of the great king by 
whom it was founded. Here the caravans not 
only found water as before, but every advantage 
of shelter and rest ; and here also the mer- 
chants, finding persons ready to take their 
commodities and to furnish whatever they re- 
quired in exchange, would be inclined to end 
their journey, leaving the distribution of their 
goods to the nations farther west, either to the 
factors of Solomon or to private merchants ; 
for we know not to what degree the king found 
it advisable to leave this trade free to his own 
subjects. That he took some mercantile part 
in it is probable from his course of proceeding 
with respect to the land trade with Egypt and 



the maritime commerce; but there were cir- 
cumstances in this branch of trade which re- 
quired more delicate management, and which 
might have occasioned any stringent attempt 
to monopolize the trade to have been fatal to 
the objects which he contemplated. 

Indeed, we see that the great fault of Solo- 
mon's commercial policy, apart from its un- 
suitableness to the Hebrew institutions, lay in 
the attempt of the government to engross its 
benefits as a source of royal revenue. No- 
traffic can have healthy growth under such a 
system ; and hence, probably, more than from 
any other single cause, the measures of Solo- 
mon had no permanent effect upon the pur- 
suits or character of the nation, which subsided 
into its accustomed channels as soon as the 
immediate and urgent impulse given by the 
crown ceased to operate. 

How Wealth Was Employed. 

Much of the wealth acquired from the 
various sources which have been indicated 
was spent by king Solomon in building, and 
in the general improvement of the country. 
Many important towns and fortresses were 
built or rebuilt by him. Among these we find 
the name of Baalath, which has usually been 
supposed the same with Baalbec in the valley 
of Lebanon, the ruins of which have been so- 
much admired and so often described by trav- 
ellers. No one, indeed, supposes that the 
ruins which still exist are those of the very 
buildings erected by Solomon. These are 
known to have been of Roman origin ; but it 
is conceived that the present ruins occupy 
the site of Solomon's city, and that some of 
the foundation walls, composed of enormous 
blocks of stone, may have belonged to ancient 
towns founded by him. 

The Scripture directs our attention in a very 
marked manner to the arrangements of Solo- 
mon's court, not only as admirable in itself, but 
as being, in fact, the wonder and admiration 
of neighboring and even of remote nations. 
The statement to which we must look for 
giving some insight into these arrangements 
contains at the first view little more than a list 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



205 



■of names and offices; but on a closer inspection 
persons acquainted with the existing usages of 
the East are able to recognize in this list much 
which is suggestive of an orderly arrangement 
.and a wise distribution of administrative func- 
tions. It may, indeed, be noticed that most 
of the offices thus specified have reference to 
the supply of the wants of the court and the 
maintenance of the royal authority ; and it 
must be admitted that these have been practi- 
cally the chief objects of Oriental governments. 

Several officers appear in the time of Solo- 
mon, of which we find no previous trace in 
Israel ; of these were the " Governor of the 
Palace," who had charge of whatever belonged 
to the household affairs of the royal establish- 
ments ; and the twelve " princes " who were 
stationed in different parts of the country to 
collect in turn from each tribe a month's pro- 
vision for the court. 

The orderly manner in which such vast 
quantities of provisions were brought together, 
distributed, and prepared for use, seems not 
less to have engaged the admiring wonder 
•of strangers, and particularly of the Queen of 
Sheba, than the magnificent appointment and 
attendance at the king's own table. 

Fine Horses and Horsemen. 

We must be content to note very briefly a 
few other circumstances connected with the 
court of king Solomon. His chariots and 
horses, obtained from Egypt, have been al- 
ready mentioned. As we are now well ac- 
quainted with the chariots of that country, 
there can be no doubt respecting their form 
and furniture. With regard to the horsemen 
our information is less distinct. There can be 
no doubt that Solomon had a body of cavalry 
mounted on trained Egyptian horses, and that 
such cavalry existed in Egypt. But it curi- 
ously happens that in the whole range of 
Egyptian sculpture and painting there is but 
one figure of a man on horseback, and that 
does not much assist our ideas with respect to 
the cavalry of times so ancient. In all likeli- 
hood the equipment of Solomon's horsemen 
did not much differ from that which is and has 



long been in use in Western Asia, and which 
bears many marks of a remote origin. 

Joseph us reckons the number of Solomon's 
horses as twenty thousand ; and he says that 
they were the most beautiful in their appear- 
ance, and the most remarkable for their swift- 
ness, that could anywhere be seen. The riders, 
he says, were in their appearance quite worthy 
of their horses. They were young men in the 
beauty and flower of their age, and the tallest 
in stature that could be found in the country. 
Their undress was of Tyrian purple, and their 
long hair, which hung in loose tresses, glit- 
tered with the gold-dust wherewith they daily 
sprinkled their heads: But when they at- 
tended the king they were in complete armor, 
and had their bows ready strung. Often, in 
the fine season, he adds, the king rode down 
to his beautiful gardens at Etham, six miles 
from Jerusalem, attended by these young men. 
On such occasions he rode loftily in his char- 
iot, arrayed in white robes. But we have a 
better description of these excursions from the 
pen of Solomon himself. This occurs in Can- 
ticles iii. 6-1 1, where he is described as ap- 
proaching in a splendid palanquin or litter, sur- 
rounded by three-score valiant men. The 
chorus of virgins dwells upon the subject of 
this litter with great admiration : 

" King Solomon hath made for himself 
This couch of the wood of Lebanon : 
Its pillars hath he made of silver. 
Its bases of gold, its cushions of purple; 
The middle of it is spread with love 
By the daughters of Jerusalem." 

The last two lines indicate that the bottom 
of the litter was spread with cushions, orna- 
mented Avith flowers wrought in the most ele- 
gant manner by the damsels of Jerusalem. 
From the mention of pillars it appears to have 
had a covering or canopy, as is still usually 
the case. The only litter represented in the 
Egyptian paintings is borne by men and has 
no canopy, the shade being supplied by an 
umbrella borne by an attendant. This article 
was probably known to the Hebrews. 

From the song of Solomon much informa- 
tion respecting the arrangements of the royal 



206 



SOLOMON'S RENOWN. 



harem may be gathered. And this is a matter 
of some consequence, as this king multiplied 
wives unto himself beyond any monarch be- 
fore or after him. In fact his female estab- 



or equipage, and was mainly designed to aug- 
ment the pomp which belonged to his charac- 
ter and station. 

In the midst of all these undertakings and 




THE QUEEN OF SHEBA AT THE COURT OF SOLOMON. 1 Kings X. 2. 



lishment resembled those which the kings of 
the East have in all ages desired to form: but 
it may be understood that the harem formed, 
properly speaking, a branch of the royal state 



operations, surrounded by all this glory and 
magnificence, Solomon's wisdom did not cease 
to be a matter of admiration, not only to his 
own subjects, but among neighboring and 



SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 



207 



even distant nations. So great was his 
knowledge, so wonderful in its variety and 
extent, that " there came of all people to hear 
the wisdom of Solomon, for all kings of the 
earth had heard of his wisdom." Among the 
princes who thus rendered their homage to the 
genius of Solomon was the queen of Sheba, 
whom some suppose to have come from 
Abyssinia, but who is believed by others to 
have reigned in the southernmost parts of 
Arabia. She came with a very great and 
splendid retinue; and in her train were camels 
laden with spices, gold, and precious stones. 
It is stated that in her interviews with Solomon 
she " tried him with hard questions " — a mode 
of testing wisdom which was common in that 
age, and which every one who made unusual 
pretensions to sagacity and knowledge was 
understood to invite. 

The sage monarch found no difficulty in 
solving all the enigmatical questions which the 
royal stranger proposed : and we are told that 
when the queen of Sheba had seen all 
Solomon's wisdom, and the house which he 
had built, and the food of his table, and the 
station of his servants, and the attendance of 
his ministers, with their apparel, and his cup- 
bearers, and his burnt-offerings, which he 
offered in the house of Jehovah, there was no 
more spirit in her, and she said to the king, 
" True was the report which I heard in my 
own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Yet 
that report I believed not till I came, and saw 
with mine own eyes ; and, lo ! the half had not j 
been told me : thy wisdom and thy greatness 
far exceed the report that I heard. Happy 
thy men ! happy these thy servants, who stand 
continually before thee and hear thy wisdom ! 
Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who was so 
pleased with thee as to set thee on the throne 
of Israel ! " 

The great glory of Solomon's reign was 
sadly dimmed towards its close. Among 
the many wives he had taken unto himself 



were many women of neighboring nations, 
" worshippers of strange gods." At their 
solicitation he was eventually led into allowing 
them the public exercise of their idolatries, 
and by easy steps was at length induced to 
take some part in them. Under what notions 
he disguised the heinousness of this crime to 
himself we are not informed, and it is useless 
to conjecture. By this fall he forfeited the 
benefits and privileges which had been 
promised as the condition of his rectitude; 
and it was not long'before the doom which he 
had so weakly and wickedly incurred was 
made known to him. 

This was, that his kingdom should be rent 
from him and given to his servant ; but, tem- 
pering judgment with mercy, the Lord was 
pleased to promise that this great evil should 
not befall his house in his own reign, but in 
that of his son. This was for the sake of his 
father David; and for his sake also, who had 
derived so much satisfaction from the prospect 
which he had been allowed to indulge of the 
perpetuity of his race, it was further promised 
that the ruin of his dynasty should not be 
absolute, for that it should still reign over one 
tribe — that of Judah, with which that of Ben- 
jamin had by this time coalesced. 

Nevertheless the troubles which were to end 
in the disruption of the kingdom which he had 
taken so much pains to organize were allowed 
to commence in his own reign, and greatly to 
trouble its peace. He thus witnessed the 
growth of the baleful tree he had planted, 
although he was spared from gathering all its 
poisonous fruit. The threatened evils were 
made to grow out of the weak parts of his own 
policy. The foreign sources of wealth seem in 
the latter years of Solomon to have declined ; 
and then, to support the disproportionate 
magnificence which he had established in his 
kingdom, he was obliged to lay upon his own 
subjects heavier burdens than they were able 
or willing to bear. 



CHAPTER XX. 




THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 



EHOBOAM, the son of 
Solomon, succeeded to 
his father's throne — at 
the least he laid claim 
to it, but he had in one 
Jeroboam a powerful 
adversary. This Jero- 
boam was a man of very 
considerable ability, and Solomon 
had placed him in an honorable 
post; but when Solomon went 
astray and turned to idolatry, it was 
predicted that his kingdom should 
be taken from him — not in his days, 
but in those of his son. An aged 
seer had met with Jeroboam and 
foretold this thing to him, "Thou 
shalt be king hereafter;" the seer 
had taken off his own garment and torn it into 
twelve pieces, ten of which he gave to Jero- 
boam, thereby intimating that ten of the twelve 
tribes would one day be under his rule. 

Intelligence of what had occurred appears 
to have reached the ears of Solomon, and he 
attempted to take the life of Jeroboam, who 
found a safe asylum in Egypt. Thence, on 
the death of Solomon, he was summoned by 
several of the principal men, and with them 
waited on the new king to ascertain what line 
of policy he intended to adopt. They com- 
plained in strong terms of what they had suf- 
fered in the late king's reign. " Thy father 
made our yoke grievous." 

Jeroboam and the great men of the country, 
acting as representatives of the people, made a 
very strong appeal to Rehoboam in order to 
induce him to relax what they regarded as 
heavy burdens. Rehoboam delayed his answer, 
out promised to respond within three days. 
In the meantime, he took counsel with his 
father's old friends, and was advised by them 
(20S) 



to speak fairly and moderately, so as to con- 
ciliate the multitude. This advice he rejected, 
preferring that of his youthful associates, who 
recommended the taking a very high hand 
with the people and promptly letting them 
know that it was no weakling who sat on the 
throne of Solomon. 

When the day of assembly came, and the 
deputation again waited on Rehoboam, he re- 
ceived them with great hauteur, and gave them 
to understand that so far from relaxing any of 
the burdens of which they complained, it was 
his intention to increase them. At this the 
people, Josephus says, "were struck as it were 
by an iron hammer," and were so indignant 
that they declared they would have nothing 
more to do with the house of David. " We 
only leave to Rehoboam the Temple which his 
father built." Finding too late the mischief 
he had done, he attempted, all in vain, to pacify 
the people; and at last, finding his life in dan- 
ger, fled to Jerusalem, where the tribes of 
Judah and Benjamin, whose interests were con- 
solidated, received him as their king — all the 
rest of the people, the other ten tribes, forsook 
him and elected Jeroboam as their sovereign. 

Here we have the beginning of the two king- 
doms, the kingdom of Israel, represented by 
the ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah, com- 
posed of the united tribes of Judah and Ben- 
jamin. 

Rehoboam died at the age of fifty-seven, 
having reigned over Judah seventeen years ; 
and was succeeded by his son Abijam. Jero- 
boam sank very deep into various kinds of 
wickedness, especially idolatry. He was 
warned that the kingdom should be rent 
from him as it had been from the house of 
David, but neither spiritual warning nor ordi- 
nary common-sense deterred him. On the 
death of Rehoboam, he made war on his sue- 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 



209 



cessor Abijam. Abijam exhibited a degree of 
.spirit and courage very creditable to him; in 
an animated speech he roused the patriotism 
of his subjects, and, himself leading them 
against Jeroboam, put his army to entire and 



took their strongest cities by force, and spoiled 
them." 

Jeroboam did not recover himself during 
the reign of Abijam, which, however, lasted 
but three years. He was succeeded by his 




KING ASA DESTROYING IDOLS AT THE BROOK KIDRON. — I Kings XV. 1 3. 



complete rout: "A slaughter," says Josephus, 
""which is never recorded to have happened in 
.any other war, whether it were of the Greeks 
or of the barbarians, for they overthrew and 
slew five hundred thousand of their enemies, 
14 



son Asa, under whose rule the land had peace 
for ten years. In the second year of Asa's 
reign died Jeroboam, king of Israel. 

King Asa appears to have been a most vir- 
tuous and upright prince, and one of his first 



210 



ELIJAH AT THE BROOK. 



acts was to suppress the idolatry which had j 
occasioned so much mischief to the people. 
He would not even permit pagan rites to be 
encouraged by his own mother, but destroyed 
the grove in which she was wont to worship, 
and burnt the idol that she called her god. 
But the reformation effected by Asa, although 
he reigned for one-and-forty years, was not 
complete — the rebellious spirit of the people 
still longed after the strange gods. Josephus 
tells us that when he was assailed by Zerah, 
king of Ethiopia, and in presence of an ap- 
parently overwhelming force, his piety was as 
conspicuous as his bravery. He openly be- 
sought God to give him the victory : " For," 
said he, " I depend on nothing else but that 
assistance which I expect from Thee, which is 
able to make the fewer supreme to the more 
numerous, and the weaker to the stronger; 
and thence it is alone that I venture to meet 
Zerah and fight him." Asa won a complete- 
victory and took much spoil. 

It was in the thirty-first year of the reign 
of Asa, king of Judah, that Omri began to 
reign in Israel. He was a wicked prince, and 
followed in all the evil ways of those who had 
gone before him. At his death the govern- 
ment passed into the hands of a man, if pos- 
sible, worse than himself, namely, Ahab his 
son, who, to add to his wickedness, married 
Jezebel — the worst woman of her age, and un- 
surpassed in none — daughter of Ethbaal, king 
of the Zidonians. She was an idolatress, and 
stubbornly bent on making others idolaters 
also. She made no disguise of her religion, 
nor of her open enmity to the Jewish priests, 
nor of her intentions to overthrow the estab- 
lished faith. Soon the heart of her husband 
was turned after her strange gods, groves were 
planted, a priesthood was ordained, a temple 
built, and the idol Baal set up for worship — a 
species of idolatry unknown in Israel since 
the days of Samuel. 

It now seemed as if the knowledge of the 
true God would be forever lost among the 
Israelites. But suddenly the prophet Elijah 
boldly .stood up among them, to stem the over- 
whelming tide of corruption, and succeeded in 



preserving many of his countrymen in the 
worship of Jehovah. The record of the reign 
of Ahab is chiefly occupied with an account 
of the struggle which this great prophet waged 
against principalities and powers, against spir- 
itual wickedness in high places, in honor of 
Jehovah, and his earthly kingdom. 

Elijah's Sudden Appearance. 

He is introduced with considerable abrupt- 
ness, by the name of Elijah the Tishbite — from 
the name of a town beyond the Jordan to 
which he belonged — as announcing punish- 
ment in the shape of a long-continued drought, 
and consequently famine, which should be re- 
moved only at his own intercession. This 
great calamity commenced about the sixth 
year of Ahab's reign ; and it then became 
needful that the prophet should withdraw from 
the presence and solicitations of the king. 
Accordingly he concealed himself in a cave 
near the brook Cherith — one of the streams 
which fall into the Jordan — where the kind 
providence of God sent him bread and meat 
every morning and evening. 

When the brook Cherith was dried up, the 
prophet was instructed to cross the country 
into the dominion of Jezebel's father. He ac- 
cordingly went to Sarepta, near Sidon, and, as 
he came near that place, met a poor woman 
who had come out to seek a few sticks for 
fuel ; the prophet asked her for a little water ; 
and notwithstanding the distress and the 
scarcity of water which prevailed, she readily 
complied with the request of the travel -worn 
stranger. But when he also begged of her 
some bread, she declared to him that she had 
nothing left in the world but a handful of meal 
and a little oil, with which she was then about 
to prepare her last meal ; and when that was 
done, nothing remained for her and her young 
son but to die. 

Elijah, however, encouraged her not to fear, 
but to prepare him some food, promising in 
that Great Name which even foreigners had 
learned to dread, that her scanty supply should 
not fail until the bountiful heavens once more 
gave forth reiief. Her faith was such as en- 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 



211 



abled her to comply with this request ; and the I was so severe that the king in person had gone 

consequence was that for above two years she 

and her son, and the prophet, were supplied 

miraculously with sufficient food ; for " the 

barrel ol meal wasted not, neither did the 

cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord 

sent rain upon the earth." 

The implicit faith of this poor widow in the 
power and mercy of the God of her foreign 
guest was strengthened, and at the same time 



through one part of his dominions in search 
of provisions, while he sent Obadiah, his prin- 
cipal steward, into another part for a similar 
purpose. Obadiah was a good man; he had 
used his high influence in protecting the per- 
secuted servants of Jehovah. Elijah met this 
person, and prevailed upon him to conduct him 
to the king. Ahab had long been seeking 
him in vain, with the view of punishing him as 




ELTTAH AND THE WIDOW OF SAREPTA. 1 Kings XVl'i. IO. 



rewarded, by a more signal miracle which 
Elijah effected during his abode with her. 
Her son, who had died of some grievous dis- 
order, was restored to life by the intercession 
and prayers of the prophet, and she now con- 
fessed her full conviction that Elijah was " a 
man of God, and that the word of the Lord in 
his mouth was truth." 

In the third year of his absence Elijah re- 
ceived the Divine command to go and present 
himself before Ahab. At this time the famine 



the author of the calamities which Israel suf- 
fered, or of extorting from him the intercession 
through which they were destined to cease; 
and he no sooner saw him than he broke forth 
into reproaches against him as the troubler of' 
Israel. But the prophet boldly retorted the 
charge, and affirmed that all the complicated 
miseries under which the nation suffered had 
befallen it on account of his rejection of the 
God of Israel, and of the idolatries with which 
he and his queen had polluted the land. 



212 



BAAL'S PROPHETS OVERTHROWN. 



Then, in order to satisfy Ahab and the 
whole nation of the vanity and impotency of 
the god to whom they had turned, and of the 
priests and prophets by whom these gods were 
served, he offered singly to confront the whole 
of them in the sight of Jehovah, that it might 
be seen by manifest signs who was the true 
God and worthy of worship. Awed by the 
rebuke and the decisive manner of the prophet, 
and perhaps apprehensive of some further 
judgment if he refused, the king ordered the 
attendance of all the priests of Baal, in number 
about eight hundred, near Mount Carmel, to 
bring the matter to a final and fair decision. 

Fire on Mount Carmel. 

The people assembled in great numbers to 
witness this momentous contest, in which they 
were so deeply interested. The prophet then 
proposed that two bullocks should be prepared 
for sacrifice, the one by the priests of Baal, 
which they should cut in pieces and lay upon 
the wood, but put no fire underneath ; and the 
other by himself, in precisely the same manner. 
And then continued Elijah, " Call ye on the 
name of your gods, and I will call on the 
name of Jehovah ; and the God that answereth 
by fire, let him be God." Nothing could be 
more fair and open than this ; but it is very 
awful to think that the supremacy of Jehovah 
should ever have become a question — for it 
was the question — among so large a propor- 
tion of the chosen nation which He had re- 
deemed from the house of bondage. 

When every preparation.had been completed 
according to the directions of Elijah, the 
priests of Baal called upon their idol to hear 
them, and to attest his power by consuming 
with fire from heaven the victim laid upon the 
altar. But Baal heard them not : " there was 
no voice nor any that answered." In vain 
were all their efforts, although they continued 
to call upon their god until the time of offer- 
ing the evening sacrifice. No answering fire 
appeared ; and as the day advanced, the 
priests, in the frenzy of a losing cause, " cried 
aloud, and cut themselves with knives and 
lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them." 



"How long halt ye between two opinions? 
If Jehovah be the God, follow Him; but if 
Baal, then follow him " — were the words in 
which Elijah had already proposed to the 
assembled multitude the great matter which 
was at issue. And now, when the priests of 
Baal had been suffered to consume most of the 
day in their useless invocations, he advanced 
to prepare the altar for his offering. He 
reared it with twelve stones, according to the 
number of the tribes ; and having laid on the 
wood and the victim, caused the whole to be 
inundated with water from the river. He 
then advanced, and called upon the Lord to 
interpose on this great occasion, that all Israel 
might know that He was the true God, the 
God of their fathers and of their nations; and 
that their hearts might be turned back from 
vain idols to Himself. 

Accordingly, at that word, the fire of heaven 
came down, and in one instant consumed the 
victim, and dried up, by its intense heat, all 
the water which had been poured out around. 
When the people beheld that sight, contrasted 
as it was with the abortive efforts of Baal's 
priests, they yielded to the mighty impulse 
of the conviction which oppressed them, and 
fell upon their faces, exclaiming, " Jehovah, He 
is the God ! Jehovah, He is the God!" The 
scene, as described, is most impressive. 

The prophet availed himself of the disposi- 
tion thus created in the people, by command- 
ing the priests of Baal to be slain ; and his 
order was immediately carried into effect. 
The idolatry of Israel having thus received a 
considerable check, and its chief abettors hav- 
ing been brought to condign punishment, the 
prophet intimated to Ahab the approach of 
relief from the awful calamity under which the 
land had groaned so long, and directed him to 
return to his home in that confidence. The 
prophet himself then proceeded to the top of 
Mount Carmel, and prayed fervently for rain 
seven times; the promise of which, speedily 
followed by fulfilment, soon appeared in the 
shape of " a little cloud like a man's hand " 
rising out of the Mediterranean — a phenomenon 
which in warm climates is not an unusual 












ELIJAHS SACRIFICE ON MOUNT CARMEL. 1 Kings Xviii. 38. 



(213) 



214 



THE STILL SMALL VOICE. 



Hazael to be king over Syria, after which he 
should anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, and 
appoint Elisha to be his own successor. The 
prophet then delayed not to return, but of his 
commissions the last was the only one which 
he deemed it necessary to execute in person. 
Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Manasseh, be- 
yond Jordan, he found ploughing with twelve 
yoke of oxen, and cast his prophet's mantle 
(probably of hair) over him as he passed. 
Elisha understood the sign, and after he had 
bidden farewell to his parents, followed the 
prophet, to whom he thenceforth remained 
constantly attached through all his fortunes. 

A Bold Invasion. 

About this period Bcnhadad, the king of 
Damascene Syria, invaded the land of Israel 
with a very powerful army ; and meeting with 
little resistance, quickly advanced against Sa- 
maria, and closely blockaded the city. The 
return of seasonable rains could not at once 
restore plenty to the land, or restore the popu- 
lation, which the famine had decimated. Hence 
the enfeebled Israelites were so much dismayed 
by the advance of the Syrians, that, instead of 
attempting resistance, those who abode not in 
fortified towns fled for refuge to the caverns 
and fortresses of the wilderness. This state of 
affairs raised the boldness of the invaders to 
insolence, and very insulting was the language 
in which Benhadad challenged Ahab to sur- 
render his capital. 

Aware of his defenceless condition, Ahab 
felt obliged to curb his indignation, and con- 
sented to become tributary to the Syrian king. 
This readiness of submission induced Benhadad 
to rise in his demands, and by a second mes- 
sage he required the immediate and uncondi- 
tory of Israel, till he reached the solitudes of j tional surrender of all that belonged to him 
the uppermost Sinai, where, as is usually sup-l and to his subjects. The spiritless Ahab was 
posed, he stationed himself in the cave where \ disposed to purchase peace, even on terms so 
Moses was when he beheld the glory of Je-: ignominious, but here the elders of Israel in- 
hovah from " the cleft of the rock." In this | terposed, and would not allow him to consent, 
spot the Lord appeared to him, preceded by aj On this, a third message from the Syrian mon- 
strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire, and arch threatened the immediate destruction of 
speaking to him in a still small voice, com-] Samaria and the massacre of all its inhabitants, 
manded him to repair to Damascus, and anoint | At this point the Lord, whose protection he 



harbinger of rain. The prophet then " girded 
up his loins," for speed, and ran till he over- 
took the chariot of the king, and ran before it 
to the gate of Jezreel ; for meanwhile " the 
heavens had grown black with clouds and 
wind, and there was a great rain." 

Flight of the Prophet. 

These stupendous incidents had probably 
produced some salutary impressions upon the 
feeble mind of Ahab ; but they soon disap- 
peared before the higher energies of his wife's 
character, and her commanding influence upon 
him. Jezebel was enraged to the uttermost 
by the destruction of her priests, and vowed 
to be revenged upon the author of the mas- 
sacre. Elijah heard of this, and giving her full 
credit for the will and power to execute her 
threat, he deemed it right to withdraw himself 
for the present beyond her reach. He there- 
fore resolved to retire for a while into the wil- 
derness, where Israel had first received from 
God the law which he had labored to uphold. 
When he had travelled about one hundred 
miles south of Jezreel, the travel-worn prophet, 
exhausted with thirst and hunger, found the 
strength of mind and body which had hitherto 
upheld him give way. He cast himself under 
the shade of a juniper-tree, and prayed for 
death to end his troubles. "It is enough," he 
cried ; " now, O Lord, take away my life, for 
I am not better than my fathers." But God 
had not forgotten his servant. An angel was 
sent to comfort and sustain him, and by en- 
couraging promises urged him to pursue his 
journey to Horeb, " the Mount of God." 

With renewed confidence and strength he 
travelled on through the valleys and among 
the mountains so renowned in the early his 




ELIJAH VISITED BY AN ANGEL. — I Kings xix. 5. 



(215) 



21G 



DEFEAT OF THE SYRIANS. 



had forfeited, and, indeed, wilfully abandoned, 
interposed to show to the king and to the house 
of Israel that He was able to deliver those who 
found no help from the idols they had served 
and worshipped. By the command ofa prophet, 
and under the assurance of victory which that 
prophet conveyed, the king ventured to make 
a sally against the vast host of the Syrians, at 
the head of a small band composed of the ser- 



having been encouraged by a prophet to be- 
lieve that the Lord had devoted Benhadad to- 
destruction, and would not fail to deliver him 
into his hands, that he might execute judg- 
ment upon him. Accordingly the Syrians- 
were again overthrown, and those who es- 
caped the sword of Israel were crushed by 
the falling of the wall of Aphek, under which 
the battle took place. Benhadad. with a few 




CASTING HIS MANTLE ON ELISHA. 1 Kill 



ELIJA 

vants and retainers of the nobles then in Da- 
mascus, and was victorious. 

It does not appear that Ahab made any 
suitable return for this deliverance, or was in- 
duced by it to turn from his evil' courses and 
obstinate unbelief. He seems also too hastily 
to have concluded his victory final, and, there- i 
fore, neglected a prophetic intimation that the 
Syrians would next year resume the warfare 
with recruited strength. Return, however, 
they did, with a more powerful force, and en- 
camped near Aphek. Here Ahab, at the head 
of a very unequal force, marched against him, 



s xix. 19. 

attendants, escaped the general slaughter and 
succeeded in gaining entrance into a house in 
Aphek, where they concealed themselves, 
though closely pursued by some of Ahab's 
followers. The arrogant Syrian now saw 
that he had no resource but in submission to- 
the man he had so grievously insulted. Some 
of his attendants were accordingly sent clothed 
in sackcloth, and with ropes around their 
necks, to implore quarter from the king of 
Israel. This submission and humiliation to- 
him so flattered the vanity of Ahab that, un- 
mindful of his own safety and the interests of 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 



217 



his kingdom, he granted unconditionally all swered, " I have found thee, because thou hast 

sold thyself to work evil in the eyes of 
Jehovah." He then proceeded, in that Great 



that was asked by the crafty Syrians. 
Aliab's Startling Warning 1 , 



He sent for Benhadad, and not only treated 
him with marked respect, but contracted a 
very disadvantageous peace with him, and 
then allowed him to depart. In consequence 
of this violation of the command by which 
Benhadad had been devoted to destruction, a 
prophet, wounded, and disguised in sackcloth 
and ashes, placed himself in the way of Ahab, 
and passed upon him the sentence of God, 
warning him that his life should be lost in 
fighting against the man he had delivered, and 
that his subjects should become the victims 
of his sword. On hearing this the king of 
Israel went to his house ." heavy and dis- 
pleased." 

Not long after this the king was disposed to 
enlarge his garden in Jezreel by taking into it 
the patrimonial vineyard of a person named 
Naboth. The owner, however, declined to 
part with it; on which the king, in a very 
childish spirit, took to his bed, refused his 
food, and lay with his face to the wall. On 
learning this his wife Jezebel came to him, and 
hearing his complaint, was delighted at the 
opportunity it offered of confirming him in 
his disposition to rely on herself. She urged 
him to rise and enjoy himself without further 
care, for that she would obtain for him the 
vineyard of Naboth. And she did so. On 
the authority of letters sealed by her with the 
king's signet, the unhappy Jezreelite was ac- 
cused of blasphemy at a public feast, for which ] his reign by reforming the religious abuses 



Name, and in words every one of which bore 
a terrible emphasis, to denounce the doom of 
utter extermination upon himself and his 
house for the iniquities with which he had 
polluted the land; and then, with a pointed 
reference to the last most iniquitous deed, he 
said, " Hast thou slain and also taken posses- 
sion ? In the place where dogs licked the 
blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood — 
even thine." And as for Jezebel, he foretold 
a coming time in which dogs should devour 
her by the wall of Jezreel. 

The King- Alarmed. 

Ahab was greatly terrified at this message, 
and for once "he humbled himself before the 
Lord." His humiliation, indeed, was merely 
formal and superficial ; yet, as he allowed the 
justice of God and acknowledged his sin, the 
Lord had pity upon him, and was pleased to 
grant a respite of judgment, so far as regarded 
his family, and he was spared the anguish of 
witnessing the ruin of his house. 

While the land of Israel was thus, during 
the reign of Ahab, frequently distracted by 
intestine calamities and foreign wars, the 
kingdom of Judah enjoyed profound tran- 
quillity and increasing prosperity under the 
mild and pious government of JehoshaphaL 
the son and successor of Asa. This excellent 
prince began to reign 929 B. c, being the 
third vear of Ahab in Israel. He commenced 



he was stoned to death and his possessions 
confiscated to the crown. Jezebel then glee- 
fully apprised the king that the coveted vine- 
yard was his, and doubtless informed him in 



which had crept in during the later years of his 
father's life, or which he had not in his best 
years ventured to remove. Thus he not only 
destroyed the idols, and every vestige of 



which way it had been acquired. Ahab then j idolatry throughout his dominions, but even 
hastened to inspect his new possession, but he I demolished "the high places," which were 
had scarcely entered the place when the most ; not directly idolatrous, but at which an 
unexpected and unwelcome sight of the j irregular worship, often merging into idolatry, 
prophet Elijah met his view. His conscience was carried on. He indeed went deeper than 
made known to him the errand of his stern \ any other king in his salutary reformations. 
monitor, and " Hast thou found me, O mine j He knew that all these corruptions were but 
enemy?" burst from his lips. Elijah an- ' the outward signs, the visible excrescences, of 



218 



A REFORMATION IN JUDAH. 



the disease of ignorance, and that every 
remedy must be insufficient which left un- 
touched the inner and exciting cause. 



and villages ; and so much interest did he 
manifest in this matter that he made a tour 
through the country to see that his beneficent 




ELIJAH AND AHAB IN NABOTH's VINEYARD. 1 Kings XXI. 20. 

He therefore took measures to provide for I intentions were carried into effect. A thorough 
the people sound instruction in the law of God reformation was by such means wrought in 
at their own homes — in their several towns I the land of Judah ; and the king's devoted- 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 



219 



mess to God and his paternal government were 
rewarded by the attachment of his subjects, 
and by a degree of temporal prosperity such 
as had not been enjoyed by any king since 
Solomon. 

Ahab was at no time in a condition to seek 
or gain any advantage over so prosperous a 
neighbor; and by this time the kings of Judah 
had come to consider the existence of the 
separate kingdom as an accomplished fact, in 
which they could not but acquiesce. Gn this 
basis a sort of friendship, or rather absence of 
hostility, grew up between them, of which we 
observe the first manifest signs in the time 
of Jehoshaphat and Ahab. This might seem 
in itself good, but, considering the unequal 
condition of the two kingdoms, was more 
likely to be detrimental to Judah than bene- 
ficial to Israel. And this proved to be the 
case. 

A Prophet Imprisoned. 

Jehoshaphat could not be insensible to the 
vile character of Ahab and his queen ; and it 
is not likely that he was the first to seek the 
alliance. But a certain degree of softness 
which we may trace in his character, and 
which, however amiable in private life, mis- 
became him as a king, seems to have rendered 
him incapable of resisting the flattering ad- 
vances of Ahab ; and from one step to another 
the intimacy at length became so close that 
Jehoshaphat consented to the marriage of his 
heir with Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and 
Jezebel. The alliance being thus strengthened, 
we cease to be surprised to find the king of 
Judah present at the court of Israel. This 
was after the events which have already been 
recorded ; and when Ahab was preparing for 
a campaign against the Syrians, who, having re- 
covered strength, had invaded the territories 
of Israel east of the Jordan, and made them- 
selves masters of the important fortified town 
of Ramoth-Gilead, he invited Jehoshaphat to 
join in this expedition, and the latter, as 
usual, too easily consented. He was not, 
however, accustomed to embark in any im- 
portant undertaking without consulting the 
Lord, through a prophet or the high-priest ; 



and he therefore intimated a wish that this 
should be done on the present occasion. 

Ahab had no lack of pretended prophets, 
and they with one accord promised a signal 
victory over the Syrians. Jehoshaphat, how- 
ever, was not satisfied, and asked if there was 
no other prophet of Jehovah whom they might 
consult. Ahab admitted that there was 
another, named Micaiah, but declared that he 
hated him, because he never prophesied good 
of him, but evil. He was, nevertheless, sent 
for; and with great dignity and force of lan- 
guage he declared that the expedition would 
be fatal to the king himself, but not disastrous 
to his army. 

On this Ahab, in a high rage, commanded 
him to be kept in prison on mouldy bread and 
unwholesome water till his return in peace. 
The prediction of Micaiah, however, sunk into 
his mind, and to avoid his doom, he proposed, 
under pretence of honoring Jehoshaphat with 
the chief command, that he should wear his 
royal robes in the action, while himself would 
go disguised as one of his officers. This 
expedient had nearly cost Jehoshaphat his 
life, as the Syrian soldiers, according to their 
instructions, made it their object to kill the 
king or take him prisoner; but when they 
perceived their error, they desisted. Yet 
Ahab escaped not. An arrow " shot at a 
venture " penetrated the joints of his harness, 
and inflicted a mortal wound. He then with- 
drew from the field to have his wound dressed, 
but, being anxious not to discourage his 
troops, he hastened back to the battle, and 
towards evening died in his chariot. As soon 
as his death was known, hostilities ceased on 
both sides, and the Israelites dispersed quietly 
to their own homes without defeat or loss. 
Thus was the prediction of Micaiah to the 
very letter fulfilled. The body of Ahab was 
carried to Samaria, and buried there. The 
chariot, soaked with his blood, was washed in 
the pool of Jezreel, and there, according to the 
prediction of Elijah, did the town dogs lick up 
his blood, as they, had before licked that of 
Naboth. Ahab was succeeded by his son 
Ahaziah, B. c. 909. 






w 







(220) 



THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH. 2 Kings U. 12. 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH. 



221 



The prophet Elijah, having previously re- 
ceived the Divine intimation that the Lord was 
about to distinguish him from the rest of man- 
kind by translating him into heaven without 
undergoing death, and now knowing that the 
day was at hand, visited the sons or pupils of 
the prophets at Bethel and Jericho, and took 
leave of them with such solemnity, that they 
were impressed with the conviction that they 
should see him no more. This conviction 
was shared by the prophet's destined successor, 
Elisha, who therefore resolved not to leave his 
side till he saw the result. They came to the 
Jordan, where the prophet took off his mantle, 
and smote therewith the waters, which divided 
to give him a passage over. 

When they had reached the eastern bank, 
the great prophet told Elisha that the time 
was come for him to prefer his last request. 
The other, with a strong feeling of the impor- 
tance of the duties which were about to devolve 
upon him, answered, " Let a double portion 



of thy spirit rest upon me." Elijah told him 
that he had asked " a hard thing ; " but, he 
added, " nevertheless, if thou see me when I 
am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee." 
As they went on, engaged in earnest conver- 
sation, suddenly " there appeared a chariot of 
fire and horses of fire, and parted them both 
asunder, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind 
into heaven." 

The falling mantle was, according to the still 
existing customs of the East, an emblem of 
his bequeathing to Elisha the office which he 
had himself filled ; and on his return to Jericho 
the latter tested the virtue of the bequest by 
smiting the waters of the Jordan as his master 
had done, asking, " Where is the Lord God of 
Elijah ? " The call was answered ; the waters 
were sundered before him ; and the young 
prophets of Jericho, who stood watching in 
the distance, knew by this sign their future 
master, and gave him the allegiance they had 
given his illustrious predecessor. 




CHAPTER XXI. 



THE YOUNG HEBREW CAPTIVE. 




OUTHFUL characters 
are often made con- 
spicuous in the Scrip- 
tures, as will be seen 
from the history of 
Naaman and that great 
prophet who was the 
immediate successor 
of Elijah. The mira- 
cles performed by Eli- 
sha are related with considerable detail, and 
were so signal and important as soon evinced 
to the court and people of Israel that in him 
God had raised up another witness for the 
truth in the midst of a corrupt generation. 

Two of the earliest of these followed almost 
immediately the foregoing transactions, and 
were well calculated to authenticate his mis- 
sion in the sight of the people. The town of 
Jericho was favorably situated, but the water 
of the principal spring was unwholesome, 
probably saline, and useless for drink or irri- 
gation. When this was represented to Elisha 
he took a new vessel full of salt, and repairing 
to the springhead, cast in the salt, and from 
that moment the waters were sweetened, " and 
there was no more death or barren land." 

The next was an act of judgment: he was 
going up from Jericho to Bethel, the seat of 
one of the golden calves, when some of the 
youths of tnat polluted city insulted him as 
he passed and followed him with shouts of 
" Go up, thou bald head ! go up, thou bald 
head ! " thereby deriding the recent translation 
of Elijah into heaven, and mockingly urging 
the prophet to go up after his master. Feel- 
ing that God was himself mocked in this de- 
rision of an event so signal and so glorious, 
and knowing that he was wont to vindicate 
the honor of his great deeds, Elisha "turned 
back and cursed them in the name of the 
(222) 



Lord." These blasphemous children saw 
their homes no more ; for, ere they could re- 
turn, two she-bears came forth upon them out 
of the wood and destroyed them ; and many 
houses in the sinful city were filled with wail- 
ing that day. 

Jehoram, the new king of Israel, was of a 
somewhat better disposition than his father 
and brother. He discountenanced the wor- 
ship of Baal, but made no attempt to break 
down the corruptions and evils which Jero- 
boam had introduced, and which, in the course 
of time, had more and more become a habit 
with the people. 

The first public measure of Jehoram was to 
reduce the Moabites, who, in consequence of 
the heavy tribute in cattle which had been 
imposed upon them by Ahab, had revolted 
after he had been slain by the Syrians. Jehosh- 
aphat was prevailed upon to join him with his 
forces in this expedition, probably from the 
fear that the revolt, if successful, might en- 
courage his own tributary, the king of Edom, 
to follow the example. The army of Israel, 
to ^ivoid crossing the Jordan, marched south- 
ward through the '-md of Judah, with the 
view of invading the land of Moab by going 
round by the southern ex r .,emity of the Dead 
Sea, and in its march wr.s joined by the forces 
of Judah and Edom. 

This circuitous route occupied seven days, 
towards the end of which the army and horses 
were greatly distressed from thirst, probably 
occasioned by the failure of the wells and 
brooks, from which a sufficient supply had 
been expected. Already much loss and dis- 
couragement had been sustained, and the 
army now lay on the border of Moab, and in 
the face of the enemy, who had assembled in 
force to repel the invasion. In this extremity 
the good Jehoshaphat, as usual, thought of 



THE YOUNG HEBREW CAPTIVE 



223 



seeking counsel of God through one of his I at once repaired. His greeting, addressed to 
prophets; and on inquiring for one, it was I Jehoram, was not very encouraging :." What 




THE CHILDREN OF BETHEL. 2 Kings ii. 23. 



found that Elisha, " who had poured water on 
the hands of Elijah," was present in the camp. 
To him the kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom 



have I to do with thee? Get thee to the 
prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of 
thy mother ! " And he added that, were it 



224 



A HUMAN SACRIFICE. 



not from respect to Jehoshaphat, he would 
not have admitted them to his presence. But 
now he called for a minstrel, and as the min- 
strel played upon his harp, " the hand of the 
Lord came upon him," and he promised that 
ere the morning dawn water should be abun- 
dant; and also that victory should crown 
their arms. 

Death in the Enemy's Camp. 

And so it came to pass. Before the morning 
the dried-up beds of the torrents and rivulets 
were filled to overflowing ; and in the action 
which followed, the Moabites were utterly de- 
feated, and the victors in their pursuit of the 
army desolated the country with fire and 
sword, till they arrived before Kir-haraseth, a 
strong city, into which the king of Moab had 
thrown himself. Here he was soon reduced 
to such extremities that he made a desperate 
sally at the head of seven hundred valiant 
swordsmen, in the hope of forcing his way 
through the lines of the besiegers. Being 
foiled in this, he resorted to the horrid expe- 
dient of endeavoring to render his cruel gods 
propitious by offering up to them in sacrifice 
his only son — the heir of his throne. He did 
this publicly, upon the very walls, in the face 
of the besiegers, who were so horror-struck at 
the sight that they immediately raised the 
siege and departed to their own homes. This 
movement, however natural, probably had the 
lamentable effect of encouraging the king of 
Moab to believe his dreadful act had been 
effectual in bringing down from his gods the 
desired relief. 

The Moabites seem to have been highly 
exasperated at the part taken by Jehoshaphat 
in this expedition : for not long after we find 
them united with kindred and neighboring na- 
tions in a most formidable invasion of his ter- 
ritories. They formed their camp near En- 
gedi, and their force seemed so overwhelming, 
that Jehoshaphat felt at once that he was ut- 
terly unable to meet them in the field, and that 
he had no resources but in God, whom he 
might infer to have been offended at his alli- 
ance with the unclean court of Israel. He 



therefore, and the people with him, betook 
himself to prayer and supplication, and was 
answered by the assurance that the invaders 
should fall without one stroke from his sword. 

He then marched out against them ; but 
when he came "to the watch-tower in the wil- 
derness," and there obtained the first view of 
the enemy's camp, "behold, they were all dead 
bodies fallen to the earth!" They had, it 
seems, quarrelled among themselves, probably 
about the division of the spoil, and had fought 
together with such desperate animosity that 
none escaped. The Hebrews were occupied 
for three days in gathering the abundant spoil, 
which was of immense value. They then re- 
turned laden with wealth to Jerusalem, which 
they entered to the sound of psalteries and 
harps, rejoicing in the favor of God, who had 
blessed them with success so signal and so 
unexpected. 

This event instilled into the minds of the 
neighboring nations a salutary dread of the 
good king, and the remainder of his reign was 
spent in profound peace. He died b. C. 904, 
after he had lived sixty years and reigned 
twenty-five. 

He was succeeded on the throne by his son, 
Jehoram,who had wedded Athaliah,the daugh- 
ter of Ahab and Jezebel; and whose conduct 
soon evinced the malignant and fatal influence 
of this connection. When we consider the 
subsequent conduct of his wife, there is little 
room to question that the measures of Jeho- 
ram were stimulated by the counsels of the 
daughter of Jezebel. 

Palace and Temple Plundered. 

Immediately upon his accession, Jehoram 
concentrated the claims of the royal line in 
his own person by destroying all his brethren. 
He then proceeded to subvert the worship of 
Jehovah, and introduced the Phoenician idola- 
tries, which had caused so much calamity in 
the neighboring kingdom, and which had hith- 
erto been unexampled in Judah. In Jerusa- 
lem the mass of the people were induced by 
the influence and example of the court, and in 
other parts of the country by persecutors, to 



THE YOUNG HEBREW CAPTIVE. 



225 



-give in to these new abominations. For this 
the prophet of Israel, Elisha, was commis- 
sioned to denounce the Divine vengeance 
against Jehoram and his family. 

The prophet discharged this awful duty by 
letter; and the doom which he predicted was 
not long delayed. First, Edom, which had 
since David been subject to Judah, revolted,' 
and succeeded in casting off the yoke it had so 
impatiently borne. This sign of weakness en- 
couraged other neighboring nations to invade 
the land, which they plundered and laid waste. 

Even Jerusalem was entered ; the treasures 
of the palace and the Temple were plundered, 
and so great was the helplessness of the king 
and so utter his degradation, that even the 
sanctity of the royal harem was invaded, and 
ail its fair inhabitants were carried off, save 
only Athaliah, the queen, who remained to be 
the source of future misery and punishment to 
Judah. All the royal princes were also slain 
except Ahaziah, otherwise called Jehoahaz, 
.the youngest of them all. To complete these 
I miseries, the miserable king was himself smit- 
ten with an incurable disease in the bowels, 
under which he languished for two years in 
horrible torments, and then died. The voice 
■of the people denied to his remains the honors 
of a royal funeral and of a place in the sepul- 
chres of the kings. 

Befriending- a Poor Widow. 

Ahaziah, the only surviving son of Jehoram 
and Athaliah, then ascended the throne of 
Judah. Unhappily for him, " he walked in the 
ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother 
was his counsellor to do wickedness." His 
near relationship to that house, the reigning 
king being his mother's brother, drew still 
closer the bands of intimacy between the two 
courts, and, in the event, involved him in that 
utter ruin of Ahab's house which had been 
denounced by Elijah. 

In Israel, the " schools of the prophets " 
had come under the supervision of the prophet 
Elisha ; and the next of his recorded acts was 
a miracle of benevolence in behalf of the 
widow of one of the " sons of the prophets." 



Having died without satisfying a debt he had 
incurred, the creditor proposed to indemnify 
himself by making bondsmen of the two sons. 
This Elisha prevented by so multiplying a 
small quantity of oil which the woman pos- 
sessed, that the price for which it was sold 
enabled her to discharge the claim of the harsh 
creditor. 

Another of his acts arose from the desire to 
make some suitable acknowledgment for the 
kindness of a benevolent pair, who observing 
how often the prophet passed on the way to 
Shunem, prepared for his separate use " a 
chamber upon the wall," furnishing it with a 
bed, a table, a seat, and a lamp, which at their 
solicitation he occupied whenever he came to 
Shunem. The hospitable couple were child- 
less, and, being informed by his servant Gehazi 
of their distress on that account, he foretold 
that in due time a child should be given to 
them in recompense for their kindness. A 
son was accordingly born, and lived, and grew 
up ; but one. day as he went forth to his father 
in the harvest-field he was smitten apparently 
by a sun-stroke, and complaining of his head 
was taken back to the house, where he died 
upon his mother's lap. Elisha was then ab- 
sent, having gone to Mount Carmel. 

The mother went and laid the child upon 
the prophet's bed, and hurried away in search 
of him. Elisha recognized, her at a distance, 
and sent his servant to meet her with inquiries 
after the welfare of her house. In answer to 
the question, " Is the child well ? " she an- 
swered with touching significance, " He is 
well ; " and without disclosing her errand 
pressed forward to the prophet. She threw 
herself at his feet, and more by her tears than 
words' made known her grief. The prophet 
was much moved, and, delivering his staff to 
Gehazi, directed him to hasten on and lay it on 
the face of the child. The mother seems to 
have had small faith in this, and remained with 
the prophet, who at length concluded to return 
with her. They were met as they went by 
Gehazi, who reported that he had followed his 
instructions, but that "the child was not 
awakened." On reaching the house the 



226 SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. 

prophet shut himself up with the child ; and j frugal meal of pottage had been prepared it 
ere long he called for the mother and pre- j was found that a poisonous gourd had been 
sented to her the living boy. |put into the pot by mistake. The young: 




naaman's captive maid. — 2 Kings v. 3. 
Another time, when there was a scarcity in I prophets cried out in much alarm, " O man of 
the land, Elisha was at the school of the God, there is death in the pot !" and thereupon 
prophets in Gilgal ; and one day when their I the prophet cast therein a handful of meal, 



THE YOUNG HEBREW CAPTIVE. 



227 



when every obnoxious quality was taken 
away. 

The next event in the history of Elisha is 
the transaction between him and the Syrian 
general Naatnan, the date of which is not 
easily fixed with exactness, and which may 
therefore be noticed in the place which it occu- 
pies in the sacred narrative. 

Naaman was an able and successful com- 
mander, who stood very high in the favor of 
his master Benhadad: but he was afflicted 
with leprosy, which, from the narrative, would 
appear not to have disqualified from public 
service in the same degree as it would have 
done in Israel. Among the slaves of Naaman's 
wife was a little Hebrew girl, who had been 
among the prisoners taken in some one of the 
many incursions of the Syrians into the land 
of Israel. This girl, pitying the condition of 
her master, one day said to her mistress, 
" Would God my lord were with the prophet 
who is in Samaria, for he would recover him 
of his leprosy." These words excited atten- 
tion and inquiry, but were not very clearly 
understood ; and when the king became ac- 
quainted with the matter he said that Naaman 
should go with a letter from him to the king 
of Israel to be cured of his leprosy. The 
great man accordingly set forth with a noble 
retinue, and with camels laden with valuables 
intended for presents. When he came to 
Samaria he caused his letter to be delivered in 
all due form to the king, to whose presence as 
a leper he could not be admitted. The letter 
was to the effect that the king of Syria had 
sent his servant Naaman that the king of Israel 
might lay his hand upon him and cure him of 
his leprosy. On reading this, king Jehoram 
felt it as a mockery and insult. He rent his 
clothes and cried, "Am I a God, to kill and to 
make alive, that this man doth send unto 
me to cure a man of his leprosy?" and he 
could find no other motive for so unaccount- 
able an application than to quarrel with him. 

The news of this strange affair soon spread 
through the place, and reached the ears of 
Elisha, who forthwith sent to desire that the 
Syrian noble should be sent to him. Naaman, 



who by this time must have distrusted the 
success of his mission, gladly repaired to the 
abode of the prophet, and halted in his chariot, 
and with his grand retinue, before his door. 
As a leper lie could not go into the house ; 
and he expected that the prophet would come 
out and place his hands upon him, and that he 
should then recover. Instead of this, Elisha 
sent his servant to tell him to go and dip 
seven times in the river Jordan, and that he 
should then be clean. The pride of Naaman 
was offended at this message, and he cried, 
" Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of 
Damascus, better than all the waters in Israel ? 
May I not wash in them and be clean ? " 
So he turned and went away in a rage. 

The Syrian Captain Cured. 

His attendants, more calm, judged better of 
the order which he had received ; and the 
chief of them, in the name of the rest, drew 
near respectfully, and said to him, " My father, 
if the prophet had bid thee do some great 
thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How 
much rather, then, when he saith unto thee, 
Wash, and be clean ? " This reflection, so 
simple and so natural, struck Naaman, and he 
consented to obey. Seven times he plunged 
into the stream, and at the seventh time he 
rose purged of all malady and stain. His 
skin, before so much disfigured and broken by 
his frightful disease, became pure and soft as 
that of a new-born child. Then, full of joy 
and with gratitude proportioned to his previous 
disgust, he returned forthwith to Elisha. 

He now entered the house, and stood before 
the venerable man to tender his acknowledg- 
ments. His first word was admirable ; it was 
a profession of faith. " Behold, now I know," 
he said, " that there is no God in all the earth 
but in Israel." His second was an expression 
of gratitude to the prophet, upon whom he 
pressed the rich presents he had brought. 
This the holy man refused, that the whole 
honor of this great act might be referred to 
its Divine Author. 

Naaman then, with sincere intentions, but 
not with very clear notions of the subject, 



228 



MIRACULOUS HEALING. 



wrjTiKS.ssi.'sars^rJsswu.ts 




NAAMAN AT THE DOOR OF ELI5HA. 



an altar in Damascus for his own devotions to I of Rimmon in Damascus, and for this he 
the God of Israel, whom alone he was deter- 1 hoped pardon and allowance from God. With 



THE YOUNG HEBREW CAPTIVE. 



229 



a full and happy heart the stranger then took j 
leave of the prophet and departed towards his I 
own home. The young maid was his bene- 
factor. 

Elisha's servant Gehazi felt much annoyed 
that his master had let slip so rare an oppor- 
tunity of enriching himself, and his cupidity 
was so strongly excited that he hastened after 
the retiring chariots to see what he could get 
in his master's name. He was no sooner ob- 
served than the grateful Syrian stopped his 
chariots, and alighted to meet even the ser- 
vant of the man to whom he owed so great a 
blessing. Gehazi stated that a sudden emer- 
gency had arisen to render desirable to his 
master a portion of what he had at first de- 
clined. Naaman made him take double what 
he asked: and when he had deposited his 
precious spoil — silver and dresses — in a place 
of safety, he repaired to his master. 

Elisha plainly taxed him with his offence, 
which he. described as graphically as if the 
scene had passed before his eyes. " Went 
not my heart with thee," he said, " when the 
man turned again from his chariot to meet 
thee?" and after pointing out the enormity of 
his sin, he pronounced the awful punishment, 
that the leprosy of which Naaman had been 
cured should adhere to him and his forever. 
And he went forth from his presence a leper 
as white as snow. 

The kingdoms of Israel and Syria were soon 
again at war with each other. In the first 
campaign the Syrians were unsuccessful, as all 
their plans and operations were known to the 
prophet, and were communicated by him to 
the king of Israel. Benhadad suspected there 
was a traitor in his camp ; but his officers as- 
sured him that it was the doing of Elisha, who, 
said they, " telleth the king of Israel the words 
thou speakest in thy bed-chamber." On this 
the Syrian prince resolved to put him to 
death ; and with this view he sent by night a 
body of his best troops to invest Dothan, the 
place where the prophet then dwelt, in such a 
manner that he could not possibly escape. 

Indeed, the servant of Elisha himself deemed 
all lost when, at the break of day, he beheld 



the surrounding country covered with Syrian 
horsemen and chariots. " Fear not," said the 
prophet, " for there be more with us than with 
them ; " and he opened his eyes to behold the 
air more abundantly filled with angelic hosts, 
assembled in defence of Jehovah's servant, than 
was the land with the invading Syrians. 
Then, at the prayer of the prophet, God smote 
the Syrians with blindness ; and in that state 
he conducted them to the gates of Samaria, 
where he gave them leave to depart, after 
warning them that they were entirely at his 
mercy. 

Elisha Saves his Life. 

But this lenity made no impression upon 
the heart of Benhadad, who resolved to prose- 
cute the war with the utmost vigor. He laid 
siege to the capital, which was soon reduced 
to the utmost distress, so that the inhabitants 
were obliged to have recourse to the most un- 
wholesome and unnatural food. So dreadful 
were the extremities of famine, that several 
women, deaf to all cries of natural affection, 
and even to the common feelings of humanity, 
fed upon the flesh of their own children. 
When the king heard this in public, he rent 
his royal robes, and the people saw that under 
his magnificence he wore the sackcloth of a 
mourner upon his skin. Rendered frantic by 
the miseries that saluted his eye and ear on 
every side, he gave orders to lay hands upon 
Elisha, whom he now accused as the author 
of all the miseries which the nation endured. 
He commanded an officer to go to his house 
and take off his head, while he himself followed, 
apparently to ensure the execution. 

At that moment the prophet announced to 
him, in the name of God, that before twenty- 
four hours had passed, food, which was at that 
moment unattainable at any price, should be 
sold for next to nothing in the gate of Samaria. 

Next morning the prediction was fulfilled ; 
for during the night the Syrians had been 
struck with a supernatural panic, deserted their 
camp, and fled in the utmost confusion, leav- 
ing behind them an immense quantity of pro- 
visions, which easily became the spoil of their 
victorious pursuers. 



CHAPTER XXII. 




DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN HOST. 



MRI governed the house 
of Israel for forty-five 
years. That sagacious 
king pitched on the 
strong hill of Samaria 
as the site of his capital. 
The princes of his house 
cultivated an alliance 
with the kings of Judah, which 
was cemented by the marriage 
of Jehoram and Athaliah. The 
adoption of Baal-worship led to 
a reaction in the nation, to the 
moral triumph of the prophets in the person 
of Elijah, and to the extinction of the house 
of Ahab in obedience to the bidding of Elisha. 
Unparalleled triumphs, but deeper humilia- 
tion, awaited the kingdom of Israel under the 
dynasty of Jehu. Hazael, the ablest king of 
Damascus, reduced Jehoahaz to the condition 
of a vassal, and triumphed for a time overs 
both the disunited Hebrew kingdoms. Almost 
the first sign of a restoration of their strength 
was a war between them; and Jehoash, the 
grandson of Jehu, entered Jerusalem as the 
conqueror of Amaziah. Jehoash also turned 
the tide of war against the Syrians ; and Je- 
roboam II., the most powerful of all the kings 
of Israel, captured Damascus, and recovered 
the whole ancient frontier from Hamath to the 
Dead Sea. This short-lived greatness expired 
with the last king of Jehu's line. 

In these paths of righteousness Hezekiah, 
king of Judah, found prosperity and peace, 
during and after the very time which brought 
ruin upon the sister kingdom. He more than 
repaired the losses of power and dominion 
which the kingdom had sustained in the life- 
time of his father. 

The king of Judah was at length encouraged 
by this prosperity to withhold the heavy tribute 
(230) 



which his father had agreed to pay to the 
Assyrians. As he took this bold step, when 
the Assyrians were too much engaged else- 
where to attend to him, he did not immedi- 
ately experience its full consequences. At 
length, however, Shalmaneser died, and was 
succeeded by his son Sennacherib, who very 
soon invaded the kingdom with a great army, 
with the full intention of reducing Judah to 
the same condition to which the land of Israel 
had been reduced by his father. 

He subdued the whole country with little 
difficulty, as Hezekiah deemed himself unable 
to meet him in the field ; and Jerusalem itself 
being threatened with a siege, the king of 
Judah at length sent to Sennacherib, who was 
then besieging Lachish, humbly acknowledg- 
ing his offence, and offering to submit to the 
conditions which the Assyrians might think 
proper to impose. The desire of Sennacherib 
to proceed against Egypt, which formed his 
ulterior object, made him willing to listen to 
this application; and he demanded three hun- 
dred talents of silver and thirty talents of 
gold ; and this was paid by Hezekiah, although 
to raise it he was constrained to exhaust the 
royal and the sacred treasures, and even to 
strip off the gold with which the doors and 
pillars of the temple were overlaid. 

Sennacherib received the treasure of Heze- 
kiah ; but after he had taken Ashdod, one of 
the keys of Egypt, he began to think that it 
would be imprudent to have the power of 
Judah essentially unbroken in the rear. He 
therefore determined to complete the subjuga- 
tion of Judah in the first place — and his recent 
observations, with the humble submission of 
Hezekiah, could not lead him to expect much" 
delay or difficulty in the enterprise. He soon 
reduced all the places before which he ap- 
peared, except Libnah and Lachish, and ex- 



232 



PROPHECY OF ISAIAH. 



cept Jerusalem, to which he sent his general 
Rabshakeh, with a very haughty summons to 
surrender. 

Isaiah the prophet was sent to Hezekiah 
with the assurance — " Lo, I will send a blast 
upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and 
shall return to his own land, and I will cause 
him to fall by the sword in his own land." 
The rumor by which Sennacherib was alarmed 
and interrupted was no other than the report 
which was spread abroad that Tirhakah, the 
Ethiopian king of Upper Egypt, was marching 
with an immense army to cut off his retreat. 
He then determined to withdraw ; but he first 
sent a boastful and insulting letter to Hezekiah, 
defying the God of Israel, and threatening 
what destruction he would execute upon the 
nation when he returned. But that very night 
an immense proportion of the Assyrian host, 
even one hundred and eight}' thousand men, 
were smitten by the blast which the prophet 
had foretold. Sennacherib, being unable to 
meet Tirhakah with the shattered remains of 
his army, returned to Nineveh, where in the 
exasperation of his overthrow and loss he be- 
haved with great severity to the captive Isra- 
elites. But his career was soon closed ; for 
fifty-two days after his return he was slain, 
while worshipping in the house of the god 
Nisroch, by his two eldest sons. Thus was 
the prophecy of Isaiah in every point accom- 
plished. The parricides fled into Armenia, 
leaving the throne open to their younger 
brother, whose name was Esarhaddon. These 
blows so weakened the Assyrian monarchy as 
not only to relieve Hezekiah from his appre- 
hensions but enabled the Babylonians and the 
Medes to assert their independence. 

This destruction of Sennacherib's proud 
host is vividly portrayed in one of the poems 
of Lord Byron : 

The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, 
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold ; 
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, 
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. 

Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
That host with their banners at sunset were seen; 



Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown. 
That host on the morrow lay withered and slrown. 

For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast. 
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ; 
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, 
And their hearts but once heaved — and forever grew still. 

And there lay the steed, with his nostril all wide, 
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride, 
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, 
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf. 

And there lay the rider, distorted and pale, 
With the dew on his brow, aifd the rust on liis mail ; 
And the tents were all silent — the banners alone — 
The lances unlifted — the trumpets unblown. 

And the widows of Asshur are loud in their wail, 
And the idols are broken in the temple of IJ.ial ; 
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, 
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord ! 

The miraculous overthrow of the Assyrians 
made a strong impression on the people, and 
probably went far in curing the idolatrous 
predilections which had been fostered during 
the reign of Ahaz. To this we may also in 
part attribute the embassy which Hezekiah 
received from Merodach Baladan, the king of 
Babylon, although this may be primarily 
ascribed to the desire of this monarch, who 
had thrown off the yoke of Assyria, to estab- 
lish a good understanding with a monarch 
whose position, with regard to that empire, 
resembled his own. 

Great Display of Wealth. 

Since the time of Solomon no embassy 
from so distant a region had been seen in 
Jerusalem ; and Hezekiah felt much flattered 
by the respect and honor which it implied. 
He took great pains to magnify his importance, 
and to let the stranger see that he was really 
entitled to all the attention he had received 
from their master. He displayed to them his 
treasures, his rarities, his arsenals, his establish- 
ments — he was at the very summit of self- 
exaltation when he was suddenly cast down 
by the appearance of the prophet Isaiah, who 
asked him what he had shown to the strangers. 
The king ingenuously acknowledged that 
there was nothing in his palace or among his 



DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN HOST. 



233 



treasures that he had not displayed before 
them ; on which the prophet uttered the chill- 
ing oracle, " Behold the days come that all 
that is in thine house, and all that thy fathers 



exalted spirits much ; but as he understood 
that these evils were not to come to pass in 
his own days, he abstained from giving way 
to his grief. 




HEZEKIAH EXHIBITING HIS TREASURES.- 



Kincrs xx. m. 



have laid up in store unto this day, shall be 
carried unto Babylon ; nothing shall be left, 
saith the Lord." This must have damped his 



Hezekiah was "gathered to his fathers" 
after having reigned twenty-nine years and 
lived fifty-four. If this king had died fifteen. 



234 



MANASSEH'S EVIL REIGN. 



years before, according to the prophecy of 
Isaiah, a prophecy which was reversed and 
failed of fulfilment by reason of Hezekiah's 
prayer for life, he would have left no son, 
for his son Manasseh was only twelve years 
old when his father died ; and it would have 
been better for Judah that he should have died 
childless than to leave a son who took delight 
in undoing all the good of his father's reign — 
and such was Manasseh. 

This prince was on his accession unfortu- 
nately soon surrounded by princes and cour- 
tiers friendly to idolatry, and opposed to the 
reformations which the late king had taken so 
much pains to accomplish. They were not 
slow to perceive that their return to power 
depended upon the degree of influence which 
they might be enabled to establish over the 
mind of the young king ; while the friends of 
the established institutions felt perhaps too 
secure in their position to hold a proper guard 
against the machinations of their invidious 
opponents. The latter, by flattering and 
humoring Manasseh, succeeded in training 
him to rely upon them, and to concur in their 
wishes. 

A Wicked Ruler. 

In the end, he probably went further than 
his leaders intended ; for he proved the most 
impious and wicked king that had ever reigned 
either in Jerusalem or Samaria. He not only 
restored the idolatries of his grandfather Ahaz, 
but he totally suppressed the worship of 
Jehovah, converting the temple into a house 
of Baal, by placing altars dedicated to that 
idol in its courts, and setting up his image in 
the very sanctuary of God. He filled his 
■dominions with high places, groves, and altars 
-consecrated to the service of Baalim, and 
caused his children to pass through the fire to 
Moloch. 

The nation, too, readily falling in with the 
king's designs and wishes, both to obtain his 
favor and to gratify their own corrupt inclina- 
tions, hastened to introduce every kind of 
idolatry practised by the surrounding nations ; 
and proceeded to such excess of wickedness, 
that they became more corrupt and abandoned 



than the ancient Canaanites, who had been 
driven from the land to make room for their 
fathers. Prophets were in mercy sent to re- 
prove the infatuated king, and call him to 
repentance ; but their rebukes and opposition 
only roused his anger, and he caused several 
of them to be put to death. The venerable 
Isaiah, who had prophesied in Judah ever 
since the year that king Uzziah died, is gener- 
ally believed by the Jews to have been among 
the victims of his wrath. God at ' length 
made known, by one of the prophets, the full 
extent of his anger against this guilty king 
and apostate generation, and declared that he 
would " bring such evil upon Jerusalem and 
Judah, that whosoever heareth it both his ears 
shall tingle, because they had done that which 
was evil in his sight to provoke him to anger." 

The Captive King. 

Surrounding himself with a company of 
necromancers, magicians, soothsayers and the 
like, Manasseh listened to them with content, 
and closed his ears against all good advice. A 
tyrant as well as a fool, he made blood to flow 
in the streets of Jerusalem like water, and de- 
voted his own children by fire to strange gods 
in the blood-stained valley of Ben Hinhom. 
Then, when things were at the worst, came the 
Assyrians, and made conquest, and took Ma- 
nasseh alive, and bound him with fetters, and 
carried him away captive, and in captivity he 
remained for about twelve years. We read in 
the second book of Chronicles that " when he- 
was in affliction he besought the Lord his God, 
and humbled himself greatly before the God 
of his father, and prayed unto Him." The 
Apocrypha contains a prayer which purports 
to be that of Manasseh. When he was per- 
mitted to return to his kingdom, he endeavored 
to right the wrong he had previously done, 
and no doubt ran, as such men do, from one 
extreme to the other. 

Anion, his son and successor, reigned for 
two years only: he imitated his father's ex- 
ample in everything but penitence, and was 
murdered by his own servants at the age of 
four and twenty, leaving the kingdom in the 



DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN HOST. 



235 



hands of his child, Josiah. Josephus says, 
" He was of a most excellent disposition, and 
naturally virtuous, and followed the actions of 
king David as a pattern and a rule to him in 
the whole conduct of his life." 

According to this historian, when Josiah 
was twelve years old " he gave demonstration 
of his religion and righteous behavior;" for 
he brought the people to a sober way of living, 
and exhorted them to leave off the opinion 
thev had of their idols, because they were not 



he succeeded so well in the order of his gov- 
ernment, and in piety, with regard to the 
Divine worship ; and this happened because 
the transgressions of the former kings were 
seen no more, but quite vanished away ; for 
the king went about the city and the whole 
country, and cut down the groves that were 
devoted to strange gods, and overthrew their 
altars ; and if there were any gifts dedicated 
to them by his forefathers, he made them igno- 
minious, and plucked them down ; and by this 




KING JJSIAH DESTROYING i HE IDOLS. — 2 Chron. XXxiv. 4. 



gods, but to worship their own God ; and, by 
reflecting on the actions of his progenitors, he 
prudently corrected what they did wrong, like 
a very elderly man, and like one abundantly 
able to understand what was fit to be done ; 
and what he found they had well done, he ob- 
served all the country over, and imitated the 
same; and thus he acted, in following the 
wisdoraand sagacity of his own nature, and in 
compliance with the advice and instruction of 
the elders ; for by following the law it was that 



means he brought the people back from their 
opinions about them to the worship of God. 
Josiah repaired the temple; he made public 
collections, and without waiting for the receipt 
of any large amount, -put the contractors to 
work, relying on the liberality of the nation." 
The nation handsomely responded to the 
call ; there was money enough, and more than 
enough subscribed for all essential expenses ; 
the rest of the money- Josiah ordered to be ex- 
pended in golden vessels for the holy service — 



236 



MAGNIFICENT CEREMONIES. 



sacramental plate, as it were, in place of that 
which had been carried off by invaders or 
misappropriated by kings and priests. In the 
thorough restoration of the Temple, the books 
of Moses were discovered, and taken to Josiah. 

Startling Words. 

When the king heard the great and terrible 
words from the book of the law, which was 
read to him by Shaphan, he rent his clothes, 
and evinced great consternation and fear. 
From this it is generally supposed that the 
portion which was first read to Josiah was the 
twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth chapters of 
Deuteronomy; and these were doubtless well 
calculated to convince him that the guilt and 
danger of his people were much greater than 
he had apprehended, and to draw forth the 
signs of sorrow and humiliation which he 
manifested. Being thus led to fear that the 
sentence of wrath had already gone forth, on 
account of the notorious disobedience of his 
predecessors, and the crimes of his own gen- 
eration, Josiah sent to Huldah, the prophetess, 
to inquire of the Lord for himself, and for the 
people, concerning the words of the book that 
was found. The answer was, that the king- 
dom and the city were indeed doomed to ruin, 
but seeing that he had himself manifested 
sincere dispositions towards God, he should 
have his reward in being gathered to his 
fathers before the evil days came. But al- 
though the strict terms of this response left 
Josiah to conclude that the day of mercy for 
Judah had gone by, he none the less endeav- 
ored to recall the people to a sense of their 
enormous guilt and wickedness, and to make 
them engage with piety and sincerity in the 
worship of God. Accordingly, having assem- 
bled the people in the spacious courts of the 
Temple, he caused the law to be there read to 
them, after which he on his part, and they on 
theirs, bound themselves in the most solemn 
manner to serve the Lord only, and to observe 
the commandments of the book which had 
been read. 

After this the king make another tour 
through his kingdom, thoroughly to root out 



every fragment of the accursed thing which 
had brought so much evil upon the land. The 
zealous king even extended his pious labor 
into the land of Israel, at least so far as Bethel, 
which had been the chief seat of the golden- 
calf idolatry under the kings of Israel. He 
destroyed the altar and high place of Jeroboam, 
after first polluting them by burning upon them 
the bones of men taken out of the adjoining 
sepulchres. In the course of this proceeding 
the king observed that one of the sepulchres 
was distinguished by an inscription, and when 
informed that it was the tomb of the man of 
God who had, ages before, foretold the very 
deed in which he was then engaged, he for- 
bore to disturb the dust which it enclosed. 

Celebrating- the Passover. 

After this Josiah returned to Jerusalem and 
prepared to celebrate the Passover, which had 
again been neglected, but which was on this 
occasion observed with a degree of solemnity 
and magnificence even exceeding that ex- 
hibited in the celebrated Passover of Hezekiah. 
In describing that Passover, the historian 
affirms that there had been none like it since 
the time of Solomon ; but in describing 
Josiah 's Passover, he goes much further, and 
affirms that there had been none like it since 
the time of Samuel the prophet. 

Josiah continued to reign thirteen years 
after this remarkable solemnity; and during 
these years he walked steadily in the ways 
of righteousness and truth. But as for the 
people, although they were restrained from 
open idolatry, it appears that, to a large ex- 
tent, they relapsed secretly to their old abomi- 
nations, and under a fair outside were ripening 
inwardly for the dire judgment which hung 
over their heads. 

Meanwhile the Assyrian power was getting 
weak in the East, and was beginning to give 
way to the encroachments of the Medes and 
Chaldeans, by which it was ere long over- 
thrown. The enterprising monarch of Egypt, 
Pharaoh Necho, desiring to avail himself of 
this disadvantageous position of his old 
enemies, assembled a large army, and com— 



DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN HOST. 



237 



menced his march along the coast of Pales- I been to rely too much on Egypt, and, in con- 
tine, with the view of securing Carchemish ' fidence of its support — a confidence scarcely 




SHAPHAN READING THE LAW BEFORE KING JOSIAH. 2 Chron. XXxiv. 1 8. 

and other strong posts on the Euphrates, i ever justified by the result — to forego all 
The error of preceding kings of Judah had | their other obligations. Aware of this error, 



238 



JEHOAHAZ LOSES HIS CROWN. 



as well as mindful of his relation to Assyria, 
and of his obligation to defend the frontier 
against Egypt, Josiah resolved to oppose the 
march of Necho through his territories. This 
zeal in the discharge of what- he believed to 
be his duty to that power of which he was a 
vassal cost him his life. The king of Egypt 
was very reluctant to employ his arms against 
the king of Judah, but finding that Josiah was 
resolved to oppose his passage, he gave him 
battle. The vast host of Egypt, under one 
of the ablest commanders of the age, soon 
broke down and dispersed the thin ranks of 
Judah and proved themselves conquerors. 

A King- in Disguise. 

Josiah himself fought in disguise, but a 
commissioned arrow found him out, and in- 
flicted a mortal wound in his neck. His at- 
tendants hastened to remove him from the 
field, and, placing him in another chariot, con- 
veyed him to Jerusalem, where he died. This 
death, in the heroic and undaunted discharge 
of what he felt to be his duty, was not unworthy 
the excellent life which was thus prematurely 
brought to a close at the early age of thirty- 
nine years. The prophet Jeremiah, who fore- 
saw but too clearly the evils of the coming 
time, lamented the death of the last good 
king in a meurnful ode, which has not been 
preserved. " The singing men and singing 
women," adds the historian, " speak of Josiah 
in their lamentations unto this day;" which 
clearly evinces how long and how tenderly the 
memory of this excellent king was cherished 
among the people. 

The king of Egypt, intent upon his original 
design, tarried not to take advantage of the 
victory he had gained, which amounted to 
nothing less than the conquest of the king- 
dom. The people in these difficult circum- 
stances took the very unwise course of raising 
Jehoahaz, the second son of Josiah, to the 
throne, passing by the natural heir; and, aware 
of the respect with which the ceremony of 
anointing was regarded by the Egyptians, they 
took the unusual course of anointing him king, 
with the apparent view of making it more 



difficult for Necho to annul their proceedings. 
When, however, the Egyptian king returned, 
about three months after, victorious over the 
Assyrians, and understood what had taken 
place, he was highly displeased. 

The new king was summoned to meet his 
now sovereign master at Riblah in Syria, 
where he was deprived of the crown he had 
too hastily assumed, and the land was con- 
demned to pay in tribute a hundred talents of 
silver and a talent of gold. When Necho 
proceeded homeward, Jehoahaz followed in his 
train to Jerusalem, and the city of David once 
more saw its own king enter its walls a cap- 
tive. On his arrival, Necho bestowed the 
crown on Eliakim, the eldest son of Jo>iah, 
whose name he changed to Jehoiakim, accord- 
ing to a custom frequently observed by lords 
paramount towards "subject princes and slaves. 
This was a mark of subjection, but does not 
appear to have been much felt as such by 
those on whom it was imposed. Then, bear- 
ing off the silver and gold which had been 
levied upon the people, Necho returned to 
Egypt, taking with him the captive Jehoahaz, 
who there terminated his short and inglorious 
career, according to the prophecies of Jere- 
miah. 

Jehoiakim, the vassal of Egypt, was twenty- 
five years old when he began to reign, and he 
sat eleven years upon the throne of Judah. 
He was little disposed to carry out the designs 
of his excellent father; but suffered all the 
goodly order which he had established to be 
broken up, and neglected to enforce and ex- 
emplify the principles by which his conduct 
had been guided. The people, who had never 
cordially entered into the late king's reforma- 
tions, now gladly availed themselves of the 
license which the example of the court af- 
forded, and hastened to plunge with new zest 
into their old- abominations. On this the 
prophet Jeremiah, being divinely commis- 
sioned, proceeded to the palace, and in the 
presence of the king denounced the judgments 
of God upon him and his, unless by timely re- 
pentance he turned the Divine wrath aside. 

From the palace the prophet proceeded to 




(239) 



240 



JEREMIAH BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 



the Temple, and called the people to repentance, 
intimating that their incensed God might yet 
be pacified if- they would but turn from their 
evil way; and forewarning them that their im- 
penitence would ere long be punished by the 
overthrow of their great city, and the destruc- 
tion of their holy place : the priests then 
present were angered by this last intimation, 
and they laid their hands upon the prophet 
and took him before the royal council. But 
in that council Jeremiah had a warm friend in 
Ahikam, who pleaded for and even justified 
him with so much earnestness, that he was 
dismissed without injury. 

One cannot but be impressed with the fidel- 
ity of the Prophet Jeremiah. He foresaw the 
coming downfall, and by it his whole soul was 
stirred. Gladly would he have saved his na- 
tion and delivered it from the impending crisis; 
his weapon, however, was the tongue of 
prophecy, and not the sword of steel. It 
seems singular to us that a bold, conscientious, 
devout man like Jeremiah, speaking the truth, 
should have been so resisted and persecuted 
by those whose welfare he was seeking. Yet 
so it is ; the best things in the world and the 
truest have to fight their way. 

It needed just such a man as Jeremiah for 
the emergency which had come upon the 



Hebrew nation. The star that had shone so 
long refulgent in the sky was waning, and the 
murky gloom of dying empire was settling 
upon the land of Solomon, David and Moses. 
There comes a time in the great onward move- 
ment of national affairs when disaster is not 
to be averted. Nations and men travel on to 
their doom, and each step is but the natural 
successor of what has gone before. 

There is something sad in the contempla- 
tion of the Hebrew nation face to face with 
Babylonia, as we find her at the present time. 
The powers of the P^ast are bent upon the 
destruction of the powers of the West — the 
Orient and the Occident in conflict, while it is 
as true in this early period as it is to-day that 
" Westward the star of empire takes its way." 
That the captivity of the Jews should have 
been so complete and overwhelming is but the 
natural outcome of those sins and idolatries 
against which they had been repeatedly 
warned. Yet how sad, how strange, that a 
chosen people should thus be humiliated and 
ground to powder as between upper and 
nether millstones! Let nations take warning 
that the time of their retribution does not 
slumber, and know that 

" Though the mills of God grind slowly, 
Yet they grind exceedingly small." 




CHAPTER XXIII. 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



IEREMIAH was then Divinely 
charged to declare the doom 
which impended over the nation, 
the desolation of the land, the 
exile of its people, and the cap- 
tivity of seventy years. But as 
all this had no effect upon their 
obdurated minds, the prophet was 
directed to take a roll, and write 
thereon all the prophecies which 
he had at different times uttered 
against the city and people. This 
he did by the hand of one of his 
disciples, named Baruch, a ready 
scribe, who wrote them down from 
his lips. When the roll was fin- 
ished, the prophet, who was then 
in prison on account of his former 
| "L predictions, sent Baruch to read it 

» ' in the Temple, to the people then 

-assembled at the great feast of Expiation; 
which he was suffered to do without molesta- 
tion. 

Soon after this, the Chaldeans appeared be- 
fore Jerusalem, which held out against them 
for five weeks, when the holy city was taken, 
and the king was put in chains to be carried 
to Babylon. But having humbled himself be- 
fore the conqueror, who was still desirous to 
maintain a barrier on the side of Egypt, he 
-was restored to his kingdom, as a tributary 
prince, and Nebuchadnezzar was content to 
withdraw with the vessels and other golden 
spoils of the Temple, with which he sent away 
to Babylon several members of the royal 
family, and sons of the principal nobles, to ag- 
grandize his triumph, and to serve as hostages 
for the fidelity of their king. 

The later exiles found themselves not alto- 
gether strangers at Babylon, or in the other 
places to which they were transplanted. Their 
16 



countrymen of the earlier captivities were set- 
tled in various stations and employments, and 
some of them held posts of trust under the 
government. By that government they were 
regarded not as prisoners, but as useful emi- 
grants ; and, after a while, they appear to have 
experienced no other inconveniences than those 
which naturally flowed from their regrets after 
their own beautiful land; from their position 
as strangers in a strange country; from the 
derision of the natives at the peculiarities of 
their religion ; and, very probably, from a dis- 
tinctive poll-tax, from which the natives were 
exempt. 

When Nebuchadnezzar died, he was suc- 
ceeded by his son Evilmerodach, who imme- 
diately released king Jehoiachin, who had 
grown old in prison, and gave him the highest 
place among the discrowned kings who figured 
in his court and took their meat at his table. 
But he, who had been thirty-seven years in 
his prison, survived not long his release, for 
the record implies that he died before his bene- 
factor, who himself reigned but three years. 

It may be well to bear in mind that at the 
time of the accession of Cyrus, who issued the 
decree for the restoration of the Jews to their 
own land, all but a few very old people had 
been born in the country of their exile, and 
had grown up, and formed connections, and 
found sources of profitable employment in it. 
This being considered, we have the more rea- 
son to admire the strength of that religious 
zeal, and that attachment to the land of their 
fathers, which led them to brave the horrors 
of the desert, and the discomforts of a deso- 
lated country, rather than to feel surprise that 
a large proportion deemed it better to remain 
in the land of their exile. 

It had long before the event been announced 
by the prophets that the period of the exile 

(241) 



242 



THE PERSIAN KINGS. 



was to be seventy years, counting from the 
first captivity under Jehoiachin. When those 
seventy years had expired, Cyrus, the Persian, 
had just succeeded to the throne of the East, 
on the death of his uncle Darius. This mon- 
arch was the restorer of Israel, to which work 
he had been appointed by name many years 
before he was born. At his accession to power 
in Babylon, Daniel the prophet was still alive, 
and there is every reason to conclude that this 
venerable personage was high in the esteem of 
that illustrious conqueror. The prophet knew 
well that the time was come for the restora- 
tion of the captives to the land of their fathers, 
and there is every probability that it was 
through his influence that the decree in favor 
of the Jews was issued. 

It is highly probable that those important 
prophecies which refer to Cyrus were shown 
to him and explained to him by the prophet. 
If not, this must have been done by some 
other Jew ; for the decree itself indicates his 
acquaintance with these prophecies, stating 
what he could only have known through them. 
It begins — " Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia : 
Jehovah, the God of heaven, hath given me all 
the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged 
me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which 
is in Judah." This as plainly as possible states 
that he had acted under the injunctions of 
Jehovah, whom he recognizes as "the King 
of heaven," and by implication the King of 
earth, seeing that he had "given him " all the 
kingdoms of the earth. 

The importance of this decree has been 
somewhat exaggerated. It by no means in- 
volved the political emancipation of the He- 
brews, or conferred upon them any new or dis- 
tinguishing privileges. The yoke of civil bond- 
age was still left upon their necks, they were 
still subjects — not merely tributaries, but sub- 
jects — of the Persian empire, and their fair 
country was but a province of it, to be ruled 
by Persian governors. They were simply per- 
mitted to remove from one part of the empire 
to another, from the plains to which their con- 
querors had removed them, to the ancient hills 
in which their fathers dwelt, with encourage- 



ment to re-establish themselves there in the 
full enjoyment of the worship to which they 
were known to be strongly attached. 

In these facts we have another explanation 
of the circumstance that there were very many 
Israelites — a great majority — who found in the 
famous decree no sufficient inducement to 
abandon the possessions they had acquired in 
the land of their exile; and it has always been 
the impression of the Jews themselves that the 
flower of their nation declined to avail them- 
selves of the benefit extended to them, but 
chose rather to remain amidst the comforts and 
ease of Babylon. 

The Exiles Returning. 

The noble, the high-descended, the wealthy, 
are called " the flower " of any nation ; and 
these were the classes who chose to remain in 
the East : but we cannot well refuse to regard 
as the real flower of the Hebrew nation the 
zealous and devoted minority, who sighed for 
the land of their fathers, and who, in the face 
of danger and privation, resolved to return to 
it. Those who were thus disposed were awak- 
ened by the decree as by the sound of a 
trumpet, and hastened from all parts to Baby- 
Ion, the place of rendezvous. 

This first caravan of returning exiles was 
organized and directed by Zerubbabel, the 
grandson of King Jehoiachin, and by Jeshua 
the high-priest. The number of persons which 
composed it was fifty thousand, including 
about seven thousand male and female slaves. 
Before their departure Cyrus restored to them 
the more valuable of the sacred vessels of 
gold and silver which had been taken from the 
Temple of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and 
preserved by his successors, and which were 
now destined to be again employed in the ser- 
vice of the sanctuary. Zerubbabel was also 
intrusted with large contributions towards the 
expenses of the projected Temple by those 
Jews who thought proper to remain in the 
land of their exile, and who probably hoped 
in this way to compensate for the deficiency 
of their personal service in the sacred cause. 

The beasts of burden in this caravan ex- 




KING CYRUS BRINGING FOR" 



'243) 



244 



CROSSING THE DESERT. 



ceeded eight thousand, and in the Book of 
Ezra the names of those families which re- 
turned then, and in the subsequent migration, 
are very carefully set down, as if to do them 
honor. 

The persons who prepared to accompany 
Ezra to Jerusalem rendezvoused on the banks 
of the river Ahava, and their body was found 
to contain one thousand seven hundred and 
fifty-four adult males. This number, with the 



yet so weak, and known to be in possession 
of much treasure, would then, and would at 
this day, be exposed to great danger from the 
predatory Arab tribes which, from the date 
of the earliest historical records to the present 
day, have infested the desert country between 
Palestine and Babylonia. Ezra knew this 
well, and knew that he could easily obtain 
from the king a sufficient military escort 
across the desert. But this, for the honor of 




ARTAXERXES GIVING THE LETTER TO EZRA. — Ez. vii. II. 



usual proportion of females and children, 
would give about six thousand souls for the 
entire party ; but it is likely that the women 
and children were not in the usual proportions 
of settled and domestic life, but that the op- 
portunity was embraced chiefly by young men 
unburdened with families. This idea is con- 
firmed by the too great readiness which we 
find among the returned Hebrews to contract 
marriages with the daughters of their heathen 
neighbors in Palestine. A party so large, and 



God, the pious priest was unwilling to do. 
He had largely explained to the monarch the 
greatness of the God he served, as well as His 
power and readiness to preserve all His wor- 
shippers from harm ; and after this he felt that 
it behooved him to evince his own confidence 
in that protection which he had declared to be 
all-sufficient. Therefore a day was solemnly 
set apart for fasting and prayer, upon the 
banks of the Ahava, by which, before they 
commenced their march, they cast themselves 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



245 



without reserve upon the mercy and care of 
God during the perilous journey they were 
about to commence. 

This confidence in the Divine protection 
was well rewarded, for after a long- journey 
of four months — which implies long halts 
— the new settlers arrived safely at Jerusalem, i 

Ezra without delay opened his commission ! 
to the royal officers in that quarter, and then j 
applied himself with much zeal to the arduous 
task which had devolved upon him. 

A Great Evil. 

In the book which bears his name Ezra does 
not himself particularly record any of his acts, 
excepting the measures which he took to in- 
sure the removal of the foreign and idolatrous 
women, whom many of the people, and even 
of the priests and Levites, had married, and 
by such marriages had been insensibly led 
into much sin against God and against the 
first principles of the Mosaical institutions. 

When Ezra was first informed of this, the 
horror which he manifested was well calcu- 
lated to impress the people with the enormity 
of their offence. He says : " When I heard 
this thing I rent my garment and my mantle, 
and plucked off the hair of my head and of 
my beard, and sat down astonied." At the 
evening sacrifice he arose from his stupor, and 
having again rent his robes he fell upon his 
knees and spread out his hands before God, 
confessing the iniquity of his people, and im- 
ploring forgiveness for them. The whole con- 
gregation was deeply affected, even to tears ; 
and the leading men expressed their readiness 
to concur in any measures he might deem 
suited to meet this great evil. 

On this a proclamation was issued for all 
Jews who had married foreign women to ap- 
pear in three days at Jerusalem, under pain 
of forfeiture of their goods. The large assem- 
bly which responded to the call evinced the 
extent of the evil. Ezra addressed them ear- 
nestly, and convinced them of their wrong- 
doing; but as the autumnal rains were set in 
and flooded every open place in Jerusalem, he- 
was content to take their solemn promise to 



put away their strange wives, as well as their 
children by them, allowing them time for giv- 
ing effect to their engagement. Ezra and 
others formed a court at Jerusalem ; and at 
appointed times the inhabitants of the several 
cities who were implicated in this matter re- 
paired thither, accompanied by the elders and 
magistrates of their several towns, and sub- 
mitted their cases separately to the judgment 
of the court. After sitting nearly three 
months the court completed its labors, and 
the chosen people were then deemed to be 
purged from this stain. 

While Ezra was thus laboring among his 
brethren in Jerusalem, a danger came from a 
quarter quite unexpected, which threatened to 
involve the whole nation in utter ruin. This 
event is minutely recorded in the Book of 
Esther, which will require us to look backward 
a few years, that the circumstances may be 
clearly understood. 

A Magnificent Feast. 

In the third year of his reign the king made 
a great feast, or rather a succession of feasts, 
to all the. great lords and princes of his em- 
pire. The whole was finished by a separate 
feast, held in the court or garden of the palace, 
to all the nobles, councillors and great officers 
in immediate employment at the court. The 
description of this establishment is very inter- 
esting to the student of ancient customs ; and 
the more closely they are in this instance ex- 
amined the more they are found to resemble 
those which the same country still exhibits, 
affording a remarkable example of the perma- 
nent character of Oriental ideas and usages. 

The magnificence of this entertainment 
seems to have greatly exceeded all that went 
before. The tessellated pavement of the 
court was of red, blue, black, and white mar- 
ble ; and the splendid curtains and coverings 
of white, green, and blue, by which the court 
"was for the occasion turned into a pavilion, 
were fastened to pillars of marble by rings of 
silver, and by cords of purple and fine linen ; 
and the couches on which the guests reclined 
were framed in silver and gold. 



246 



ESTHER CHOSEN QUEEN. 



The guests drank "royal wine," which was 
the wine of Helbon (now Aleppo), from ves- 
sels of gold, of elaborate workmanship ; and 
we are informed that they drank their wine 
" according to the law," which was, it seems, 
an excellent rule laid down at the first, that 
none should be forced to drink more than he 
liked. It does not seem that they much 
needed compulsion in this matter, . for it is 
manifest that the monarch and his guests had 
all drunk quite enough when the circumstance 
occurred to which these preliminaries lead. 
There is no doubt about this, for it is expressly 
said that " the king's heart was merry with 
wine." 

It seems that in their cups these great per- 
sonages began to talk about the beauty of 
their women. The king vaunted of the su- 
preme loveliness of his queen, Vashti, and at 
length, to prove his assertions, resolved to 
produce her unveiled before them. This gross 
breach of all Oriental proprieties, which pre- 
clude a woman from showing her face to 
strangers, could not have occurred to any one 
in his proper senses, and is a clear sign to 
mark how far the great Ahasuerus was gone 
in drink. 

The queen Vashti was at this time giving a 
grand entertainment to the women of the 
harem ; and when the eunuchs unwelcomely 
appeared with -the strange and unexpected 
summons to the presence of the king and his 
courtiers, her womanly modesty and dignity 
was shocked, and she very properly refused 
to go. This gave the affair quite a new 
aspect. The man whose slightest expression 
of will was a law in that vast empire had 
been publicly disobeyed by a woman. An 
earthquake could not have created a stronger 
sensation in the palaces of Shusan ; and all 
the grandees partook of the royal indignation 
and alarm. The fact could not but be bruited 
abroad, and how, hereafter, could any man 
expect to be obeyed in his own house, after it 
became known that the king himself had 
been disobeyed ? The matter was too grave 
to be settled in a summary manner, and the 
king sought the advice of his state council. 



Memucan, one of the council, very clearly 
expressed the feeling we have described — the 
alarm at the ill effect of the queen's example 
upon " the ladies of Media and Persia," if the 
crime were suffered to go unpunished; and 
he proposed that Vashti should no more come 
into the king's presence, and that her royal 
state should be given " to another that is bet- 
ter than she." This was agreed to, as was 
also the further and very sage proposal of this 
same great councillor, that the king should 
put forth a decree in all the languages of his 
great empire, enacting that " every man should 
bear rule in his own house," and that " all the 
wives should give to their husbands honor, 
both to great and small." 

Queen Vashti Dethroned. 

History has not recorded the effect of this 
decree upon " the ladies of Media and Persia." 
Vashti was, however, deposed from her high 
place, and all the provinces of the empire 
were ransacked for a suitable successor. The 
fairest damsels of the empire were, on a hint 
from the court, taken and sent to the harem 
by the provincial and other governors ; and 
from the number thus collected, after they 
had become the inmates of the royal harem, 
the selection was to be made. Time was con- 
sumed in this ; but at length it proved that 
of all the damsels thus brought together none 
was so agreeable to the king as a young Jewess 
named Hadessah or Esther, who was accord- 
ingly advanced to the high but precarious 
honor of " queen." 

Esther was an orphan, who had been 
brought up by her uncle Mordecai, who, when 
her father and mother were dead, " took her 
for his own daughter." Mordecai was of the 
tribe of Benjamin, descended from a man who 
had been exiled with King Jehoiachin. He 
seems to have been one of the officers about the 
royal court, as his duty kept him in attendance 
at the gate of the royal palace. In this ca- 
pacity he became privy to a plot between two 
of the chamberlains to assassinate the king ; 
| but he contrived to make it known to Esther, 
[and through her to the king, whereby the 




QUEEN VASHTI REFUSING TO OBEY THE KING'S COMMAND. Esr. i. 12. 



(247) 



248 



HAMAN'S ANGER. 



design was frustrated, and the traitors brought J 
to punishment. 

The person who became highest in favor at [ 
court was an Amalekite named Hainan. 
Mindful of the old enmity between the races of 
Israel and Amalek, and of the ancient wrongs 
which Israel had sworn never to pardon or 
forget — Mordecai remained erect among the 
crowd of nobles, courtiers, and officers who 
waited in the palace courts, and who rendered 
their bending homage to the great man as he 
passed. This occurred so often that the eye 
of Haman at length marked the person of this 
unyielding Jew, and none but those who are 
aware of the importance which the Orientals 
still at this day attach to external marks of 
respect can apprehend that dire wrath which 
filled his mind at this studied disrespect. 

Fiendish Kesolve. 

When he learned that Mordecai was a 
Hebrew he could not but be aware of the 
class of feelings by which he was actuated ; 
and if an Israelite had cause to hate an 
Amalekite, had not an Amalekite as good 
cause to hate a Jew ? Had not the Hebrews 
sworn to exterminate the Amalekites ; and to 
the extent of their power had not they done 
so? Had not that power which was once so 
great, that " higher than Agag " had become a 
proverbial description of the highest human 
greatness — had it not been broken and reduced 
to nought by the conquering sword of Hebrew 
kings ? And their hate was not yet appeased ; 
for this one Jew could be but regarded as the 
exponent of the feeling which burned in every 
Hebrew bosom against the line of Amalek. 

Thoughts like these must have dwelt upon 
the mind of Haman, for they enable us to dis- 
cover, which we cannot do under any other 
explanation, a train of ideas and feelings which 
might in an ill-regulated mind lead to the 
resolution which Haman formed, to use the 
vast power which the confidence of the king 
left in his hands for the destruction of the 
whole Hebrew race. 

Not a little remarkable is the mode in 
which Haman proceeded to realize his object. 



He took an occasion of mentioning to the- 
king that there was dispersed through his 
empire a people (not naming them) " whose 
laws are diverse from all people, neither keep 
they the king's laws ; " he hence argued that 
it was detrimental to the interests of the crown 
that such a people should be suffered to exist; 
and he, therefore, recommended that they 
should be destroyed. 

The only reasonable objection which could 
be urged would be the loss to the revenue of 
the capitation tax which these people paid ; 
and, to obviate this, Haman offered to deposit 
in the royal treasury not less than ten thou- 
sand talents of silver. The offer of this im- 
mense sum, which, computed by the Baby- 
lonian talent, is equal to ten million dollars — 
and that for the mere purpose of gratifying a 
bloody whim — evinces the vast wealth which 
such favorites of the crown under the ancient 
monarchies were able to accumulate; and this 
is the more remarkable when we consider 
that this high post was, as in this case, often 
occupied by foreigners and slaves, or by the 
descendants of such. The king declined this 
offer, but consented to what he ought to have 
declined. With culpable, but truly Oriental,, 
indifference in a matter which concerned the 
lives of so many thousands of people, he took 
I the signet ring from his finger and consigned 
it to Haman, by which act he authorized him 
to issue in the king's name whatever orders in 
this matter he might think proper. 

A Horrid Massacre Decreed. 

Thus empowered, Haman hurried the royal 
scribes in preparing copies, in different lan- 
guages, of a decree which he drew up to ac- 
complish his fell intentions, and which were 
despatched by swift couriers to all the provinces 
of that mighty empire, which extended "from 
India to Ethiopia." This decree directed that 
all the Jews, wherever found, were to be slain 
in one day, " both young and old, little chil- 
dren and women." The one day appointed 
for this horrid massacre was the thirteenth of 
the month Adar, and the people were incited: 
to become the willing- agents of the slaughter 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



249 



by the slayer being authorized to take to him- 
self the spoil of the slain. 

It will be seen that the desire of Haman to 
make the destined stroke complete, instant, 
and effectual, induced him to take measures 
which required time to bring into action ; and 
during that time, in the wise providence of 
God, circumstances occurred which Haman 
could not have foreseen, and which brought 
his deep-laid scheme to nothing. 

When the decree was first put forth in the 
metropolis, " the city Shushan was perplexed; " 
but "the king and Haman sat down to drink." 

No sooner did Mordecai become acquainted 
with the decree than he " rent his clothes, and 
put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into 
the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and 
bitter cry." This appears to have been not 
only the expression of his consternation in the 
usual way, but to have been designed to draw 
the attention of the Jews to the extent of their 
danger, and to rouse them to pray to God for 
deliverance from the frightful doom which 
hung over the chosen race. 

Esther within the harem was as one dead to 
all that happened beyond its walls. She knew 
nothing of the evil that threatened her people, 
and Mordecai could have no direct access to 
her or communication with her. Her slaves 
and eunuchs, however, knew of her relationship 
to Mordecai ; and his conduct was duly re- 
ported to her by them. This was doubtless 
partly his object in giving vent to such public 
demonstrations of his grief. For Esther no 
sooner heard of the sorrow her beloved uncle 
manifested, than she sent Hatach, one of the 
royal eunuchs, to inquire the cause of his 
grief. This gave Mordecai the desired oppor- 
tunity of apprising the queen of these trans- 
actions, and of urging her, by every consider- 
ation dear to a Hebrew heart, to exert her 
influence with the king in subverting the plot 
of the bloodthirsty favorite. Esther was 
greatly shocked ; but surrounded by the iron 
barriers of etiquette, which in the Persian court 
were " strong as death and cruel as the grave," 
she demurred as to the practicability of her in- 
terference. 



No one, not even the queen, could venture, 
without danger of death, to appear uncalled in 
that portion of the royal palace which the king 
occupied ; and for her to quit the harem and 
enter the forbidden precincts would peril her 
life, unless the capricious king might chance, 
in a fit of good humor, to extend to her t he- 
golden sceptre of his mercy. When this dif- 
ficulty was made known to Mordecai, his an- 
swer called her to the high resolves which be- 
came a daughter of Israel, and he plainly inti- 
mated that it was her duty to risk her life for 
the deliverance of her people. He with some 
sternness warned her that if she declined this 
high vocation, God would certainly raise up 
help to his people in some other quarter, 
while she and her father's house would perish: 
"And who knoweth," he added, "whether 
thou art not come for such a time as this ? " 

Esther Risks Her Life. 

On receiving this answer through Hatach, 
Esther hesitated no longer; she rose to what 
she believed to be her destiny, and showed 
herself equal to the great task which had de- 
volved upon her. She sent one message more 
to her uncle, desiring him to call upon the 
Jews in Shushan (Susa) to devote themselves 
to fasting and prayer to God for his blessing 
upon her terrible emprise : " I also and my 
maidens," she said, " will fast likewise : and 
then will I go into the king, which is not ac- 
cording to the law ; — and if I perish, I perish." 

On the third day from this Esther put on 
her royal apparel, and passing from the harem, 
presented herself in the court of the king's 
own house, in front of the open hall or divan 
where the monarch was seated upon his throne. 
Wnen the king beheld her in all her imperial 
beauty he was moved by the danger she had 
incurred to gain access to his presence, and, 
extending the golden sceptre towards her, 
said, " What wilt thou, queen Esther, and what 
is thy request? " What a trying moment was 
that! what a relief in his gracious act and* 
words to the full heart of one not by nature or 
education suited to daring acts, but who had. 
wrought up her woman's heart to the mighty 




(250) 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



251 



task which had fallen upon her ! She knew 
that she was safe, that all danger to herself was 
passed, and that through her her people might 
yet be delivered. She advanced and touched 
the golden sceptre ; but ventured no other re- 
quest than that the king and Haman would 
that day come to a banquet which she had 
prepared. 

The king knew that this banquet was but 
preliminary to some request that Esther had 
to prefer : and accordingly, when he honored 
it with his presence, he asked her, " What wilt 
thou, queen Esther, and what is thy request? 
Even to the half of my kingdom it shall be 
performed." She answered by inviting him 
and Haman to another, feast the ensuing day, 
with an intimation that she would then make 
known the favor she had to ask. 

Haman departed that evening, elated that he 
was thus a second time invited to accompany 
the king to Esther's banquet. It filled the 
cup of his honors ; but in that cup there was 
still one bitter drop — the disrespect of Mor- 
decai ; for as he passed out of the palace in 
this happy mood, his eye fell upon the form 
of that unbending Jew, who seemed posted 
there to rebuke his spirit, and whose eye proba- 
bly glared upon him that day (knowing he had 
been with Esther) with some peculiar meaning, 
prophetic of his doom. This made him un- 
easy, and turned his joy to bitterness. 

Hainan Erects a Gallows. 

When he reached home he reported to his 
wife the favors which were showered upon 
him; adding, as to crown all, " Yea, Esther 
the queen did let no man come into the ban- 
quet that she had prepared but myself; and 
to-morrow am I invited unto her also with the 
king : " but he continued with bitterness, " Yet 
all this availeth me nothing so long as I see 
Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." 
On which his wife and friends advised him to 
prepare a gallows fifty cubits high, " and to- 
morrow speak thou unto the king that Mor- 
decai may be hanged thereon — then go thou 
merrily unto the banquet." Haman deter- 
mined to take this advice : and in the morning- 



early, he was, as his duty required, at the 
palace, to receive the king's commands for the 
day — with an intention of also making his 
small request in the matter of Mordecai. 

In the wise providence of God it was ordered 
that in this night the king had been unable to 
sleep ; and he ordered, therefore, that the 
chronicles of his kingdom should be brought 
and read before him. The hand of the reader 
was guided by an unseen power to that part 
of the volume in which the plot against the 
king's life by two of his chamberlains was re- 
corded, as well as its disclosures by Mordecai. 
Then said the king, " What honor and dignity 
hath been done to Mordecai for this ? " to 
which an officer in attendance replied, " There 
hath nothing been done for him." Struck with 
this neglect of so great a service, the monarch 
determined to repair the wrong forthwith. 
He directed that any minister in attendance in 
the ante-chamber might be called. This was 
Haman, come to ask the king to hang this 
very Mordecai. 

The king asked, " What shall be done to the 
man whom the king delighteth to honor?" 
Now Haman had not the slightest suspicion 
that the king could delight to honor anyone 
but himself, and his answer under this impres- 
sion betrays the inordinate pride and vanity of 
his heart. He advised that this favored man 
should be arrayed in the most illustrious dress 
of honor — raiment that the king himself had 
worn — by the hands of the king's most noble 
princes — and that thus arrayed he should be 
by them conducted on horseback through the 
city, while the heralds proclaimed before him 
— " Thus shall it be done to the man whom 
the king delighteth to honor." 

Was ever man cast down from the pinnacle 
of his pride into the lowest depths of mortifica- 
tion so abruptly as Haman, when the king told 
him, as one of " the king's most noble princes " 
to whom he himself had assigned this task, to 
" go and do as thou hast said to Mordecai the 
Jew, that sitteth in the king's gate ! " — to Mor- 
decai, the man in all the world whom he most 
hated, and whom he had that very morning 
intended to get hanged ! But he had only to 




lUUULJ! 





MORDECAI 



REFUSING TO PAY HOMAGE TO HAMAN. Est. V. Q. 



(252^ 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



253 



obey. With trembling hands he invested with 
imperial robes the man he would much sooner 
have torn in pieces; and conducted him through 
the city with all the state and ceremony which 
he had intended for himself. 

These events, strange as they appear to us, 
are eminently characteristic of Persia ; and so 
enduring are the essential features of Oriental 
character and usages, that there is scarcely a 
single circumstance which might not in the 
same country have occurred at the present day 
without any marked contrariety to existing 
manners. The dress of honor, and, above all, 
one that the king has worn, is still the highest 
personal distinction which a Persian courtier 
desires. 

The Queen's Banquet. 

Haman was no sooner relieved from the ter- 
rible restraint imposed upon him, than he hast- 
ened to his home " mourning and having his 
head covered." When he made known to his 
wife and friends the cause of his grief, he found 
but little consolation from them. From the 
sudden and extraordinary elevation of one 
whom Haman had destined for the gallows — 
they seem to have argued the special interpo- 
sition of a higher power in his behalf, and to 
have inferred that the star of Haman was des- 
tined to grow pale before that of Mordecai. 
" If," said they, " Mordecai be of the seed of 
the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, 
thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt 
certainly fall before him." They were still 
speaking when the royal chamberlains arrived 
to hurry Haman off to queen Esther's banquet. 

The king and his favorite proceeded to- 
gether to the banquet — the former doubtless 
-curious to know what the important matter it 
might be for which Esther had in the first in- 
stance perilled her life, and which she deemed 
it needful to introduce with so much careful 
preparation. Accordingly, at this banquet he 
.asked again, "What is thy petition, queen 
Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and 
"what is thy request ? and it shall be performed, 
even unto the half of my kingdom." 

Esther saw that the trying moment was 
come, to be then taken or. to be forever lost. 



It was not lost. She at once poured forth the 
great burden of her soul in earnest supplica- 
tion : — " If I have found favor in thy sight, O 
king, and if it please the king, let my life be 
granted to my petition, and my people at my 
request. For we are sold, I and my people, 
to be destroyed, and to be slain, and to perish. 
If we had been sold for bondmen and bond- 
women, I had held my tongue, although the 
enemy could not countervail the king's dam- 
age." 

Hainan's Downfall. 

The king was thunderstruck at the charge 
involved in this passionate address, of a con- 
spiracy in some quarter against the kfe of the 
queen and her people; and he exclaimed with 
energy, "Who is he, and where is he, that 
durst presume in his heart to do so ? " The 
queen answered, " The adversary and enemy 
is — this wicked Haman ! " At that word the 
king rose from his seat, and walked forth into 
the garden. ' Haman saw from his manner and 
the kindling of his eye that all was lost unless 
he could turn that precious moment to ac- 
count in softening the indignation of Esther. 
He rose from his place and drew near to her, 
and in earnest entreaty sought to disperse the 
dark wrath which he saw gathering around 
him. But she gave no sign of peace; and in 
his agony he fell, in a state of only half con- 
sciousness, upon the low divan whereon the 
queen reclined. 

At that moment the king entered, and in the 
blindness of his passion drew the worst infer- 
ences, from the position in which he was found, 
as to his intention in approaching the queen. 
The exclamation which rose to his lips, an- 
nounced to the ever-ready eunuchs that the 
doom of Haman was sealed ; and they ap- 
proached him and covered his face — for it was 
the etiquette in Persia that no criminal might 
look upon the king. Every miserable eunuch 
now felt free to hasten the descent of the fall- 
ing favorite ; and one of them at that moment 
mentioned — " Behold also the gallows fifty cu- 
bits high, which Haman hath made for Mor- 
decai, who had spoken good for the king, 
standing in the house of Haman." The sense 



254 



A PROMPT DECISION. 



of poetical justice supplied the king with a 
prompt decision ; and the sentence, " Hang 
him thereon!" went forth from his .lips. 

So they hanged Hainan on the gallows 
which he had prepared for Mordecai. We are 
satisfied with this ; but are not altogether sat- 
isfied that the king, who had, by his culpable 
neglect of his duties and his indifference to 
human life, made himself a party in the crimes 
of Hainan, should be the person to pronounce 
his doom. But the secret consciousness of 
the king that he had himself been in the wrong, 
only made him the more wroth against the 
man who had brought this unpleasant con- 
sciousness upon him by abusing his confidence. 

Mordecai was now introduced to the pres- 
ence of the king, whom Esther had made ac- 
quainted with their relationship; and the com- 
bination of circumstances 'in his favor induced 
the king to confide to him the signet ring (or 
as we should say, "the seals of office") which 
had been given to Haman. 

The great work of delivering the Hebrew 
people from their doom was, however, not yet 
accomplished. Haman was dead, but the de- 
cree of the king lived. Therefore, Esther be- 
sought him, even with tears, to complete his 
work by delivering her people from their still 
impending doom : — " For how," said she, " can 
I bear to see the evil that will come upon my 
people ? or how can I endure to see the de- 
struction of my kindred ?" The king evinced 
every willingness to rectify the error into which 
Haman had led him ; but he shrunk from the 
open acknowledgment of error which a di- 
rectly counter decree would have involved. 
The words of the Persian kings were laws, 
and respect for them as such could only be 
maintained by their being made inviolable. 
Hence the usage which had confided this power 
to the king is said to have constrained him to 
caution by precluding him from retracting a 
decree which had once been issued. All he 
could therefore now do was to authorize the 
Jews to stand upon their defence against those 
who attempted to execute the first edict. This 
might seem no great privilege ; but in fact it 
served to apprise the authorities of the altered 



mind of the king, and intimated to them that 
they would win more favor by neglecting than 
by enforcing the first decree. 

The execution of this measure was intrusted 
to Mordecai ; and he did not deem it of small 
importance. Copies of the order, sealed with 
the king's signet, were prepared with all pos- 
sible dispatch and forwarded to all parts of 
the empire by couriers, who were severally 
mounted on the kind of animal best suited to 
the journey they had to perform. Those who 
had an ordinary journey went on horseback ; 
those who had to traverse mountains rode on 
mules ; and those who had to speed across 
wide plains and arid deserts were mounted on 
young camels and swift dromedaries. 

They were commanded to travel with the 
utmost speed, to anticipate the day appointed 
for the massacre ; for, in the wise providence 
of God, the very delay which had been 
afforded by the desire of Haman to make his 
stroke effectual, left just the time required for 
turning its edge aside. Hainan, under a super- 
stition about lucky and unlucky days, still 
common in the same country, sought a pro- 
pitious day for the execution of the grand de- 
sign which has rendered his memory infamous. 
The fourteenth day of the month Adar had 
been chosen by lot, and who shall say that the 
lot had not been determined to this day by 
that Divine Providence which shines through- 
out the Book of Esther, although the name 
of God does not once appear in it? 

The Jews Saved from Death. 

The new decree saved the Jews from de- 
struction, but did not prevent a horrid massa- 
cre of them and by them. There were many 
who hated the Jews, and there were others 
who coveted their possessions, which had been 
secured to those who should slay them ; so 
that in many places the Jews had a hard fight 
for their lives on the fourteenth of the month 
Adar. On that day they very wisely assem- 
bled in bodies in the places where they resided, 
ready to defend themselves ; and in some 
places they appear to have gone beyond the 
strict limits of self-defence, but nowhere did 




AHASUERUS ORDERS THE EXECUTION OF HAMAN.— Est. vii. 8. 



(255) 



56 



MANY THOUSANDS PERISH. 



•they touch the spoils of those who fell before 
them. 

One would think that in Shushan, in the 
presence of the court, no attempt to enforce 
the edict would be made. But it would seem 
ihat the ten sons of Hainan, and others adverse 
to the altered state of affairs, organized an 
attempt to carry it into effect. The Jews, 
however, had the advantage, for, while it is 
not recorded that many of them were slain, 
not fewer than eight hundred of their assail- 
ants fell before them. Throughout the empire 
the slaughter made by the Jews amounted to 
not less than seventy-five thousand men. The 
ancient Jewish writers believe that these were 
chiefly Amalekites, and there can be no doubt 
such of this nation as were dispersed through 
the Persian empire would evince peculiar ani- 
mosity against the Hebrew race. At all 
events one fact shines out very clear, which 
is, that seventy-five thousand human beings 
perished because the king had been careless 
and unguarded over his wine. 

The Feast of Purim. 

This result of a danger which had seemed 
to threaten the existence of the nation fiLed 
the Jews with a degree of joy commensurate 
to its importance; and it was resolved to 
transmit the memory of it to future genera- 
tions by observing the day of deliverance as a 
yearly festival. Mordecai confirmed this de- 
sign by sending letters to all the provinces 
enjoining the future observance of the four- 
teenth and fifteenth days of Adar, as " the 
days in which the Jews had obtained rest 
from their enemies, and the month in which 
their sorrow had been turned into joy : that 
they should make them days of feasting and 
rejoicing, and of sending presents one to an- 
other, and gifts to the poor." 

This festival, which is observed among the 
Jews to the present day, obtained the name 
of Purim, from the Persian word Pur or " lot," 
on account of the lot which Haman had cast 
to obtain a good day for the execution of his 
purpose. It is difficult. to see by what author- 
ity Mordecai could appoint this festival. But 



he had become the foremost man of the nation, 
and his enactment was too much in accordance 
with the popular sentiment to be rejected. 
If, however, we may believe the Jewish writers, 
it did meet with some opposition from eighty- 
five elders, who resisted it as an innovation 
not sanctioned by the law. During this 
festival the whole Book of Esther is twice 
read in the synagogue, once in the morning 
when the feast begins, and again in the next 
morning ; and whenever the name of Haman 
is mentioned, the very children are taught to 
beat on the benches and to stamp for joy. 
After the second reading of the law is finished, 
the remainder of the day is spent in sports, 
with music and dancing, until the time for 
feasting arrives, when usage sanctions, or even 
demands, a degree of indulgence by no means 
usual among this temperate people. 

It is now time to return to Judea, where 
Ezra still remained much occupied, probably 
in that revision and arrangement of the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament which is 
usually ascribed to him. Little progress, 
however, appears to have been made with the 
public works calculated to give strength and 
dignity to Jerusalem. This is accounted for 
by the fact that permission to surround the 
town by a wall had not yet been obtained, 
and in those days men liked not to erect 
buildings of cost in places unprotected by a 
wall. It was not until the twentieth year of 
Ahasuerus that permission to fortify the town 
was obtained, and this was then brought 
about in the following manner, which, how- 
ever we approve the result, shows that in the 
court of Persia in that age, as in the present, 
questions affecting the public interest were 
determined not on their intrinsic merits, but 
through the personal influence of favorite 
servants and ministers. 

A Hebrew Patriot. 

We have already seen in the case of Haman 
and Mordecai that a foreign extraction was no 
bar to advancement in the court of the Persian 
kings: accordingly we are not surprised to 
find that the high post of cup-bearer to the 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



257 



king was held by a Jew called Nehemiah. 
This office was one of great importance, not 
only in real dignity, but because it gave 
access to the king in his less formal hours, 



named Hanani, who had lately arrived from 
Judea, such a description of the condition of 
the holy city as afflicted him greatly. The 
signs of mourning and the traces of grief 




CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF PURIM. Est ix. 



and afforded him opportunities of establishing 
a feeling of personal kindness towards him- 
self on the part of the sovereign. 

This Nehemiah, who was a very pious and 



were forbidden things in the Persian court, 
where the sunshine of the king's presence was 
supposed to spread happiness around, and 
where every countenance was expected to be 



zealous Jew, had received from a person | radiant with cheerfulness, however the heart 
17 



258 



NEHEMIAH AT JERUSALEM. 



might be dried up by fierce passions or rent by 
anguish. 

Nehemiah, however, could not altogether 
obliterate from his countenance all trace of 
grief: the keen eye of the monarch noted this, 
and he was asked the cause of his sadness. 
At this question Nehemiah was, with reason, 
" greatly afraid." But he was incapable of 
evasion, and, thinking it best to speak out, 
he said, " Let the king live forever ; why 
should not my countenance be sad when the 
city — the place of my iatiierd' sepulchres — 
lieth waste, and the gaii^s thereof are con- 
sumed with fire?" The king then said, "For 
what dost thou make request?" Nehemiah 
felt the importance of this moment, and after 
a silent aspiration to "the God of the 
heavens," he was encouraged to say, " If it 
please the king, and if I have found favor in 
thy sight, that thou wouldest send me to 
judea, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, 
that I may ret uild it." The king's first 
question was, " How long will thy journey 
be ? and when wilt thou return ? " and on 
receiving a satisfactory answer the king sent 
him to Jud^a as governor of the Jews, and 
furnished him with letters to the Persian 
governors in those parts, requiring them to 
support his authority, and to supply whatever 
materials he required for all the works he 
was authorized to undertake — the building of 
the walls being specially included. 

Preparation for the Work. 

This was a great event for the Jews, and 
gave them dignity in the eyes of the Persians, 
who were sensible o" Nehemiah's personal 
favor at court, which indeed was evinced by the 
escort of cavalry which was given him for the 
journey to Jerusalem. The real Persians were 
therefore disposed to promote the views of the 
new governor to the extent of their power; 
but the old enemies of Israel, the Samaritans 
and Ammonites and Moabites, were "exceed- 
ingly vexed " when they heard that " a man 
had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites." 
Sanballat the Samaritan, and Tobiah the Am- 
monite, are particularly mentioned as the most 



active enemies of the Jews. The latter had 
been a slave, but was raised to the government 
of some one of the provinces into which Syria 
was divided, under the general governor. 

Nehemiah did not immediately on his ar- 
rival disclose the full extent of the powers with 
which he was intrusted, as regarded the forti- 
fication of the city ; and he seems to have de- 
sired to keep them secret till he should be in a 
condition to commence operations. After he 
had been there three days, and had recovered 
from the toil of travel, the governor rode 
around the city by night to obtain a clear 
notion of the labor he had undertaken. 

The People's Zeal. 

The next day he convened the priests and 
leading men, and sr.id to them, " Ye see the 
distress that we are in, how that Jerusalem 
lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed 
with fire ; come and let us build up the wall 
of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach." 
He addr. ' Then I told them ci the kind hand 
of my God towards me, as also the words the 
king had spoken to me." The evils to which 
they had been daily accustomed struck them 
less forcibly than they did the newly-arrived 
governor ; nevertheless they were perfectly 
sensible of the importance of the privilege 
now obtained, and expressed their eagerness 
to commence the work. 

As soon as such a commencement was made 
as evinced the design to rebuild the walls, the 
attempt was treated with derision and insult 
by adverse parties already named. But the 
work proceeded with great steadiness and 
rapidity, every available hand being called to 
the service. They worked in bands under 
their several chiefs, each band knowing itc 
allotted task. Work was found for every will- 
ing hand, and even goldsmiths, apothecaries, 
aud shopkeepers ('merchants" 1 are named 
among these who wrought. 

The gates were restored, and made strong 

with bolts and bars, and the wall arose wit:. 

wonderful expedition from the ground. The 

rapidity of the work indeed was such as to 

i suggest to the enemies of Israel an unfounded 







NEHEMIAH COLLECTING MONEY. Ne. vii. J2. 



(259) 



260 



RIDICULED BY THE ENEMY. 



impression of its slightness, and many ex- 
cellent Oriental jokes were passed by them on 
the subject : — " Were a jackal to go up against 
the stone walls they are building, he would 
break them down," was the remark with which 
Tobiah made Sanballat and his people merry. 
Nehemiah felt these taunts very strongly, as 
evincing how his people were despised ; but, 
nevertheless, the labor proceeded briskly, " for 
the heart of the people was engaged in the 
work," and great was their enthusiasm. 



" Remember Jehovah, and fight for your 
brethren, your sons and your daughters, your 
wives and your homes." 

By these careful preparations the enemy be- 
came aware that their plot was known ; and 
as this, even in their view, rendered doubtful 
the success of what they had intended as a 
sudden surprise, they reluctantly abandoned 
their design. Nehemiah did not, however, 
deem it prudent to abate the vigilance which 
he had established. The hands which had 




BUILDING THE WALLS O 

Finding this to be the case, and seeing the 
walls rising, the enemies of Israel became 
seriously alarmed, and plotted to put an end 
to these operations by force of arms. Informa- 
tion of this design transpired, and was brought 
to Nehemiah by Jews residing on the borders. 
On hearing this, the governor established a 
constant watch over the work, by night and 
day, and stationed at proper points men well 
armed with swords, spears, and bows, whom 
he encouraged, in case of being attacked, to 



F JERUSALEM. Ne. IV. 6. 

thus been taken from the work were indeed 
restored to it ; but every man who wrought on 
the wall, and who carried burdens, labored with 
one hand, while with the other he held his 
weapons of war. This state of things is not 



unusual in the East, where men may often be 
seen well armed while laboring in the fields. 
Nehemiah did not spare his own servants, for 
half of them labored in the work while the 
other half stood at arms. Nehemiah himself, 
in his anxiety to expedite the work, was con- 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



261 



stantly present, with a trumpeter to give signals 
in case of danger. Thus they wrought and 
watched " from the rising of the morning till 
the stars appeared ; " and Nehemiah declares 
that during an entire month neither himself 
nor any of the people once put off their 
clothes. 

After this an internal disorder, fully as griev- 
ous as the outward danger by which they had 
been threatened, engaged the attention of the 
governor. The last season had been compara- 
tively unproductive, so that the less wealthy 
of the people had been obliged to mortgage 
their lands, houses, and vineyards, to obtain 
corn or to pay the Persian tribute. The ex- 
tent to which the wealthier Jews had availed 
themselves of the necessities of their brethren 
to enrich themselves, will appear from the fact 
that several of the people complained that 
some of their children had already been 
brought into bond-service ; "nor is it in our 
power to redeem them," said they, " for other 
men have our lands and vineyards." 

Nehemiah Indignant. 

When all these things were reported to 
Nehemiah, he became very angry, and con- 
vened a public assembly, in which he exposed 
and denounced the evil of this proceeding, and 
drew from the parties a solemn promise to re- 
store all that they had in this way obtained. 
Then, says Nehemiah, " I shook my lap and 
said, So may God shake out every man from 
his house and from his labor, that performeth 
«iot this promise : even thus may he be shaken 
out and emptied." It is gratifying to learn 
that the promise thus obtained was kept very 
strictly. 

Nehemiah was enabled to act with the more 
confidence in this matter, as, although he was 
entitled to a large allowance for the expenses 
of his large establishment as governor, he for- 
bore to require anything from the people, and, 
with unexampled liberality, not only gave his 
•care and solicitude without pay or reward, but 
bore all the charges of his expensive office 
•entirely out of his private fortune. Nor did 
this consideration make him sparing in his ex- 



I penditure, for his hospitable and generous tem- 
per carried him far beyond the obligations of 
his office. Above one hundred and fifty Jews, 
not belonging to his establishment, were en- 
tertained at his table, the daily supply of which 
required one ox and six sheep, besides fowl, 
and once every ten days a large supply of 
wine. 

As the Orientals are but sparing consumers 
of animal food, this consumption implies a 
larger expenditure on other commodities than 
would be necessary in northern climates. 

! Those who are acquainted with the exactions 
and oppressions exercised by the officers and 
attendants of Persian governors even at the 
present day, will best understand the intima- 
tion given by Nehemiah, who, speaking of 
former governors, says, " Even their servants 
bare rule over the people ; but I did not thus, 
because I feared God in my heart." 

The enemies of Israel — Sanballat, Tobiah, 
and Geshem the Arabian — seeing that the 
wall was now finished, and all strong and com- 

] plete, save only the gates, saw that the time 

j for any acts of direct violence had passed. 

i They therefore sought to ensnare the governor, 
to whose influence and energy they justly at- 
tributed the prosperous aspect which the affairs 
of the Jewish people were beginning to as- 
sume, and laid a plot to entangle him. 

Hurrying- the Work to Completion. 

Being themselves invested with petty gov- 
ernments under the Persians, they invited 
Nehemiah to a conference, as if on matters of 
common interest, at Chepirim, in the plain 
of Ono. Suspicious of their intentions, he re- 
turned the discreet answer, " I am doing a great 
work, so that I cannot come down ; why 
should the work cease whilst I leave it and 
come down to you ? " They, however, re- 
peated the invitation not less than four times, 
and, always receiving the same answer, San- 
ballat at length sent a servant to him bearing 
an open letter in his hand. In this letter it 
was stated to be commonly reported that it 
was his intention to revolt against the Persians, 
whose interests they were bound to watch. 



262 



NEHEMIAH'S PERSEVERANCE. 



Nehemiah contented himself with a strong 
denial of so improbable a charge, and hastened 
the completion of the gates, knowing that his 
best security, under God, from all these ma- 
chinations, lay in securing the defences of the 
city. The accusers had, however, some influ- 
ential partisans even in the town, who be- 
lieved, or affected to believe, that the strength 
of the fortifications might give the Persians 
reason to credit the accusation ; and who sup- 
posed that the fact of the probable grounds 
for such a suspicion would justify the adver- 
saries to the Persian government, under the 
cover of over-zeal for the Persian interests, in 
any acts of violence to which they might re- 
sort. 

These urged Nehemiah to shut himself in 
the Temple — on the ground that an assault, 
which they alleged to be in contemplation, 
was directed entirely against his own person; 
but he knew that this act of shutting himself 
up in what was then in fact the citadel of 
Jerusalem, would give color to the worst de- 
vices of the enemy ; and with becoming spirit 
he answered, " Should such a man as I flee? 
And who like me would go into the Temple to 
save his life? I will not go in." 

Beset by spies, who carried his words to his 
enemies, and annoyed by offensive letters which 
were repeatedly sent to him, Nehemiah yet 
persevered steadily in his great task, and at 
length, on the twenty-fifth day of the month 
Elul, only fifty-two days from the commence- 
ment — so earnestly had the work been carried 
on — he had the satisfaction of seeing it com- 
pleted, b. c. 445. 

The walls being thus finished and the gates 
complete, Nehemiah was enabled to establish 
greater order in the city than had before been 
possible: keepers were stationed- at every one 
of the gates, and over the whole was Hana- 
niah, "a faithful man, who feared God above 
many," who had it in charge to see the 
gates closed in the evening and properly se- 
cured with bolts and bars, and also not to 
open them in the morning until " the sun was 
hot." Such regulations are still usual in the 
walled towns of the East, and in this case 



were peculiarly necessary, as the town, al- 
though large, was but thinly peopled, the 
houses which it contained being still very few, 
while the apprehension of danger from the 
enemies of Israel had not yet passed away. 

After the term of his civil commission had 
ceased it appears that Ezra remained at Jeru- 
salem, and is supposed, as already intimated, \ 
to have devoted much of his time in collecting 
and arranging the sacred books which now 
form the canon of the Old Testament. He 
was now called forward to read to the people 
the law of Moses, of which it seems to have 
been known that he had now provided a per- 
fect copy. It seems also to have been the 
season in which it was directed that the law 
should be publicly read to the people, being 
every seventh year at the feast of tabernacles. 
This regulation had been much neglected, but 
now the people present at Jerusalem for the 
feast " assembled as one man in the street be- 
fore the water-gate," and required Ezra to 
bring forth and read the book of the law. 

Ezra Reads the Book of the Law. 

The worthy man gladly responded to this 
call, and he read the law in the street to all 
" who could hear with understanding, from 
morning till night." He stood upon a pulpit 
or platform of wood which had been made for 
the purpose, so that the people might both 
see and hear him. The brief notices of this 
great solemnity are suggestive and interesting : 
" Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the 
people, and when he opened it all the people 
stood up, and Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great 
God. And all the people with uplifted hands 
answered Amen, Amen ; and they bowed their 
heads and worshipped Jehovah with their 
faces to the ground." 

There was one serious difficulty which had, 
perhaps, hitherto prevented, since the return 
from exile, the law from being thus publicly 
read. The mass of the people, born in a for- 
eign country, or the children of parents to 
whom the language of that country had be- 
come a mother-tongue, no longer understood 
the language in which the sacred books were 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN OF THE JEWS. 



263 



written. The Chaldee was indeed but another 
dialect than Hebrew of the same great Ara- 
maean branch of languages ; but the difference 
was sufficient to prevent the one from being 
generally intelligible to those who were only 
acquainted with the other. 

To meet this difficulty several priests and 
Levites were conveniently stationed to repeat 
to the people in the Chaldee language that 
which Ezra read to them in the Hebrew. The 
people, few of whom had been previously ac- 
quainted with more than the traditions of the 
law, were deeply concerned at much which 
they now heard, and wept and mourned 
greatly. But they were reminded that the 
day was a festival, a day of joy and not of 
grief, and Nehemiah dismissed them for the 
day with the words : " Go your way, eat the 
fat and drink the sweet, and send portions 
unto them for whom nothing is provided ; for 



this day is holy to our Lord." The people 
followed this counsel and " rejoiced exceed- 
ingly because they understood the things that 
were declared to them." 

The readings of the law, after the same 
manner, were continued throughout the week. 
The extent of the ignorance of their own 
institutions into which the people had fallen is 
shown by the fact that they knew not until the 
second day, when Ezra arrived at that portion 
of the law which enjoins the observance, that 
they were to abide in huts or booths of green 
boughs during the very feast which they were 
then celebrating. On hearing this they applied 
themselves with great alacrity to remedy the 
oversight. They set forth to gather olive 
branches, pine branches, palm branches, myrtle 
branches, and branches of all thick trees, to 
make such verdant booths as the law required 
and prescribed. 




CHAPTER XXIV. 




JOB AND HIS FRIENDS. 



ORE than any 
other man Job 
was famous 
in his day, and 
the book that 
bears his name is, 
in some respects, 
the most singular 
book in the Holy 
Scriptures. It is 
an argumentative 
and descriptive 
poem, with a 
prose introduction and conclusion, which 
forms the plot or story of the work. This 
story is very simple. 

In the land of Uz lived Job, an upright 
and good man, who had seven sons and three 
daughters. He was the wealthiest man in the 
country ; and the description of his wealth 
shows that the condition of life intended to be 
represented is patriarchal, similar to that led 
by Abraham, and similar to that now led by 
the Arabian Emirs; or rather to that inter- 
mediate condition in which the patriarch has 
a fixed residence, and cultivates the ground, 
without having relinquished the pastoral 
habits of life. Under this condition the 
homestead is permanent, cultivation surrounds 
it, and the necessary migrations of the flocks 
are performed under the care of sons and 
servants. 

This is the kind of life at one time led by 
Isaac, by Laban in Padan-aram, and by the 
churlish Nabal, whose flocks were sent forth 
to feed in the distant wilderness while he 
abode in Maon, and had his agricultural 
possessions in Carmel. Job had thus a mixed 
(264) 



pastoral and agricultural property, and was 
very rich in flocks and herds. 

It was a custom of Job's sons, who were 

grown up and had separate establishments, to 

give each in his turn a feast to his brothers 

and family, and to this feast the three sisters 

were always invited. At the end of such 

feasts Job used to send for his children and 

i purify them by ablution and other observances, 

! apprehensive lest, in the gayety of the festival, 

i they might not have been duly mindful of 

1 God and his worship. 

Leaving Job in this prosperous condition, 
we have next an allegorical representation of 
the courts of heaven, where the sons of God 
— the angels — duly present themselves before 
the Most High. Among them appears Satan, 
the evil one, the accuser of the just, whose 
unusual presence is noted, and he is asked 
whence he came. He answers, " From 
wandering over the earth and walking up and 
down in it." He is then asked whether in 
his wanderings over the earth he had taken 
notice of the upright Job, whose integrity 
defied the powers of evil. Satan answered, 
with a sneer, that Job had good reasons for 
cultivating the service in which he throve so 
well ; " but only put forth thine hand and 
touch whatever he possesseth, and to thy face 
will he renounce thee." On this Satan was 
permitted to try the virtue of Job to the extent 
of all his substance, but was not allowed 
to afflict his person. 

The effect of this was soon seen. One day, 
when the children of Job were feasting, in due 
course, in the house of their eldest brother, a 
messenger came in alarm and haste to an- 
nounce that the Arabians had fallen upon 



JOB AND HIS FRIENDS. 



265 



the oxen as they were ploughing in the field, 
and had driven them off, together with the 
asses, and that all the servants, except him- 
self, had been put to the sword. This man 
had scarcely done relating the loss of Job's 
agricultural cattle, when another came in 
equal alarm to announce that his flocks, to- 
gether with his shepherds, had been destroyed 
by lightning from heaven. Then another 
swiftly followed to relate that the Chaldaeans 
had driven off his camels, and destroyed those 
who had the charge of them. Only one thing 
was then wanting to complete Job's desolation, 
and that came too soon : another terrified 
messenger arrived to tell that the house in 
which his sons and daughters were feasting 
had been blown down by the winds of Heaven, 
and all had perished in that overthrow. 

Job's Dreadful Affliction. 

On hearing this, the desolate man arose and 
performed the usual acts of a mourner. He 
rent his mantle and shaved his head : but the 
strength of his soul was not broken ; he fell 
upon the ground and worshipped God, saying, 
" Naked came I forth from my mother's womb, 
and naked shall I return thither. Jehovah 
gave, and Jehovah hath taken away: blessed 
be the name of Jehovah." It is then added, 
that " in all this," that is, up to this time, "Job 
sinned not, and uttered nothing rash against 
Jehovah." 

Again we are conducted to the gates of 
heaven, and behold the Lord rejoicing over 
the uprightness of his servant, and in the utter 
defeat of Satan's devices against him. But 
Satan suggested that all other calamities were 
light compared with those which took away 
•ease of body and threatened life. Job had 
indeed come forth from the trial which made 
him poor and had taken the lives of others : 
"" But," he said, " put forth thy hand now, and 
touch his bone and his flesh, and to thy face 
lie will renounce thee." But God had confi- 
dence in his servant, and said, "Behold, he is 
in thy hand, but spare his life." 

In consequence of this, Job was speedily 
afflicted with a grievous disease which ren- 



dered him loathsome to himself, and an object 
of pity to others. Being in the first stage of 
the disease covered with sore boils, " from the 
crown of his head to the sole of his foot," the 
afflicted man — so lately " the greatest of all 
the men of the East " — sat down mournfully 
among the ashes, with a potsherd to scrape his 
sores. 

In this state of affairs Job's wife next ap- 
pears upon the scene. She says to Job, " Dost 
thou still retain thine integrity? Renounce 
God and die." This was the very object that 
Satan himself had in view — to induce him to 
renounce his confidence in God through the 
greatness of his losses and the poignancy of 
his sufferings. But the trust of Job was still 
firm, and he rebuked her in the words : " Thou 
speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. 
What ! shall we receive good at the hands of 
God, and shall we not receive evil ? " And 
here again the author pointedly remarks, " In 
all this," that is, thus far, " Job sinned not with 
his lips." 

The tidings of the great calamities which 
had befallen Job ere long reached his distant 
friends, some of whom set out to give him 
comfort ; pjildad the Temanite, from Teman of 
Edom ; Eliphaz the Shuhite, from the country 
east of the Jordan ; and Zophar, from some 
unknown place or city called Naamah. These 
three persons after their journey drew near 
his once prosperous and pleasant home : and 
they beheld their friend at a distance at which 
they could once have easily recognized him. 
Disease had so altered his appearance that at 
first sight they knew him not ; but when they 
found that the wretched object before them was 
no other than Job, " they lifted up their voice 
and wept ; and they rent every one his mantle, 
and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards 
heaven." This mode of expressing their grief 
forcibly brings to mind that of Achilles when 
informed of the death of Patroclus, as narrated 
in Homer's Iliad : 

A sudden horror shot through all the chief, 
And wrapped his senses in the cloud of grief; 
Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread 
The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head ; 




(266) 



JOB 



RECEIVING THE TIDINGS OF HIS RUIN. -Job i. 20. 



JOB AND HIS FRIENDS. 



267 



His purple garments, and his golden hairs, 
Those he deforms with dust, and these he tears; 
On the hard soil his groaning breast he threw, 
And rolled and grovelled, as to earth he grew. 

They then " sat down with him upon the 
ground seven days and seven nights : — and 
none spake a word unto him, for they saw that 
his grief was very great." This conduct of 
theirs is so different from that usually pursued 
under such circumstances, that we are prepared 
by it to entertain a very favorable opinion of 
their discretion and right feeling. Seven days, 
it will be observed, was the customary time of 
mourning among the Orientals : but we are 
not to understand that they remained in the 
same place and posture during all the seven 
days* but that they mourned with him during 
all that time in the usual manner. 

At the end of the seven days' mourning, 
when no hopes of recovery from his afflicted 
condition were entertained by Job, and not 
a word of consolation had been offered by his 
friends — who in their hearts believed that he 
was suffering for his sins, and that the dis- 
pleasure of God was manifested against him 
— he then unburdened his heart in the 
language of complaint, lamentation, and de- 
spair, and bitterly bewailed his lot. 

Job Charged with Wickedness. 

Then came an earnest discussion between 
Job and his friends. The first speaker was 
Eliphaz the Temanite. He argued that Job 
must have committed some great sin, otherwise 
he would not have been so afflicted. He said, 
" Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished 
being innocent ? or where were the righteous 
cut off? Even as I have seen, they that 
plough iniquity and sow wickedness reap the 
same. By the blast of God they perish, and 
by the breath of His nostrils are they con- 
sumed." But Job did not admit the validity 
of Eliphaz's arguments. He defended him- 
self against the charge of wickedness, telling 
them that they overwhelmed the fatherless 
and digged a pit for their friend. 

Then Bildad the Shuhite took up a similar 
discourse to that of Eliphaz, and told Job of 



the prosperity of the righteous, while the 
wicked are cut off like the rush or flag, that 
grows in moist places, and perish while they 
are yet green. " So," says Bildad, " are the 
paths of all those that forget God, and the 
hypocrite's hope shall perish." And again 
he says, " God will not cast away a perfect 
man, neither will He help the evil-doer." 

Job's Answer. 

But Job answers that there is no such 
equal retribution in the world as Bildad sup- 
poses. There are, so far as we can see, many 
irregularities. God does not, in temporal 
affliction, discriminate between the just and 
the unjust. He destroyeth the perfect and the 
wicked. He does not interfere to prevent 
calamities befalling the just. In truth, " the 
earth is given into the hand of the wicked." 
Job says that though he were to wash his hands 
with snow-water, yet God would plunge him 
in the ditch, and his own clothes would abhor 
him, that is, his integrity would not keep him 
from being covered with boils as he now is. 

Then Zophar the Naamahthite speaks, and 
charges Job with babbling, with telling lies, 
and with mocking. Job seemed to want 
reverence, and to be calling to account the 
justice of God ; but Zophar tells him that God 
sees wickedness and considers it ; but vain 
man, though born like the wild ass's colt, 
would yet conceive himself to be wise and able 
to judge even of God's dealings with men. 
He answers Job that the eyes of the wicked 
shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their 
life shall be like giving up the ghost. 

Job has borne the reproaches of his three 
friends, he has heard their arguments, which 
were clothed in pious words, and though 
many things had been said by them which 
were good in themselves, yet he rebuts the 
main inference that his sufferings are a punish- 
ment for his secret sins. He answers at first 
in a tone of raillery, and tells them that they 
are the people, and wisdom would die with 
them. So far from prosperity always attend- 
ing the upright, we often see the tabernacle 
of the robbers prosper. 



268 



JOB REPROACHED BY ELIPHAZ. 



If Job could speak to the Almighty, he i eries of man, and the little hope he has of a 
would reason with Him ; but as for his friends, day of recompense. He does not try to de- 
he said, " Oh that ye would altogether hold I fend or apologize for God, but looks at facts 




your peace, for that would be your wisdom ; " 
but he adds, " though He slay me, yet will 
I trust in Him; but I will maintain mine own 
ways before Him." Job draws a mournful 
picture of human life, setting forth the mis- 



and his comforters. — Job iii. 

as they are presented to the ordinary view of 
men. 

Eliphaz, shocked by job's apparent blas- 
phemy, reproaches him with greater severity 
than he had done before, and refers to cases 



JOB AND HIS FRIENDS. 



269 



of great wickedness being punished; but Job 
cries out, " Miserable comforters are ye all ! " 
Other men may have been punished for wick- 
edness, but all suffering is not punishment. 

The other friends urge the same arguments, 
and Job points out facts which overthrow all 
their reasoning. " Mark me," he said, " and 
be astonished, and lay your hand upon your 
mouth. Even when I remember I am afraid, 
and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. 
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, 
yea, are mighty in power ? Their seed is es- 
tablished in their sight with them, and their 
offspring before their eyes. Their houses are 
safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon 
them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; 
their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. 
They send forth their little ones like a flock, 
and their children dance. They take the tim- 
brel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the 
organ. They spend their days in wealth, and 
in a moment go down to the grave." That is, 
they are saved from all the terrors of death 
and the pains of sickness; and so they ask 
who is the Almighty that they should serve 
Him, when they see the good and the bad go 
down to the grave together, and the worms 
consume them. 



Many parts of the Book of Job are highly 
poetical and beautiful. In one part he launches 
forth into a vivid description of the miseries 
of man's life, and implores for a temporary 
refuge in the grave till the days of trouble are 
overpast. This latter part contains some of 
the finest passages in the book. 

It begins thus, according to the translation 
of Noyes : 

Man that is born of woman 

Is of few days, and full of trouble : 

He groweth up like a flower — and is cut down ; 

He fleeth also like a shadow and stayeth not. 

There is hope for a tree 

If it be cut down that it shall sprout c^ain, 

And that its tender branches will not fail. 

Though its roots may have grown old in the earth, 

And though its trunk be dead upon the ground, 

At the scent of water it shall bud, 

And put forth boughs like a young plant. 

But man dieth — and he is gone for ever ! 

Man expireth — and where is he ? 

This is but one illustration of the wonderful 
force and beauty of this remarkable book. 

In the end God justifies Job. He is re- 
warded with new possessions, a second family, 
and great temporal prosperity. God was an- 
gry with Job's friends, for they had not spoken 
the thing that was right, as Job had. 




CHAPTER XXV. 




THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



HE Book of Psalms 
is not only very 
devotional, but 
it embodies some 
of the finest po- 
etry of the Bible. 
There are, in- 
deed, a few spec- 
imens of lyric 
poetry before the 
time of David ; 
but the}' scarcely 
enter into consideration compared with the 
fertility of that period in which he lived. In 
the earlier history it is but occasionally that 
the voice of poetry is heard, as in the song 
of Moses at the Red Sea, of Deborah, and of 
Hannah. We are therefore surprised, after so 
few attempts at lyric poetry, to see so ac- 
complished and fertile a poet as David rise 
up, as it were, all at once, with several others 
in his company. 

So rapid a progress presupposes some ade- 
quate occasion, some preparatory steps. Seek- 
ing for these, many critics have lighted upon 
the schools of the prophets, which existed in 
the immediately preceding times of Samuel, if 
they were not founded by him. Here it is as- 
sumed that the composition of Psalms was 
cultivated and brought to perfection, and that 
here David and others received their educa- 
tion in minstrelsy. But this position, when 
•closely examined, rests on no solid foundation. 
If David had frequented the schools of the 
prophets, he must have been known to Samuel ; 
but there is not the least sign that the prophet 
knew him ; there is much to show that he did 
not know him till he went to anoint one of 
Jesse's sons at Bethlehem, up to which time 
(270) 



David appears to have been entirely occupied 
with his father's flock. 

Indee ', the great intimacy cf David with 
all that belonged to the shepherd's life, which 
supplies sc many beautiful and picturesque 
images to his Psalms, evinces that his youth 
was entirely spent in the care of flocks, and 
not in the schools of the prophets. In fact, 
David was already famed for his minstrelsy 

, before Samuel knew him ; and as music and 
song were not in those ages separated, we may 
conclude that as a poet also the son of Jesse 
was already known and celebrated. Natural 
taste and capacity, joined to the much practice 
which open-air leisure of the shepherd's lift 

I afforded, might have done quite as much for 
David as that mere artificial system which is 
supposed, without good reason, to have pre- 
vailed in the schools of the prophets. Indeed, 
the well-known tendency to connect poetry 
and music with the pastoral life, as followed 
in more genial climates than our own, shows 
that David, left so much alone with his flock, 
with his God, and with nature, was in the 
best possible school for creating such a poet 
and such a minstrel as he became. 

Notwithstanding the scantiness of the indi- 
cations of a pre-existing taste for lyric poetry 
among the Hebrews, there is quite enough to 
prove that it did not spring at once out of the 
dry ground in the time of David, but existed 
in at least a sufficient degree to impart the 
bent of mind which his pastoral occupa- 
tion enabled him with much advantage to cul- 
tivate. This is shown even by the short pean 
with which the maidens of Israel celebrated 
David's own victory over Goliath : 

Saul smote his thousands, 

But David his ten thousands — 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



271 



which exhibits a species of poetry truly lyric 
of its kind, though rude and uncultivated. 

Still earlier, and in addition to the songs of 
Moses, Deborah and Hannah, to which we 



having been called " to play " before the Phil- 
istines, which, even if understood, as it usually 
is, of the dance, does not exclude the accom- 
paniments of song and instrumental music. 



have already alluded, we find, particularly Facts like these seem abundantly sufficient to 
among the women, the practice of music and j evince the existence of a poetical taste and 




HARVEST SCENE IN ANCIENT PALESTINE. Ps. lxv. 1 3. 

the dance, with which song could not fail to I capacity among the Hebrew people before the 
Jephthah's daughter came out 



be connected, 
to meet her father with timbrels and with 
dances. At Shiloh the damsels held a yearly 
festival with dances. It has been questioned 
whether Samson was not a minstrel, from his 



appearance of David, and relieve us from any 
necessity of sending David himself to the 
schools of the prophets for his poetical educa- 
tion. 

In connection with some of the preceding 



272 



THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL. 



remarks, our attention is drawn to the pastoral 
images contained in the Psalms. There is no 
single psalm in which a larger number of 
images are embodied than in the twenty-third. 

The poet, gathering comfort in all troubles 
from the conviction of the loving-kindness, 
no less than of the power of the God whom 
he had served, argues, " The Lord is my Shep- 
herd : therefore can I want nothing." This 
image is obviously suggested by the care, the 
forethought, the management, and the tender- 
ness exercised by the Eastern shepherds to 
provide for and to defend their flocks in the 
unfrequented and wild regions into which they 
were often led for pasture. 

In another psalm this comparison is even 
more emphatically produced : " Give ear, O 
Shepherd of Israel — Thou that leadest Joseph 
like a flock." In the same sense kings are 
also described as standing in this pastoral re- 
lation to their people ; and although David 
did not originate this comparison, no man ever 
lived who could use it with the same degree 
of force and propriety as one who, like him, 
had been called from the pastures to a throne. 
This may be instanced by reference to another 
psalm : " He chose David also His servant, 
and took him away from the sheepfolds. He 
took him, that he might feed Jacob His people, 
and Israel His inheritance. So he fed them 
with a faithful and true heart, and ruled them 
prudently with all his power." 

To apprehend the force of this idea we 
should recollect some of the peculiar condi- 
tions of the ancient pastoral life. The Hebrew 
patriarchs, and in a great measure their de- 
scendants, when settled in Canaan, did not 
usually intrust their flocks to menials and 
strangers, but either tended them in person or 
intrusted them to their sons or near relations. 
The flock which David himself tended was 
that of his father Jesse. In later times the 
increase of population and of the town life 
led to the use of hired shepherds ; but the 
difference of treatment which the flock received 
under the different circumstances was most 
strongly felt by the Jews, and was on one 
occasion most pointedly indicated by our 



Saviour, who, in comparing Himself to the 
shepherd-owner of a flock, says : " I am the 
good Shepherd ; the good Shepherd giveth His 
life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, 
and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep- 
are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth 
the sheep and fleeth. The hireling fleeth be- 
cause he is an hireling, and careth not for the 
sheep." This position of our Saviour is ad- 
mirably illustrated by the conduct of David 
himself, who combated and slew both a lion 
and a bear in defence of his father's flock. If, 
therefore, the sheep under the care of the 
shepherd-owner may rest in quiet, confident 
of lacking nothing which the care of that 
shepherd can provide, how much more he 
whose Shepherd is the Lord ! 

Green Pastures. 

The psalm pursues the image by consider- 
ing that this kind and powerful Shepherd " shall 
feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth 
beside the waters of comfort." This is but 
one of many beautiful passages of Scripture 
alluding to the practice of the Eastern shep- 
herds in leading their flocks from one region 
to another in search of green pasture. In 
winter and early spring the rains compel the 
roots and seeds of the desert to shoot, which 
in summer were kept down by excessive 
drought. But the moisture clothes the wil- 
derness with verdure, and with the succulent 
and nutritive herbage in which the flocks lux- 
uriate and prosper. And when the periodical 
drought returns to the wilderness, the shep- 
herd leads off his flocks to the mountains, the 
streams, and the habitable districts where herb- 
age yet remains. 

Thus it is an important point of the Eastern 
shepherd's character, that he should possess 
such a knowledge of the country and its 
pasture-grounds as may enable him to move 
his flock from one point to another with the 
moral certainty of finding good pasturage in 
the place to which he is going. The bad, that 
is, the ignorant shepherd, exposes his flock to 
the danger of perishing from hunger or fatigue: 
from hunger, if no pasture is found in the ex- 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



27;J 



pected place ; from fatigue, in hurrying the 
flock from one place to another, in the vague 
expectation of finding that which he knows 
not where to find. 

The Eastern shepherd has a staff of con- 
siderable length, with which he keeps his 
sheep in order. This is of great use both to 



dangerous and dreadful places), I will fear no 
evil, for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy 
staff, they comfort me." 

Many of David's Psalms were written in 
times of trouble, when his enemies encom- 
passed him about, or were too strong for him. 
The fifty-fifth psalm, for instance, is supposed 




the shepherd and the sheep. It helps the 
former to guide his sheep in the right way, 
to keep them from danger, to extricate them 
from difficulties, and to collect those that stray. 
Hence the rod or staff is throughout the Scrip- 
tures described as a source of confidence, and 
not of fear, to the sheep. It is to this the 
psalmist alludes, "Though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death (that is, through 
13 



GOING FORTH TO LABOR. Ps. civ. 23. 

to relate to the rebellion of Absalom and the 
treachery of Ahithophel. His heart was sore 
pressed and the terrors of death fell upon him, 
and he cried out in his misery, " Oh that I had 
wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, 
and be at rest." Glad would he have been to 
rise above the earth and to escape its sorrows. 
The forty-second psalm referred to the revolt 
of Absalom, when David crossed the fords of 



274 



CHORAL SERVICE. 



the Jordan and took refuge at Mahanaim. He 
says that his tears had been his meat day and 
night, while his enemies taunted him that God 
had forsaken him. Then he cried out, " O my 
God, my soul is cast down within me : there- 
fore will I remember Thee from the land of 
Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill 
Mizar." 

The fifty-ninth psalm is said to refer to the 
emissaries of Saul watching the house of David, 
that they might kill him. It begins : " Deliver 
me from mine enemies, O my God : defend me 
from them that rise up against me. Deliver 
me from the workers of iniquity, and save me 
from bloody men." 

Hebrew Music. 

"The Psalms of David," says a prominent 
writer, " place him among the most eminent 
of prophets and holy men. In humility and 
tenderness of expression, in loftiness and purity 
of religious sentiment, they are without par- 
allel. They embody the universal language 
of religious emotions. The songs which 
cheered the solitudes of Engedi, or animated 
the Hebrews as they went along the glens or 
hillsides of Judea, have been repeated for ages 
in almost every part of the inhabitable world. 
How many hearts have they softened, purified, 
consoled and exalted, by the deep devotional 
seriousness they have kindled, and the views 
of the Divine wisdom, holiness, and love to 
which they have led ! " 

The Psalms contain more allusions to music 
and musical instruments than any other por- 
tion of Scripture. Music is coeval with poetry. 
Musical instruments were the invention of 
Jubal ; and as early as the time of Laban we 
are introduced to a whole choir. After this, 
music and poetry went hand-in-hand, and with 
equal pace. Music and (as we have seen) 
poetry were held in high estimation ; and so 
long as such poetry as that of the Hebrews 
was cultivated, we may conclude that music 
was not neglected. This might also be in- 
ferred from the frequency of its use among 
them. 

They had music at marriages, at birth-days, 



on the days which reminded them of victories 
over their enemies, at the inauguration of their 
kings, and it even enlivened the journeys 
which the law required the Jews to make 
three times a year to Jerusalem. In the ser- 
vice of the holy tabernacle and of the Temple 
the Levites were the musicians ; but on other 
occasions any one might use musical instru- 
ments. The magnificent choir of Levites, 
under suitable leaders and directors, which 
David organized for the Temple service, was 
kept up by Solomon after the erection of the 
Temple, and was preserved till the overthrow 
of Jerusalem, although subject to occasional 
interruption under idolatrous kings. This 
choral establishment must have tended much 
to the cultivation of musical taste and power 
among the Hebrews. Hence the music and 
songs of Zion seem to have had a charm to 
the Babylonians. 

One of the most beautiful of the Psalms, 
composed during the captivity, represents the 
exiles as disconsolately hanging their harps 
upon the willows growing beside the Euphra- 
tes, and as being pressed by the Babylonians 
to sing to them one of the songs of Zion, 
which produced the striking reply — " How 
shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange 
land?" After the captivity, however, both 
the music and poetry of the Hebrews became 
much deteriorated, and lost its earlier charm. 

Sweet Melodies. 

Respecting the nature of the Hebrew music, 
our information is very scanty ; but the similar 
history of the art among other ancient nations 
may assist our conclusions. It then consisted 
not so much in harmony as in unison or 
melody. This is the music of nature, and for 
a long time, even after the period of antiquity, 
it was common among the Greeks and Romans, 
and at this day characterizes the music of the 
East. It was not the harmony of differing 
or dissonant sounds, but the voice, modulated 
after the tones of the lyre, that constituted the 
charm of the ancient music. The whole of 
antiquity is full of stones in praise of this 
music, and relating the wonderful influence 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



275 



over human passion and feeling which it ac- 1 the Book of Psalms. It is a very singular fact 
quired. That this ancient music did possess a that no instrument answering to a harp exists 
wonderful mastery over the heart of man seems | in the modern East; and we could not be cer- 




ANC1ENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 



as well established as any of the historical facts 
concerning which no doubt is entertained. 
Frequent mention of the harp is ma^e in 



tain that it even ever did exist, but for the 
figures which appear in the Egyptian tombs, 
where we find harps of different kinds. The 



276 



THE HEBREW HARP. 



word translated " harp " in our version is 
" kinnor," and was more probably a sort of 
lyre than a harp. It is one of the instruments 
of which Jubal was the inventor, and is that 
of which David was so complete a master. 
One circumstance highly in favor of this con- 
clusion is, that the ancient versions of the 
Scripture translate the Hebrew word by terms 
which were applied by the Greeks and Ro- 
mans to their different kinds of lyres, of which 
there were many, thus leaving - us in great un- 
certainty as to the kind of lyre that might be 
intended. 

The Oldest of Stringed Instruments. 

It may be further remarked, that from the 
brief intimations in Scripture respecting the 
" kinnor," it appears that it was not a large 
and heavy instrument resting on the ground 
when played, as the word " harp" would sug- 
gest to our minds; but a light and portable 
instrument, which the musician bore upon his 
hand or arm, and might walk or dance as he 
played thereon. In fact, the " kinnor " is de- 
scribed as being used for the purposes, on the 
occasions, and in the manner in which we 
know the ancient lyre, and not the harp, to 
have been employed. 

It is also to be observed that the "kinnor" 
is described in the Scripture as the most an- 
cient of stringed instruments; and it is to the 
lyre that .the classical ancients ascribe the same 
priority of origin ; and in Egypt the lyre is 
found on monuments more ancient than those 
on which the harp is seen. The lyre was also 
the most common stringed instrument among 
the ancient nations. It is impossible, there- 
fore, that it should not have been in use 
among the Hebrews, and being known to them, 
there is no other of their instruments than the 
"kinnor" which can be with any probability 
referred to it. 

On the Egyptian monuments no lyre occurs 
exactly similar to that which is supposed to 
be the representation of a Jewish lyre by an 
Egyptian artist. The difference forms its dis- 
tinctive character as a foreign instrument, for 
it is undoubtedly foreign, whether it be Jewish 



or not. Yet it does not greatly differ from 
the Egyptian instrument. They are the same 
in size, in power, and in the general form and 
principle of construction. In both alike the 
strings are stretched upon an open frame, and 
then prolonged over a hollow and sonorous 
body of wood. Several other lyres are found 
on the monuments, and although their shapes 
and ornaments are different, this is the princi- 
ple in all of them. 

The Grecian fable respecting the origin of 
the lyre shows that this must have been the 
case with all the more ancient lyres, with which 
the weight of evidence would class the He- 
brew " kinnor." It is very remarkable also 
that this fable refers the origin of the lyre to 
the banks of the Nile, showing that the Greeks 
at least had their instrument from that quarter. 
It is thus related by the Athenian mycolo- 
gist, Apollodorus : — " The Nile, after having 
overflowed the whole country of Egypt, when 
it returned within its natural bounds left on 
the shore a great number of animals of various 
kinds, and among the rest a tortoise, the flesh 
of which being dried and wasted by the sun, 
nothing remained but nerves and cartilages, 
and these, being braced and contracted by the 
drying heat, became sonorous. Mercury, walk- 
ing along the banks of the river, happened to 
strike his foot against this shell, and was so 
pleased with the sound produced, that the idea 
of a lyre presented itself to his mind. He 
therefore constructed the instrument in the 
form of a tortoise, and strung it with the dried 
sinews of dead animals." 

Hence we observe that many of the Greek 
lyres have that tortoise-shape which this story 
would lead us to expect. The fable itself is, 
with some variation, related by Homer in his 
" Hymn to Hermes." The description of the 
primitive instrument is thus rendered by a 
modern poet: 

And through the stone-shelled tortoise's strong skin 
At proper distances small holes he made, 
And fastened the cut stems of seeds within, 
And with a piece of leather overlaid 
The open space, and fixed the cubits in, 
Fitting the bridge to both, and stretched o'er all 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



277 



Symphonious chords both strong and rhythmical. 
When he had wrought the lovely instrument, 
He tied the chords, and made divisions meet, 
Preluding with the plectrum, and there went 
Up from beneath his hands a tumult sweet 
Of mighty sounds, and from his lips he sent 
A strain of unpremeditated wit, 
Joyous and wild. 



It may further illustrate 



grave, the mean, and the acute, he made the 
grave answer to winter, the mean to spring, 
and the acute to summer; and it is a well- 
known fact that not only the Egyptians, but 
the Greeks, divided their year into not more 
than three seasons, spring, summer, and win- 
ter, corresponding to the three sounds." 

The tambourine or tablet must be described 




JEWISH CAPTIVES IN BABYLONIA. Ps. CXXXvii. 4. 



Hermes, or Mercury, to whom the invention 
of the lyre is thus ascribed, was himself of 
Egyptian origin, like many other of the gods 
of the Grecian mythology. So, Diodorus 



generally as a wooden frame covered wit'i 
skin, and struck by the hands. But they were 
by no means all of one shape ; and it appears 
that the Hebrew word comprehends every 



Siculus makes him 'one of the counsellors of 1 known shape of the instrument, just as we 
Osiris in Egypt; and by this author he is said, J should undoubtedly call every instrument of 
among other useful things, " to have invented [ the kind a "tambourine," whether it were 
the lyre, furnishing it with three strings, in al-j round, oval, square, or oblong, 
lusion to the seasons of the year. For these Tambourines were undoubtedly known in 
strings, producing three different sounds, the I Syria before the Hebrew fathers had any 



278 



A GRECIAN LEGEND. 



knowledge of Egypt, for we find that Laban 
lamented that no opportunity had been given 
him of sending Jacob away " with songs, with 
tabret, and with harp." Miriam, the sister of 
Moses, and the females with her, accompanied 
their song of victory with the sound of this 
instrument. Job was acquainted with it, and 



" timbrel-playing damsels," and it is nowhere 
described as being employed in battle, or for 
any warlike purpose. In short, it was applied 
to exactly the same purposes as by other na- 
tions, who used it in dances, in attestations of 
gladness, at festivals, and on such like occa- 
sions. So we find it represented in the Egyp- 




THE SWEET SINGER OF ISRAEL — Ps. Ixxii. 20. 



David employed it in all the festivities of his 
religion. Isaiah adduces it as an instrument 
employed by voluptuaries, but left in silence 
on the breaking out of wars and desolations. 
The occasion on which this instrument is 
mentioned is always one of joy ; and, for the 
most part, those who play upon it are females, 
who on this verv account have the name of 



| tian sculptures, and it is more than likely that 
i the forms which are represented in these 
i sculptures are the same as those of the He- 
brew instruments, as there is a strong resem- 
i blance between them. 

These are of three kinds, differing probably 
in sound as well as in form: one is circular, 
another oblong, and a third consisting of two 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



279 



squares separated by a bar. They were all 
beaten by the hand and used as an accompa- 
niment to the harp and other instruments. 
Men ; and women used them, but most usually 
the latter, who are often represented as dancing 
to them unaccompanied by other instruments. 

A Popular Instrument. 

From the imperfect representation of those 
in the tombs at Thebes, it is difficult to say 
whether the Egyptian tambourine had the 
same movable piece of metal let into its 
wooden frame, as in those of the present day, 
but their mode of playing it was similar ; and, 
from the manner in which it is held up after 
having been struck, we may venture to con- 
clude that they were furnished with metal 
rings, for the free emission of whose sound 
this position was peculiarly calculated. These 
appendages of the tambourine were certainly 
very ancient. It is seen from the paintings at 
Herculaneum that the Greek tambourine was 
furnished with balls of metal, pendent from 
the front part, or from the centre of its circular 
rim, to which each appears to have been 
attached by a short thong. Here also, on 
•classic ground, the instrument was mostly 
confined to women, and chiefly used in the 
festivals of Bacchus and Cybele. 

There is even now no instrument of music 
more common in the East than the tambou- 
rine. And it is also constantly met with in 
Northern and Western Africa. The Arabian 
tambourine, which may be taken as a type of 
the whole, is a broad hoop covered with a 
stretched skin. In the rim there are usually 
thin, round pulleys, or wheels of metal, which 
also make some noise. It is played in the 
same way as with us ; and, indeed, our tam- 
bourine is derived from this indirectly through 
Spain. 

No musical instrument is perhaps so much 
■employed in Turkey as this. When the females 
in their harem dance, the time is always beaten 
with this instrument. It would seem that the 
Egyptian females, dancing and singing to the 
tambourine, and bearing palm branches and 
green twigs, were wont to visit the tombs of 



their deceased friends. Something of this 
may be traced in the Friday visit of the Mos- 
lem women to the cemeteries, and, what is 
more remarkable, the tambourine is still used 
on these occasions, when the death is recent, 
to accompany the notes of wailing. For the 
same purpose it is used by the professed wail- 
ing-women when employed in the house of 
mourning. In this respect it seems now to 
occupy the place of the funeral pipe of the 
ancient Hebrews; and yet we are not sure 
that they had not some such use for the tam- 
bourine; for the image in Nahum in which 
women in the act of mourning are described 
as " tabering upon their breasts," would seem 
to have been derived from some such usage. 

Religious Processions. 

Painters usually represent the Hebrew tabret 
by a small kettle-drum, and although the 
tambourine is, without doubt, the instrument 
principally denoted, we should be reluctant to 
aver that a kind of kettle-drum may not have 
been included. From its general shape, as well 
as from being beaten by the hands, it appears 
to have been similar to the present darookha 
drum of Egypt and Arabia. It is made of 
parchment strained and glued over a funnel- 
shaped case (often of potteiy), which is a 
hollow cylinder, with a truncated cone at- 
tached to it. It is beaten by the hand, and 
when relaxed is braced by exposing it for a 
few moments to the sun or the heat of the 
fire. 

Cymbals are often mentioned in the Psalms ; 
and it is not doubted that instruments of this 
kind are really to be understood by the word 
thus translated. These instruments were 
known to the ancient Egyptians, of a shape 
nearly similar to our own, and made of a 
mixed metal, apparently brass, or a compound 
of brass and silver. The classical cymbals 
were also similar, and the same shape is still 
preserved in the East. Cymbals were much 
employed in the religious processions and 
sacred mysteries of the ancients. 

Among the Israelites the use of trumpets 
was prescribed by a Divine regulation, by which 



280 



ANCIENT TRUMPETS. 



Moses was directed to make two trumpets 
of beaten silver for sacerdotal uses. There is 
little doubt that the original form of these 
trumpets was perpetuated in those in after 
ages made for the Temple service ; and of these 
we happen to have authentic figures in the 
sculptures on the arch of Titus, which fully 
correspond with the Mosaical intimations, and 
also with the description of Josephus, who, as 
a priest, doubtless framed his account after 
those which were in his time actually in use. 
Moses, he says, " invented a species of trum- 
pet of silver. Its length was little less than a 
cubit, and it was somewhat thicker than a flute. 
Its opening was oblong, so as to permit blow- 
ing in it with the mouth. At the lower end 
it had the form of a bell." 

These accounts tally very closely with the 
figures of trumpets which we observe on the 
Egyptian monuments. It is about a foot and 
a half long, apparently of brass (being colored 
yellow) ; and when sounded it was held with 
both hands, and either used singly or as part 
of the military band, with the drum and other 
instruments. It was straight, like the Roman 
tuba, or our common trumpet, and appears to 
have been particularly, although not exclu- 
sively, appropriated to martial uses. 

Moses was commanded to make only two 
trumpets, because the priests for whose use 
they were intended were then only two. 
Afterwards far more of them were made. 
When, however, riches disappeared from 
Palestine, baser metal was employed in the 
manufacture of these trumpets. They were 
employed in calling the congregation together, 
in sacrifices, and in battles. 

The Hebrew Flute. 

It is agreed that pipes or flutes of some kind 
or other were used by the Hebrews. People 
employed these instruments in connection 
with others at the feast of tabernacles, and 
in general at every feast, especially, however, 
while journeying up to Jerusalem to celebrate 
these feasts there. At least Isaiah refers to 
such a use : — " Ye shall have a song as in die 
night, when a holy solemnity is kept; and 



gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a 
pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord." 
To accompany travelling with music and sing- 
ing is common in the East even at the present 
day. We also find a general usage of this 
kind, for the sons of the prophets went forth to 
meet Saul with various kinds of music, and 
among others with pipes. This instrument 
was also employed at the anointing of Solo- 
mon. For the most part it was consecrated 
to joy and pleasure ; hence, in the time of 
Judas Maccabseus, the Israelites complained 
"that all joy had vanished from Jacob, and 
the pipe and the cithara were silent." 

It was, however, employed also on serious 
occasions, as there was a distinct pipe of plain- 
tive tone adapted to such occasions. Players 
on such instruments were present in the death- 
chamber of Jairus's daughter; and the attend- 
ance of pipers at funerals and lamentations is 
often mentioned by the Jewish writers. 
Josephus speaks of them, and says that many 
hired pipers led the way in the wailings. We 
learn also from the Rabbinical writers that 
even the poorest Israelite, when his wife died, 
had two pipers and one wailing woman to 
make lamentations ; and the sick had more, 
according to their dignity or means of pay- 
ment. 

Much speculation respecting the form of 
the Hebrew pipes may be regarded as super- 
seded by the discovery of those figured on the 
Egyptian monuments. These are of two 
kinds, single and double. The former is 
sometimes of extraordinary length, and the 
holes placed so low that when playing the 
musician was obliged to extend his arms. It 
is of equal breadth throughout, not spreading 
out at the lower end like those in modern 
use. This pipe seems to have belonged 
principally, if not exclusively, to male per- 
formers, who held it with both their hands, 
and either stood, knelt, or sat upon the 
ground. The double pipe consisted of two 
pipes, which seem to have been occasionally 
united together by a common mouthpiece, 
and played each with the corresponding hand. 
It was not only used or. solemn occasions, 




(281) 



282 



SACRED LYRICS. 



but very generally at festive banquets, both 
among the Egyptians and the Greeks. Men, 
but more frequently women, played upon it. 

The Psalms are lyrical in the strict and 
proper sense ; for with the Hebrews, as in the 
ancient world generally, song and music were 
connected, and the titles of most of the Psalms 
manifestly point to their connection with music, 
although not in a manner very intelligible to 
us. Moreover, these compositions deserve the 
name of lyric on account of their character as 
works of taste. The essence of lyric poetry 
is the immediate expression of feeling; and 
feeling is the sphere to which most of the 
Psalms belong. Pain, sorrow, fear, hope, joy, 
confidence, gratitude, submission to God, every- 
thing that moves and elevates the soul, is ex- 
pressed in these hymns. Most of them are 
the warm outpourings of the excited, sus- 
ceptible heart ; the fresh offspring of inspiration 
and elevation of thought; while only a few 
seem like the colder productions of artificial 
imitation ; and a few others are simply forms 
of prayer, Temple hymns, and collections of 
proverbs. 

There is a striking peculiarity in the Psalms 
which often adds great force to the meaning. 
It consists in this, that the thought or expres- 
sion of a preceding verse is resumed and 
carried forward in the next ; for example, in 
psalm exxi. we read thus : 

" I lift mine eyes unto the hills, 
From whence cometh my help. 

My help cometh from Jehovah, 

Who hath made heaven and earth. 

He suffereth not my feet to be moved: 
Thy keeper slumbereth not. 

Lo, he slumbereth not, nor sleepeth, 
The keeper of Israel. 

"Jehovah is thy keeper ; 
Jehovah the shade at thy right hand. 

The sun shall not smite thee by day, 
Nor the moon by night. 

Jehovah preserveth thee from all evil, 
Preserveth thy soul. 

Jehovah preserveth thy going out and thy coming in, 
From this time fonh for evermore." 



The antithetic parallels of Hebrew poetry 
are those, which next offer themselves to our 
notice. In this species of parallelism two 
lines usually correspond with one another by 
an opposition of terms and sentiment; when 
the second is contrasted with the first, some- 
times in expressions, sometimes in sense only. 
This is not confined to any particular form. 
Thus in Proverbs we read : 

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; 
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy." 

"A wise son rejoiceth his father; 
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother." 

In which instance every word has its opposite; 
"father" and "mother," in the last, being rel- 
atively opposite. Of the same kind are the 
following : 

"The lip of truth shall be established forever; 
But a lying tongue is but for a moment." 

"The house of the wicked shall be overthrown; 
But the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish." 

Here the antithesis is very beautiful and ef- 
fective. The most substantial structure, the 
house of the wicked, shall be thrown down; 
but the frailest tenement, the tabernacle, or 
shed, of the righteous, shall endure. 

Much indeed of the elegance, acuteness, and 
force of a great number of Solomon's wise 
sayings arise from this opposition of sentiment 
and diction. We are not, therefore, to expect 
frequent instances of it in the other poems of 
the Old Testament; especially those which are 
elevated in the style and more connected in 
the parts. But although it is of comparatively 
rare occurrence, it is by no means inconsistent 
with the superior kinds of Hebrew poetry, nor 
are examples wanting in them. A beautiful 
instance occurs in Hannah's thanksgiving ode: 

" The bow of the mighty is broken ; 
And they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
The full have hired themselves for bread, 
And the hungry have ceased to hunger." 

This striking peculiarity is one of the capti- 
vating charms of Hebrew poetry. 

Also we find it in some of the Psalms : 




THE GOOD WIFE.— PrOV. XXxi. 27. 



(283) 



284 



SONGS OF SOLOMON. 



"These in chariots, those on horses, 
But we, in the name of Jehovah — will be strong: 
They are bowed clown and fallen ; 
But we are risen, and maintain ourselves firm." 

" In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, 
But he that feareth the Lord honored : 
Who swears to the wicked, and breaks not his oath." 

" For his anger endureth but a moment, 
But his favor through life : 
Weeping may endure for a night, 
But jdV cometh in the morning." 

Even Isaiah sometimes makes use of these 
opposites in thought and sentiment by which, 
without departing from his usual dignity, he 
adds much to the beauty of his composition : 

" In a little anger have I forsaken thee ; 
But with great mercies will I receive thee again. 
In a short wrath, I hid my face for a moment from thee ; 
But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee. 

" Behold, my servants shall cat, 
But ye shall he famished ; 
Behold, my servants shall drink, 
But ye shall he thirsty; 
Behold, my servants shall rejoice, 
But ye shall be confounded." 

There is sometimes a change of parts in the 
same line, besides the opposition of the two 
lines, forming a kind of double antithesis. 
Thus in Proverbs we read as follows : 

"There is that maketh himself rich, 
Yet wanteth all things ; 
There is that maketh himself poor, 
Yet hath great riches." 

And likewise in the Song of Solomon : 

" I am swarthy, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem ; 
As the tents of Kedar, as the pavilions of Solomon." 

The last line here is to be divided and sepa- 
rately applied to the preceding : " Swarthy as 
the tents of Kedar, comely as the pavilions of 
Solomon." No mode of expression could be 
more striking than this. 

To this class belongs also the riddle of 
Samson, referred to in a former chapter: 

" Out of the eater came forth meat, 
Out of the fierce came forth sweetms^.'' 



The Proverbs, as we are informed at the be- 
ginning and in other parts of the book, were 
written by Solomon, king of Israel ; and that 
he was the author of by far the greater por- 
tion of the proverbs which the book contains 
is admitted even by those who allege that the 
final chapters contain a supplement, the author- 
ship of which must be ascribed to other writers 

The Book of Proverbs. 

We are informed in Scripture that this 
wisest of kings, being desirous of employing, 
for the benefit of mankind, the wisdom which it 
had pleased God to bestow upon him, com- 
posed various works for their instruction ; and 
these works doubtless did much in their day 
to form and advance the Hebrew mind in the 
various branches of knowledge to which they 
belonged. They had thus an important use, 
and served the purpose to which they were 
directed ; and although it would be curious 
and interesting to possess all the works of this 
ancient sage, we have the less reason to regret 
that the present book, and, as most think, the 
Canticles and the Book of Ecclesiastes, are all 
that remain of the various works of him who 
is related to have spoken " three thousand pro- 
verbs ; " whose " songs were a thousand and 
five ; " and who " spake of trees, from the 
cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that 
springeth out of the wall ; " and who " spake 
also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping 
things, and of fishes." 

The greater portion of these works was 
probably not admitted into the sacred canon 
on account of their not being designed for re- 
ligious instruction, or not being regarded as 
emanations of those higher inspirations which 
the books accounted sacred. In the posses- 
sion of Solomon's doctrinal and moral works, 
we may be consoled for the loss of his physi- 
cal and philosophical productions ; and enough 
happily remains to bear evidence of the ex- 
alted wisdom of their author. 

This Book of Proverbs, then, contains the 
maxims of long experience, framed by one 
who was well qualified, by his rare gifts and 
talents, to draw just lessons from a compre- 



a g 



NS' : %i? 




Ci A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM." Is. XI. 6. 



(285) 



286 



ARABIC PROVERBS. 



hensive survey of human life. His proverbs 
arejustly founded on principles of human na- 
ture, and so adapted to the permanent interests 
of men that they agree with the manners of 
every age, and may be assumed as rules for the 
direction of our conduct in every condition 
and rank of life, however varied in its com- 
plexion or diversified by circumstances : they 
embrace not only the concerns of private mo- 
rality, but the great objects of political im- 
portance. Subsequent moralists have done 
little more than dilate on the precepts and 
comment on the wisdom of Solomon. 

Wise Sayings. 

The Chinese and the Persians retain their 
partiality for proverbs, although they are not 
wanting in works in which " wisdom is di- 
gested, methodized, and reduced to order and 
connection." Burckhardt has also given us a 
collection of Arabic proverbs, with a com- 
mentary, many of which convey the same illus- 
trations of the usages of the people which we 
find in the sacred Book of Proverbs. In fact, 
it is necessary, to be thoroughly acquainted 
with the physical and intellectual condition of 
a people, to understand their proverbs well ; 
and he who has acquired this by diligent 
study, will best understand and most entirely 
enjoy the Proverbs of Solomon. As Burck- 
hardt's book is not common, the reader will 
not be displeased to see a few specimens of 
the proverbs which it contains : 

" Rather be sacrificed with an axe than require favors from 

others. 
Work (were it only) for a single grain, and reckon up the 

profits of him who does nothing. 
Follow the owl ; she will lead thee to a ruined place. 
The corn passes from hand to hand, but comes at last to the 

mill. 
A well from which thou drinkest, throw not a stone into it. 
The value of every man consists in what he does well. 
Advice given in the midst of a crowd is loathsome. 
A day that is not thine own, do not reckon it as of thy life. 
On the day of victory no fatigue is felt. 
Be diligent, and God will send profit. 
How many are the roads that lead not to the heart ! 
Him whom goodness cannot mend, evil will not mend. 
The soil of labor rather thnn the saffron of indolence. 
Those are the best riches which are spent in the proper place. 



God bless him who pays visits, and short visits ! 

A tree that affords thee shade, do not order it to be cnl down. 

In every head is some wisdom." 

The Proverbs of Solomon, and the other 
works ascribed to him, contain not a few of 
those allusions to water which we expect to 
find in an Oriental book. Such references in 
fact pervade the Bible from the beginning to 
the ending ; and rivers of water, wells, and 
gushing springs supply to the sacred poets 
and prophets some of their most vivid and 
happy images. In Proverbs alone we find such 
a graphic illustration as the following: 

" Drink waters out of thine own cistern, 
And running waters out of thine own well." 

Which is very much elucidated by the fact 
that even at the present day every respectable 
house in Jerusalem has a reservoir or cistern 
sunk in the court-yard, which during the later 
spring rains is filled up with water, lasting 
over the long and dry summer, and is then 
again filled by the early rains of autumn. This 
is in fact the main dependence of the inhabi- 
tants of a region where springs of water are 
few, and where nearly all the rivers dry up 
very early in the summer. Therefore, a man 
who has no cistern must depend upon the 
cisterns of others, and be constantly asking 
what is really a great favor and an inconve- 
nience to them, while the supply from this 
source is in danger of being cut off as soon as 
the owners of the cistern think their sup- 
ply is likely to run short. 

We also find the following reference : 

" Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, 
And rivers of water in the streets." 

This to an Oriental is an image of the high- 
est degree of abundance and blessedness. It 
is, however, founded on facts. It could indeed 
not often occur in Palestine that the waste 
water of a fountain should run in streams 
through different streets ; but it does occur in 
some places where water is unusually abun- 
dant, as in Damascus : and to those who have 
been inured to the heat, the thirst, and the 
scarcity of water in Eastern climates, this run- 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



287 



ning of the precious fluid to waste gives an i although it has passed from the Bible into 
idea of redundant plenty and luxurious extrav- 1 common use among ourselves, is with us com- 




agance, which the inhabitants of well-watered 
regions Cannot easily apprehend. 

The proverb — " Stolen waters are sweet ' 



paratively unmeaning. No one steals water 
here. The proverb is only felt in its due force 
in such climates as those in which it origi- 



-288 



WATER AS AN EMBLEM. 



nated ; where water is often scarce, and, there- 
fore, so valuable as to be an object of care and 
solicitude to the owners ; is often bought at a 
price we should consider exorbitant ; and often 
stolen by those who will not or cannot buy. 
Many illustrative passages will occur to those 
familiar with Scripture. The strifes about 
wells of water and the watering of flocks ; the 
offer of the Israelites to buy (that is, not steal) 
the water they required in passing through 
Edom ; the doleful complaint of the prophet, 
•" We have bought our water for money," and 
other like passages, may be instanced: 

" The liberal soul shall be made fat; 
And he that watereth others shall be watered." 

The sentiment indicated by this figure is 
obvious ; but the fact on which it is founded 
cannot be apprehended or felt strongly in a 
moist climate like ours, where real thirst for 
water is scarcely known. But it follows that, 
where water is scarce and precious, and where 
also the heat of the climate makes every one 
need a large quantity of water daily, the lib- 
erality of " watering others," that is, of giving 
water freely to the thirsty, is most strongly 
felt and gratefully acknowledged. In fact, in 
the Scriptures, liberality is as frequently in- 
stanced by giving water to the thirsty as by 
giving bread to the hungry. In another place 
the idea involved in the present verse is dwelt 
upon very strongly : " If thine enemy thirst, 
give him drink ; " and in the New Testament 
the Divine King, in the grand parable of the 
final judgment, mentioned, to the commenda- 
tion of the righteous : " I was thirsty and ye 
gave me drink ; " and the denial of drink to 
His thirst is noticed in His condemnation of the 
wicked. In another case our Saviour uttered 
the memorable words : " Whosoever shall give 
•you a cup of water to drink, because ye be- 
long to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall 
not lose his reward." 

" The beginning of strife is as when one 
letteth out water." That is, that although the 
breach may seem at first unimportant, it is 
widened by the action of the water, which at 
length bursts forth in a mighty stream which 



can be checked no longer, and not only ex- 
hausts and wastes the fertilizing waters of 
kindness and love, but spreads damage and 
ruin all around. 

" The law of the wise is a fountain of life." 
A fountain of life is a living fountain, that is, 
a perennial spring, or a spring which sends 
forth a running stream. In this sense it is 
contrasted with dead or stagnant water, such 
as that of reservoirs, lakes and ponds. 

" Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water; 
But a man of understanding will draw it out." 

This very fine proverb refers to the depth 
of wells before the water is reached. In Pal- 
estine this is often very great. The celebrated 
well of Jacob, near Shechem, is stated by 
travellers to be one hundred and five feet 
deep, with only five feet of water in it — now, 
at least. It is not improbable that Solomon 
had this very well in view. The labor of 
drawing from such a well may possibly 
have contributed to the first unwillingness of 
the woman of Samaria to give drink therefrom 
to the thirsting Saviour : " Sir, thou hast noth- 
ing to draw with, and the well is deep." From 
such wells water is often drawn by hand in a 
not too heavy leathern bucket, sometimes by 
a windlass, but oftener by means of the sha- 
doof, which is the most common and simple 
of all the machines used in the East for rais- 
ing water, whether from rivers or from wells. 

An Ancient Well-Sweep. 

It consists of two posts or pillars of wood, 
or of mud and canes or rushes, about five feet 
in height, and less than three feet apart, with 
a horizontal piece of wood extending from 
top to top, to which is suspended a slender 
lever, formed of a branch of a tree, having at 
one end a weight, chiefly composed of mud, 
and at the other, suspended from two long 
palm-sticks, a vessel in the form of a bowl, 

: made of basket-work, or of a hoop and a 
piece of woollen stuff or leather ; with this 

(vessel the water is thrown up. 

That this mode of raising water is very 

• ancient is shown by an example which is rep- 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



289 



resented in the mural paintings of the Egyp-lmore ancient mode is preserved in Syria, and 
tians. The difference between this and that ' indeed in most other countries where the prin- 




of which we have given the description is, 
chiefly, that the lever is not suspended from, 
but balanced upon the cross-beam. And this 
19 



ciple of the balance and lever is applied to the 
raising of water. This principle is extensively 
applied to that purpose throughout Asia, was 



290 



DRAWING WATER. 



formerly used extensively in Europe, and is now 
in use from one end of Russia to the other, 
where the numerous levers" kicking the beam," 
and therefore rising high in the air, is a strik- 
ing characteristic of the villages. In this case, 
as in China, the lever is usually balanced upon 
a stout pole, forked at the upper end ; and it 
of course follows that the stock is higher, and 
the lever and rope longer in proportion to the 
depth of the well or stream from which the 
water is to be taken, or to the height to which 
it is to be raised. In Syria, where the walls 
are deep, the stock is high and the rope long ; 
but in that country (including Palestine) the 
shadoof is less common than in other parts 
-of Asia ; but where it is found, as in the 
neighborhood of Jaffa, the lever is balanced 
and not suspended. 

With this simple machine, which is like 
-our old-fashioned well-sweep, the chief labor 
is not to raise the bucket when full, but to 
-overcome the resistance of the lever's loaded 
end in lowering the bucket when empty. 
When the river is too low or the banks too high 
for shadoofs on the same level to bring water to 
the surface of the soil, a series of four or five 
shadoofs, or sets of shadoofs, is rendered 
necessary. The water is then raised from the 
river by one set, and discharged into a trench, 
from which it is taken by another set, and 
raised to a higher trench, and so on to the top. 

Watered Gardens. 

There is every reason to think that the con- 
trivances for irrigation now used in Western 
Asia are as old as the art of husbandry itself 
in the same region, and we are led to suppose 
that similar contrivances existed among the 
ancient Hebrews. Under this view the sub- 
ject assumes a degree of Biblical interest, 
from the frequent allusions in Scripture to 
"watered gardens," and to the general im- 
portance of irrigation. 

We have already described the shadoof, 
which is so much used for raising water. 
Another machine much employed for the 
same purpose is the sackiyeh, or Persian 
wheel. The name seems to indicate the 



country of its origin, but it is now largely em- 
! ployed on the banks of all the principal rivers 
of Western Asia for the purpose of raising 
water for the irrigation of fields and gardens. 

The sackiyeh mainly consists of a vertical 
wheel, which raises the water in earthen 
pots attached to cords, and forms a continu- 
ous series ; a second vertical wheel, fixed to 
the same axis, with cogs, and a large horizon- 
tal cogged wheel, which, being turned by a 
pair of cows or bulls, or by a single beast, puts 
in motion the former wheels and pots. The 
construction of this machine is of a very rude 
kind, and its motion produces a disagreeable 
creaking noise. It will be perceived that the 
revolution of the wheels takes down the string 
of buckets empty on one side, and brings them 
up full on the other. It is thus, by the wheel 
and string of buckets, that water is usually 
raised from wells in Palestine and Syria, 
although the shadoof is sometimes employed. 

A Novel Sight. 

The Scottish Missionary Deputation ob- 
served at the public well outside the village 
of Khanounes near Gaza, what they call a 
Persian wheel, at work : it was turned by a 
camel, and poured a copious supply of water 
into a trough. What these pious and intelli- 
gent travellers say of this well applies to all 
other public Eastern wells, and illustrates the 
usages which the Scriptures indicate. " The 
well is evidently the rendezvous for idlers, 
gazers, and talkers, and as much a place of 
public resort as the market. Old and young, 
cattle and camels were crowded together. 
The coolness of the spot and the prospect of 
meeting others no doubt induced many to take 
their seat by the well-side." This brings to 
mind the adventures of Eleazer and Jacob at 
the well of Haran, of Moses at the well of 
Midian, and even in some degree of that which, 
befell our Lord at Jacob's well. 

Another and more simple mode of raising 
water, which the travellers just cited observed 
in Palestine, gave them much amusement, but 
which is very familiar to persons of wider 
travel in the East. At Doulis in Philistia, 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



291 



" while the servants were pitching the tent we i rope is attached by one end to a large bucket 
wandered through the place, and sitting down I made of skin, and let down over a pulley, 




by the well observed the women come to I while the other end is attached to a bullock, 
draw water. The well is very deep, and the I which is driven up and down the slope of the 
mode of drawing up the water curious. A | hill; the skin of water is thus hauled up to 



292 



THE SWINGING BUCKET. 



the top, where a man stands ready to empty I of raising water from rivers, canals, and reser- 
it into the trough, from which women receive! voirs, to irrigate fields and gardens, is thus de- 




the water into earthenware jugs. To us this I scribed : Where the elevation of the bank over 

was a novel and amusing sight." I which water is to be lifted is trifling, they some- 

Another very simple mode for the purpose ' times adopt the following simple method : — A 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



293 



light water-tight bucket is held suspended, on 
ropes between two men, who by alternately 
relaxing and tightening the ropes by which 
they hold it between them, give a certain swing- 
ing motion to the bucket, which first fills it with 
water, and then empties it with a jerk upon the 
higher level, the elastic spring which is in the 
bend of the ropes serving to diminish the 
labor to a very great extent. 

Grounds intended to be artificially irrigated 
are usually divided into squares by ridges of 
earth or furrows. The water is conducted 
from the machine, or from the trough or 
cistern which is connected therewith, by a 
narrow gutter, and is admitted into one square 
after another by the gardener, who is always 
ready, as occasions require, to stop or divert 
the torrent, by turning the earth against it 
with his foot, and opening at the same time 
with his mattock a new trench to receive it. 
This mode of distributing water over land 
rarely refreshed by rain is more than once 
alluded to in the Scriptures ; and, indeed, a 
distinction is founded upon it between Egypt 
and the land of Canaan : — "The land whither 
thou goest to possess it, is not as the land of 
Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou 
sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy 
foot as a garden of herbs ; but the land 
whither ye go to possess is a land of hills and 
valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of 
heaven." 

This evidently expresses that the land of 
Canaan was naturally so much better watered 
by rain than the land of Egypt, that this mode 
of artificial irrigation would not there, as in 
Egypt, be required for arable lands, but only 
for gardens; and this distinction exists at the 
present day. In Palestine artificial irrigation 
is only used for gardens ; for the irrigation 
of the arable lands the inhabitants trust to the 
rains of heaven, the moisture afforded by which 
is sedulously economized and preserved as long 
as possible in the soil, by the cultivation of 
the hills in successive terraces, which is the 
usual mode of culture among the hills of 
Palestine and Lebanon, f<3r those objects of 
culture which do not afford their produce till 



late in the season. Grain does not need this 
care, as it is harvested before the summer 
heats have absorbed the moisture of the plains. 
The above explanation of " watering by the 
foot " is the only one which can be deduced 
from any present practice in Egypt. 

A Singular Illusion. 

Having thus been led to give attention to 
the subject of water, we ma)' add a few words 
respecting the mirage, or the illusive appear- 
ance of water, often witnessed in the dry plains 
of Egypt and Syria. The Scottish Missionary 
Deputation, when in Egypt, noticed this illu- 
sion : " In the distance we observed the well- 
known phenomenon of the mirage, to which 
the prophet Isaiah is supposed to allude : ' The 
parched ground shall become a pool.' At one 
time we saw what appeared to be a calm flow- 
ing water, reflecting from its unruffled surface 
the trees growing on its banks, while some 
object in the background assumed the appear- 
ance of a splendid residence amidst a grove 
of trees. At another time there appeared 
castles embosomed in a forest of palms, with 
a lake of clear water stretched between us and 
them. Generally the mirage may be well 
known by its continually shifting the view, 
and by the hazy movement of the atmosphere 
over the apparent waters." 

Another traveller describes the same phe- 
nomenon as seen by him in the lowlands of 
Sinai : — " During the early part of the day we 
several times beheld the phenomenon of 
the mirage, or false water of the desert. Its 
resemblance to a diminutive lake was certainly 
very striking, since it not only reflected the 
bushes on its margin, but had something of 
the ripple of water, and was streaked by those 
narrow shining particles of light observable 
on the surface of lakes when viewed from a 
distance, producing a very striking effect." 

Natural History in Proverbs. 

So acute an observer, and one so interested 
in the study of natural history, as Solomon, 
was likely to have his attention attracted by 
the art to which, in the East, some persons 



294 



THE BABBLER. 



have in all ages pretended, of being able to I the serpent will bite without enchantment, and 
exercise a strange power over the venomous I a babbler is no better." David also has a 




serpents, and to handle them freely without I similar and even more distinct allusion to the 
harm. We accordingly find an allusion to i same fact, which would be readily understood 
this remarkable fact in his writings : " Surely | by an Oriental mind ° 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



295 



■" Their poison is like the poison of serpents; 
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, 
Which will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, 
Charming never so wisely." 

Jeremiah also : 

-' Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, 
Which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, sahh 
the Lord." 

These passages refer to a practice so opposed 
to all our notions and knowledge, as to give 
some interest to the explanation to which they 
point, and which is perhaps only needed be- 
cause of our own immunity from the evils 
which the presence of poisonous serpents 
creates. They afford in fact the earliest ex- 
isting references to the practice of serpent- 
charming. Our other ancient information is 
founded on the practices of the Psylli, a people 
of Cyrenaica, who were the most celebrated 
serpent-charmers of ambiguity, and who are 
frequently mentioned by the classical writers. 
Their gift was supposed to be a natural 
power inherent to the race — a kind of gypsies, 
apparently. Lucan makes the same statement, 
and affords many additional particulars. A 
body of these Psylli undertook to protect the 
Roman camp in Africa from serpents, by which 
the region was much infested. They kept 
-marching around it chanting their " mystic 
songs ; " but also employed the natural and 
probably more effective expedient of surround- 
ing the camp by a line of fires, made of different 
kinds of wood, the smell of which was to keep 
the serpents from approaching. When any 
soldier abroad in the daytime happened to be 
bitten, the Pyslli undertook to cure him. First, 
to prevent, as they said, the poison from 
spreading while they used their arts in charm- 
ing it forth, they rubbed the wounded part 
with saliva. 

Then sudden he begins the mystic song, 
And rolls the numbers hasty o'er his tongue; 
Swift he runs on, nor pauses once for breath, 
To stop (he progress of approaching death; 
He fears the cure might suffer by delay, 
And life be lost but for a moment's stay. 
Thus oft, though deep within the veins it lies, 
By magic numbers chased, the mischief flies. 



But if to hear too slow — if still it stay, 
And scorn the potent charmer to obey, 
With forceful lips he fastens on the wound, 
Draws out and spits the venom to the ground. 

— Pliarsalia. 

In this account the voice is repeatedly men- 
tioned as the instrument by which the charm- 
ers worked ; and it is to " the voice of the 
charmer" that the psalmist refers in the text 
we have cited. The charmers, doubtless, as 
in the case mentioned by Lucan, used a form 
of words as a charm, or chanted a song in 
some peculiar measure ; and to the words of 
the song or the charm were attributed the 
effects really assignable to the human voice. 

Egypt and Northern Africa in the West, 
and India in the East, are the countries where 
serpent-charming in all its forms is now most 
generally practiced. /Elian, speaking of the 
power possessed by the Egyptians over snakes 
and birds, says : " They are said to be enabled 
by a certain magical art to bring down birds 
from heaven, and to charm serpents so as to 
make them come forth from their lurking- 
places at their command." Sir J. G. Wilkin- 
i son remarks, with reference to the practice of 
the modern Psylli : " The Egyptian asp is a 
species of the cobra de capello, and is still 
very common in Egypt, where it is called Na- 
shir, a word signifying ' spreading,' from its 
dilating its breast when angry. It is the same 
which the Psylli of modern days use in their 
juggling tricks, having previously taken care 
to extract its fangs ; or, which is a still better 
precaution, to burn out the poison-bag with a 
hot iron. They are generally about three or 
four feet long, but some are considerably 
larger, one in my possession measuring ex- 
actly six feet in length. They are easily 
tamed. Their food is mice, frogs and various 
reptiles, and they mostly live in gardens dur- 
ing the warm weather, where they are of great 
use — the reason probably of their being chosen 
in ancient times as a protecting emblem. In 
the winter they retire to their holes and re- 
main in a torpid state, being incapable of bear- 
ing cold, as I had reason to observe with two 
I kept in the house at Cairo, which died in 



296 



THE EGYPTIAN ASP. 



one night, though wrapped up in a skin and, i sound of the human voice, while others are 
as 1 fully thought, protected from the air." | exempt from it, and cannot be subjected by 




The facts of serpent-charming seem to be 
these : That certain species of serpents really 
are subject to influence from music or the 



the charmer, " charm he never so wisely." It 
is to these doubtless that the psalmist and 
Jeremiah allude. It also appears that nat- 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



297 



urally poisonous serpents, having their poison- 
fangs extracted or the poison-bag destroyed, 
and being then tamed, are played with by the 
charmer and even suffered to bite him. The 
process of destroying the poison-fangs is ob- 
viously alluded to by the psalmist, where, in 
the verse immediately following that which 
we have cited, he says : " Break their teeth, 
O God, in their mouth." No instance of the 
wound of a really poisonous serpent being 
cured by serpent-charmers has been met with. 
In the case recorded by Lucan, it may be 
clearly perceived that the serpent-bites which 
the Psylli pretended to cure by charms, songs, 
and saliva, were the bites of serpents not poi- 
sonous ; but when the symptoms evinced that 
the wound was from a poisonous serpent they 
resorted to the very natural and by no means 
occult expedient of sucking the wound to 
extract the poison. 

The author of " Oriental Illustrations " says : 
"The serpent-charmer may be found in every 
village, and some who have gained great fame 
actually live by the art. Occasionally they 
travel about the district to exhibit their skill. 
In a basket they have several serpents, which 
they place on the ground. The charmer then 
commences playing on his instrument, and to 
talk to the reptiles, at which they creep out, 
and begin to mantle about with their heads 
erect and their hoods distended. After this 
he puts his arm to them, which they affect to 
bite, and sometimes leave the marks of their 
teeth." 

This writer expresses, " from close observa- 
tion," the same conviction with respect to the 
fangs having been extracted, which Sir J. G. 
Wilkinson declares with respect to those used 
by the serpent-charmers of Egypt. He adds : 
" Living animals have been repeatedly offered 
to the man for his serpents to bite ; but he 
would not allow it, because he knew that no 
harm would ensue. It is, however, granted 
that some of these men believe in the power 
of their charms, and there can be no doubt 
that the serpents even in their wild state are 
affected by the influence of music. One of 
these men once went to a friend of mine with 



his serpents and charmed them before him. 
After some time the gentleman said, ' I have 
a cobra de capello in a cage ; can you charm 
him?' 'Oh! yes,' said the charmer. The 
serpent was let out of the cage, and the man 
began his incantations and charms : the reptile 
fastened upon his arm, and he was dead before 
the night." 

In an interesting account of Egyptian ser- 
pent-charming, given by Mr. Lane in his 
" Modern Egyptians," the writer states that the 
men for the most part profess to detect the 
presence of serpents in houses, and to draw 
them forth from their retreats. He says that 
the serpent-charmer assumes an air of mys- 
tery, strikes the walls with a short palm-stick, 
whistles, makes a clucking noise with his 
tongue, and spits upon the ground, and gen- 
erally says: " I adjure you by God, if ye be 
above, or if ye be below, that ye come forth ; 
I adjure you by the most great name, if ye 
be obedient, come forth, and if ye be disobe- 
dient, die ! die! die!" The serpent is gener- 
ally dislodged by his stick from a fissure of 
the wall, or drops from the ceiling of the room. 
Mr. Lane adds, that he has known this to be 
effected under circumstances in which decep- 
tion could hardly take place, and is inclined 
to think that the persons are acquainted with 
some real physical means of discovering the 
presence of serpents without seeing them, and 
of attracting them from their lurking-places, 
wherever these may be. 

Biblical References to Lions. 

These noble animals are mentioned about 
sixty times in Scripture, and several of these 
notices are in the Psalms. This frequency of 
allusion, united to the intimate acquaintance 
with the habits of the lion which these allu- 
sions evince, renders it manifest that the ani- 
mal was in ancient times far from uncommon 
in Palestine. Indeed there are passages in 
which the presence of the lion in the country 
is distinctly mentioned, as in Samson's conflict 
with the lion in his journey to Timnath, in 
David's defeat of the lion which sought to- 
prey upon his flock, and in the allusion of 



298 



LIONS. 



Jeremiah to the coming up of the lions from I instances of the disappearance of wild animals 
the brakes of the Jordan, when that swollen I in certain regions where they were once com- 




river periodically overflowed its lower banks. | mon. Lions are not now found nearer to 
There are certainly no lions in Palestine j Palestine than the rivers Euphrates and Tigris ; 
now ; and this is, therefore, one of the many | for they prefer the banks of rivers, on account 



THE PSALMS AND PROVERBS. 



299 



of the more abundant prey which they obtain 
from among the animals which resort to the 
streams for drink. It was thus that they in- 
fested the Jordan in the time of Jeremiah. On 
the rivers mentioned they live in dens, whence 
at night they prowl forth for prey, or dart forth 
suddenly upon such animals as unwarily draw 
near their hiding-place. 

While at the mouth of his den or elsewhere 
watching for his prey, the position and man- 
ner of the lion is like that of a cat while watch- 
ing the movements of a mouse. He eyes the 
'approach of his victim with the most cautious 
attention, carefully avoiding the least noise, 
lest he should give warning of his presence 
and designs. This is the habit alluded to by 
the psalmist, " He lieth in wait secretly as a 
lion in his den ; he lieth in wait to catch the 
poor ; he croucheth and humbleth himself that 
the poor may fall by his strong ones. " Again, 
'" Lake a lion that is greedy of his prey, and 
as it were a young lion lurking in secret places." 
From his lurking-place the lion commonly 
leaps upon his victim at one spring, the extent 
and force of which are tremendous. 

The great force with which the mighty 
beast strikes dead and rends its prey, supplies 
a figure in psalm vii. : " Lest he tear my soul 
like a lion, rending it in pieces while there is 
none to deliver ; " and many other of the 
Scriptural allusions to the lions are to the same 
•effect. 

In psalm xvii. the allusion to the greedi- 
ness of the lion, " like a lion that is greedy of 
his prey," must be understood with reference 
to the indisposition of this powerful beast to 
allow any other carnivorous animal to feed in 
its presence or to share its prey. A very re- 
markable example of this occurred recently 
in one of the menageries. A lion had been 
brought to permit two leopards to share its 
cage, and they lived together on easy if not 
on friendly terms. The leopards were always 
withdrawn at the time of feeding, but it was 
at length resolved to try the dangerous experi- 
ment of feeding them together. The meat was 
thrown in, but no sooner did the leopards lay 
liold of their pieces than the lion rushed upon 



one of them and slew him on the spot; and 
the other would have shared the same fate but 
for the keeper's interference. 

This is, without doubt, the habit which the 
psalmist had in view; and the minute accu- 
racy of observation evinced in all the Scriptural 
allusions to the habits and character of animals 
is the more remarkable by comparison with 
the fables and absurd or incorrect statements 
which disfigure all our ancient accounts. 

The Stork. 

The stork is known in Scripture by a name 
which means " kind," in manifest allusion to 
the great kindness of disposition, the almost 
human consideration manifested by the pairs, 
by the old ones to the young, and by the 
young to the old. Their constant return to 
the same localities in towns and upon the tops 
of buildings, also suggested the idea of local 
attachments, to which, by the associations 
which they convey, the notion of " kindly " 
dispositions is inseparably connected. 

Besides, its constant return, as often happens, 
to the higher points of those house-tops to 
which the inhabitants themselves constantly 
resort conveys the notion of personal and 
family attachment ; and it is impossible to see 
these large and respectable-looking birds re- 
turn to the same house-top year after year at 
the appointed time, and to the same large nest 
every evening after the labors of the day, mak- 
ing themselves so quietly comfortable, without 
regarding them as old and attached members 
of the family, or retainers of the house. 

And the manner in which they turn or lift 
up their heads when one comes to the house- 
top, and then relapse into repose, or resume 
their former posture, implies something like 
personal recognition ; nor is there much rea- 
son to doubt that they do become acquainted 
with the persons of the inmates of the house 
which they have chosen for their own domicile. 
The degree of confidence in man which all 
this implies is never in any country abused. 
In some countries the murder of a man would 
occasion far less sensation than the killing of a 
stork. In many places this is a criminal of- 



300 



SINGULAR SUPERSTITION. 



fence punishable by the laws, and in others i have attributed all the calamities of their lives 
the slayer of a stork would be very roughly I to their having unintentionally destroyed a. 




handled, if not torn in pieces, by the populace. I stork ; and there are thousands now living in 
It is known that many persons in high sta- (the world who would consider this as nearly the 
tion, in the countries which the stork frequents, greatest misfortune which could befall them. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



ANY of the prophets 
are furnished with 
a biography more 
complete than that 
of Jeremiah. Hil- 
kiah, his father, is 
supposed by some 
to be the same who 
was high-priest in 
the reign of Josiah. 
This is uncertain : 
but we know that 
he was of sacerdotal 
extraction. He was 
a native of Ana- 
thoth, a town of the 
priests, about three 
miles to the north 
of Jerusalem, in the 
territory of Benja- 
min. He was called 
to the prophetic of- 
fice nearly at the same time with Zephaniah, 
in the thirteenth year of king Josiah, when 
he was of very early age. Thus, like David, the 
shepherd, he began his public life very young. 
He then diffidently sought to decline the 
appointment on the score of his youth, until, 
under the Divine encouragements, he obeyed, 
and continued to prophesy upwards of forty 
years, during several successive reigns of the 
degenerate descendants of Josiah, to whom he 
fearlessly revealed those marks of the Divine 
vengeance which their fluctuating and re- 
bellious conduct drew on themselves and their 
country. As he had all along counselled sub- 
mission to the power of the Chaldaeans, he was 
favorably noticed by them after the destruction 
■of Jerusalem, and he was suffered to remain, 
to bewail the miseries and desolation of Judah. 
He knew, however, that the exile and deso- 



lation had an appointed term, and he failed not 
to send consolatory assurances to that effect 
to his captive countrymen. 

Eventually, Jeremiah was carried away, with 
his disciple Baruch, into Egypt, by Johanan, 
who, contrary to his advice and prophetic ad- 
monitions, resolved to remove thither, out of 
dread of the undistinguished vengeance of the 
Chaldaeans for the slaughterwhich Ishmael had 
perpetrated. According to the account pre- 
served by St. Jerome, he was stoned to death 
at Tahpanhes, a royal city of Egypt, about 
586 b. c, either by his own countrymen there 
settled, as is usually stated, or by the Egyp- 
tians, to both of whom he rendered himself 
obnoxious by the terrifying prophecies which 
he uttered. 

The Chronicle of Alexandria alleges that 
the prophet had incensed the Egyptians by 
foretelling that their idols should be destroyed 
by an earthquake at the time that the Saviour 
of men should be born and placed in a manger. 
This is of course a fiction ; and, as Bishop 
Gray remarks, his prophecies, which are still 
extant, respecting the conquest of Egypt by 
Nebuchadnezzar, must alone have been suffi- 
cient to excite the fears and hatred of those 
against whom they were uttered. There are, 
however, other accounts which relate that the 
prophet returned to his own country ; and 
travellers are still shown a place in the neigh- 
borhood of Jerusalem, where, as they are told, 
Jeremiah composed his prophecies, and where 
a monument to his memory was erected by 
Constantine. There is, however, more reason 
to conclude that he ended his life in Egypt. 

Many circumstances relating to Jeremiah 
are interspersed in his own writings. He lived 
in that most eventful period when the kingdom 
of Judah, torn asunder by intestine disorders, 
could only by the special protection of God 

(301) 



302 



JEREMIAH'S PATRIOTISM. 



— to which it had forfeited all claim — be pre-i 
vented from falling a sacrifice in the collision 
of the two prevailing powers, Babylon and 
Egypt. His efforts to retard or prevent the 
ruin of his country, which he loved with the ' 
most exalted patriotism, were rewarded by his I 
corrupt contemporaries with ingratitude, and 
even with a prison and attempt at murder. I 



ent times collections of what he had delivered. 
The first seems to have been formed in the 
first year of Jehoiakim, when the prophet was 
expressly commanded by God to write upon 
a roll all the prophecies which he had uttered 
concerning Israel, Judah, and other nations; 
and this he did by means of Baruch. But this 
roll having been burnt by Jehoiakim, another 




ANCIENT JERUSALEM 

He himself touchingly complains of this treat- 
ment: 

" Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me, 
A man of strife and contention with all the land! 
I have neither borrowed nor lent on usury, 
Yet every one doth curse me." 

Again : 

" I knew not that they had devised devices against me, 
[Saying], Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, 
And let us cut him off from the land of the living, 
That his name may be no more remembered." 

Jeremiah appears to have formed at differ- 



I Chr 



23- 



was written under the prophet's direction, with 
many additional particulars. In the eleventh 
year of Zedekiah, the prophet seems to have 
collected into one book all the prophecies 
which he had delivered before the taking of 
Jerusalem. To this he probably added such 
further revelations as he had occasionally re- 
ceived during the government of Gedaliah, 
and during the residence in Egypt, the ac- 
count of which terminates with the fifty-first 
chapter. 

Jeremiah appears to have been pre-ordained 
as a prophet, both to the Jews and Gentiles. 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



so; 



He certainly delivered many prophecies rela- 
tive to foreign nations. His name translated 
is, "he shall exalt Jehovah." His reputation 
was so considerable, that some of the fathers 
fancifully supposed that as his death is no- 
where mentioned in Scripture, he was living 
in the time of Christ, whom, as the gospel 
informs us, some supposed to have been this 
prophet. They likewise apply to him and to 
Elias what St. John mysteriously speaks of — 
two witnesses that should prophesy 1260 days; 
which superstitious fictions serve, at least, to 
show the traditional reverence that was enter- 
tained for the memory of the prophet, who 
long afterwards continued to be venerated as 
one of the greatest saints that had flourished 
under the old covenant ; as having lived not 
only with the general strictness of a prophet, 
but, as was believed, in a state of celibacy ; 
and as having terminated his righteous minis- 
try by martyrdom. 

The literary character or style of Jeremiah's 
prophecies has been examined by different 
Biblical scholars with much attention. By 
none has it been more carefully discriminated 
than by De Wette, who thus writes on the 
subject: 

" In Jeremiah's prophecies the spirit of his 
time and the condition of his people are faith- 
fully reflected. His humor is sad, and melan- 
choly, and depressed. His thoughts have no 
great elevation, and only attempt short, single 
flights. But he is by no means destitute of 
noble and expanded ideas ; nor does he lack 
deep feeling. Of the last the following among 
other specimens may be quoted : 

• For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart 
wounded; 
I mourn ; amazement hath taken hold of me ; 
Is there no balm in Gilead ? 
Is there no physician there ? 

Why then are not the wounds of my people healed ? 
O that my head were waters, 
And mine eyes a fountain of tears, 
That I might weep day and night 
For the slain of the daughter of my people.' " 

His style is without uniformity or consistency 
in regard to expression or rhythm. It is un- 



equal ; frequently energetic and cone: 
pecially in the first twelve chapters. It is full 
of repetitions and of fixed thoughts and ex- 
pressions. But it is not without certain charms 
of its own. Jerome says of him: "As he is 
simple and easy in his language, so is he the 
most profound in the majesty of his thoughts. 
In language he seems more rustic than Isaiah 
or Hosea, and some other prophets among the 
Hebrews, but in thought he is equal to them. 
The style, with its alternations, now rising to 
rhythm, now sinking to prose, is attractive. 
It is like the flickering of a flame which finds 
not sufficient fuel. Sometimes whole passages 
are repeated ; sometimes images, thoughts, 
and expressions." 

Jerusalem's Calamity. 

This writer adds, that the passages in the 
prophecies of Jeremiah which relate to foreign 
nations are distinguished by a more energetic 
tone, and by a more animated style, which has 
a tendency to rhythm. Of this peculiarity 
! different explanations have been given. It is 
probably because most of these passages are 
composed of threatenings ; for it has been re- 
marked that the threatenings in the more do- 
mestic portions of his prophecies are distin- 
guished by the same characteristic. His ad- 
monitions are very little elevated above prose. 

To understand the great events in the life 
of Jeremiah it will be needful to remember 
that Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of 
the king of Babylon, who had taken a multi- 
tude of captives, and had even robbed the 
holy Temple of its sacred furniture. 

King Jehoiakim, who had been unfaithful 
to his obligations, was not at all amended by 
this calamity and degradation, for his was one 
of the minds which suffering hardens and 
not reforms. His obvious policy was to ad- 
here to the solemn vows of allegiance which 
he had taken to the Chaldaeans ; and this was 
the policy which the prophet Jeremiah urged 
upon him with the utmost earnestness. But 
the Egyptian party was strong at court, and, 
yielding to their views and to the flattering 
prospect which they drew, the unhappy king 



304 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



liad the temerity to renounce his fealty to the 
king of Babylon, to whose clemency "he owed 
his life and his throne, before the echo of his 
vows had well passed away. 

The consciousness of the dangerous posi- 



pumshment. As these things, amid general 
threatenings of calamity, had no effect upon 
the king's obdurate spirit, his own personal 
doom was no longer hidden from him. Jere- 
miah foretold that his death should be such 




ZEDEKIAH CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE. — Jer. 111. I 



tion in which he was placed by this act did 
not tend to soften his character ; his conduct 
became even more harsh, tyrannical and op- 
pressive, and the streets of Jerusalem were 
frequently sprinkled with the blood of inno- 
cent and upright men. Among these was the 
prophet Urijah, whom the king slew with the 
sword for his declarations of coming evil and 



that none should lament, as for other kings. 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had been 
interrupted in his operations for the subjuga- 
tion of Egypt and Western Asia by the news 
of his father's death, on which he crossed the 
desert with a few attendants and took posses- 
sion of the throne. When the news of Jehoi- 
akim's revolt reached him he was still at 



A KING IN CHAINS. 



305 



Babylon ; but, having no present leisure to 
chastise him in person, he was content to 
send orders to his lieutenants, in command 
west of the Euphrates, to act against him. 
This brought upon Judah a constant succes- 
sion of harassing invasions from the neighbor- 
ing nations subject to Babylon, in which the 
Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites in par- 
ticular manifested the most malignant activity, 
while the Syrians and Arabs were not be- 
hindhand in cruelty and violence. 

Deeds of Cruelty. 

At length the person of Jehoiakim was 
secured, and he was sent off to Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who had by that time returned to 
Syria, and was then at Riblah. The monarch 
at first put him in chains to send him to 
Babylon ; but he altered his mind and took 
him back in his train to Jerusalem. There, a 
degraded captive in the royal city of his fathers, 
the miserable king died, his end being prob- 
ably hastened by mortification and grief; and 
we are bound to conclude that his corpse was 
refused a place in the sepulchre of the kings, 
and was treated with all the ignominy which 
Jeremiah had foretold. 

When Nebuchadnezzar thus arrived in per- 
son at Jerusalem he found that the people had 
already raised Jehoiachin (called also Jeconiah 
and Coniah), the son of Jehoiakim, to the 
throne. But this appointment, made without 
his concurrence, he refused to sanction. Still, 
however, desirous to keep up the monarchy 
under its native princes, he bestowed the 
throne on Mattaniah, a younger son of Josiah, 
and uncle of Jehoiachin. He changed his 
name to Zedekiah and bound him to loyalty 
by solemn oaths and covenants. 

The conqueror then departed, having first 
sent away to Babylon the king, Jehoiachin, 
together with his mother, his wives, his offi- 
cers, and his nobles, and all "the mighty men 
■of valor," to the number of ten thousand out 
of Jerusalem only, besides the 'smiths, the 
carpenters, and other artificers. These, added 
to a similar deportation of warriors and artifi- 
cers which had previously taken place, de- 
20 



j nudcd the country of the flower of its popula- 
I tion and left little more than the crude mass 
of the people subject to the powerless sceptre 
of Zedekiah. Among the captives sent to 
Babylon on this occasion seems to have been 
Ezekiel, who in his captivity was called to be 
a prophet, and for many years exercised his 
ministry by the river Chebar in Babylonia, at 
the same time that Daniel enjoyed his honors 
in the imperial court. 

This severe punishment of the guilty king- 
dom was calculated to have been a salutary 
warning to the new king, who besides owed 
to the conqueror a crown which he would 
never have possessed in the ordinary course 
of events. But, with amazing infatuation, he 
soon began to attend to the supporters of the 
Egyptian policy, who still held their ground 
as a party in the land ; and in proportion as 
he manifested inclinations towards an Egyp- 
tian alliance, which had never produced any 
good for Israel, he necessarily neglected the 
obligations under which he had been placed 
to a power against which he was helpless, and 
independence of which could at the best be 
only obtained at the expense of dependence 
upon Egypt. 

Invasion by the Babylonians. 

Jeremiah vehemently protested against the 
errors of this policy, and distinctly foretold 
the evils which would flow from it ; and Eze- 
kiel in his exile poured forth prophecies to 
the same effect, for it seems that the exiled 
Hebrews were as sanguine of being restored 
to liberty as those in Palestine were of recov- 
ering their independence. 

At length, having concluded his alliance 
with Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt, Zedekiah, in 
the eighth year of his reign, ventured to cast 
off his allegiance to the Chaldaeans, and by 
this act drew upon himself that war which 
ended, as the prophets had foreshown, in the 
utter ruin of his kingdom. It was not, how- 
ever, until the next year that Nebuchadnezzar, 
having assembled a most powerful army, 
marched against the land of Judah. On his 
way through Syria he received intelligence 



306 



JERUSALEM ATTACKED. 



that the Ammonites had also revolted, and he I On, therefore, the Chaldaeans marched, clear- 
then hesitated which country first to invade, j ing the country before them with fire and 
Therefore, at " the parting of the way," or at I sword, and at length appeared before the walls 




JEREMIAH BUYING HIS KINSMAN S FIELD. Jer. XXXii. 6-12 



the point where the roads divided, a lot was i of Jerusalem, which they immediately invested, 
cast with the arrows of divination, by which The king, expecting no mercy, and being con- 
it was decided that Judah should be first j fident of relief from Egypt, determined to de- 
attacked. I fend the place to the last extremity. The 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



307 



city was very strong and well supplied with 
water, so that it might hold out till the de- 
fenders were weakened by starvation ; know- 
ing this, the siege seems to have been turned 
by the besiegers into a close blockade which, 
in the course of time, reduced the people to 
the extremities of famine. 

Resisting- the Chaldaeans. 

In all this time the prophet urged submis- 
sion and foretold the consequences of con- 
tinued obstinacy. Annoyed at the continual 
remonstrances of Jeremiah, and fearful of their 
effect upon the people, the king again sent 
him to prison. Soon after this the hopes of 
the besieged were raised to the highest pitch 
by the actual advance of the Egyptians to 
their relief, when the Chaldaeans deemed it 
prudent to raise the siege and meet their new 
enemies half-way. The excitement of that 
interval may be easily conceived. Hour by 
hour they watched for the signal fires upon 
the hills and for the swift messengers which 
should announce the advance of the Egyp- 
tians over the slaughtered hosts of the com- 
mon enemy. 

The banners of the Chaldaeans were ere 
long- visible over the tops of the hills, and the 
mountains round about Jerusalem were cov- 
ered and the valleys filled with the returning 
hosts, at whose approach and formidable ap- 
pearance the Egyptians had retired in alarm 
to their own country without striking a single 
blow for their miserable ally of Judah. Jere- 
miah, who had been removed to an easier 
confinement in the court of the prison, again 
renewed his exhortations to surrender the 
city to the Chaldaeans ; but there were not 
wanting false prophets, who buoyed up the 
hopes of Zedekiah with assurances that the 
city would not be taken. 

Terrible Effeets of the Siege. 

So the king still held out, till the miseries 
of the people became so great that women, 
naturally tender and pitiful, devoured their 
own children for food. This could not last ; 
and at length Zedekiah, perceiving that all 



hope of saving the city was vain, endeavored 
with his few remaining troops to escape from 
the place by a private postern which the en- 
emy had not secured. But the fugitives were 
pursued and overtaken in the plains of Jericho, 
where the royal guards were soon dispersed, 
and the king and all his children were taken 
prisoners. 

The wretched king, together with his family 
and nobles, were then sent off to Riblah in 
Syria, where Nebuchadnezzar at that time 
held his court. Here he was regarded and 
dealt with as a traitor. His children were 
slain before his eyes, and it was with ingenious 
cruelty ordered that this should be his last 
sight, the horrid image of which should haunt 
all his remaining days, for immediately after 
his eyes were put out, and he was sent away 
in chains to Babylon, where he ended his days 
in prison. 

In the following month Nebuzar-adan, the 
Chaldaean commander in charge of the siege 
of Jerusalem, took possession of the city and 
committed the most dreadful carnage among 
those who had survived the calamities of the 
siege. Nebuchadnezzar, enraged at the long 
and obstinate defence of the place, resolved 
that it should give no more trouble to him- 
self or his successors. He commanded Neb- 
uzar-adan to raze the city to the ground with- 
out even sparing the Temple. Accordingly 
the general began his operations two days 
after he had taken possession of the city. 
After the Temple had been stripped of all its 
treasures and valuables, and after the city had 
for two days been abandoned to pillage, both 
the Temple and the city were set on fire, and 
were thus consumed and desolated. The 
black masses of wall, fortress and tower that 
the fire left standing were demolished and 
razed to the very ground, so that of the city 
of David and the Temple of Solomon nothing 
but a heap of ruins remained. 

In memory of this great national calamity 
two fasts were instituted, which are kept up 
even to this day: the first, on the seventeenth 
of the fourth month (answering to our June) ; 
and the second, on the ninth of the fifth 



308 



MURDER AND FLIGHT. 



month (corresponding to July): the first, for 
the taking of the city ; and the other, for the 
destruction of the Temple. That holy fabric 



parture of the Israelites from Egypt, thus 
completing the great calamity. 

The miserable end of a city endowed with 




JEREMIAH WARNS THE REMNANT NOT TO GO TO EGYPT. Jer. xlii. 1 1 

was destroyed four hundred and twenty-four I such eminent privileges as had belonged to 
years after its foundation by Solomon, and i Jerusalem, and the ensuing sending into exile 
nine hundred and three years from the de- 1 of all the people, save only the poor of the 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



309 



land, who were left to till the ground, was 
lamented in doleful strains by the Prophet 
Jeremiah : 

" How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people ! 
How is she become a widow, that was great among the 

nations ! 
The princess among the provinces — how is she become 

tributary." 

This beautiful personification of the city as 
a woman sitting in desolate widowhood is re- 
peated elsewhere in the graphic line — 

" She, being desolate, sitteth on the ground ; " 

and it might almost seem to have been pres- 
ent to the minds of the Romans, when, in the 
medals representing the second destruction of 
the same city, they represented "the Daughter 
of Zion" as sitting desolate under a solitary 
palm-tree. 

The prophet proceeds : 

" She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her 

cheeks: 
Among all her lovers, she hath found none to comfort her ; 
All her friends have dealt treacherously, and have become 

her enemies. 
Judah is gone into captivity. 

She dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest ; 
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the 

solemn fea»ts : 
All her gates are desolate : her priests sigh; 
Her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness." 

And then the bitterness of these evils was 
enhanced by the remembrance of past bless- 
ings : 

"Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of 
her miseries 
All the pleasant things that she had in the days of old." 

Jeremiah himself was released from prison 
when the city was taken by Nebuzar-adan, 
who was made acquainted with the earnest- 
ness with which the prophet had counselled 
timely submission to the Chaldaeans. He 
offered, in the name of his master, to take him 
to Babylon and provide for him there ; but the 
prophet chose rather to remain in the land, to 
which he was the rather induced by his friend 



Gedaliah being appointed governor of the 
country and of the miserable remnant left in 
it. Gedaliah was a good man, of easy tem- 
per and unsuspicious character, and not per- 
haps the better fitted by these qualities for the 
difficult place he was appointed to fill. He 
fixed his residence at Mizpeh, and, if left to 
himcslf, might perhaps have succeeded in estab- 
lishing something like order and quiet among 
the fragments of a nation which had been left 
in his charge. 

But, as soon as it became known that the 
Chaldaean forces were withdrawn, many tur- 
bulent men who had fled into the neighboring 
countries began to return, and they were not 
well affected towards the government of Geda- 
liah ; some because they deemed his claims in- 
ferior to those of others, and some because 
they hated to see a Jew in the position of a 
Babylonian governor. Among these returned 
fugitives was Ishmael, a member of the royal 
family, who little brooked that even the 
shadow of a sceptre should be wielded in 
Judah by one who belonged not to his illus- 
trious house. He organized a conspiracy to 
take away the governor's life. 

Gedaliah had a friendly warning of this, but 
the good man refused to give it any credit ; and 
this generous confidence was rewarded by his 
being shortly after murdered, with all his at- 
tendants and partisans, at Mizpeh, by Ishmael 
and his associates. They knew very well that 
the Chaldaeans would not fail to avenge this act, 
and therefore hastened to escape to the land of 
the Ammonites. In doing this they attempted 
to carry off with them several of the few re- 
maining persons of consequence, including 
one of the daughters of the blinded king 
Zedekiah, that royal captive in chains. 

Now, however, the friend who had warned 
Gedaliah of Ishmael's designs, got together a 
number of resolute men and pursued after 
them ; and not only recovered the persons 
who had been taken away, but dispersed or 
slew his followers, so that he escaped with 
only eight men to the Ammonites. J^nan 
himself, and those who were of sufficient note 
in the land to be objects of attention to the 




(310) 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



311 



Chaldaeans, then became apprehensive that they 
should become the victims of the undistin- 
guishing vengeance of the conquerors, and 
resolved to withdraw into Egypt. This inten- 
tion was vehemently opposed by Jeremiah, 
but so far from heeding his remonstrances, 
they constrained him to go with them. 

They had not long taken their departure be- 
fore Nebuzar-adan arrived in the country with 
the view of avenging the murder of Gedaliah, 
and the slaughter of the Chaldaean guard which 
had been left with him. But there were none 
left to punish, save by sending another party 
■of the inhabitants into captivity beyond the 
Euphrates; and the country had now become 
so thin of people, that the Babylonian general 
found not more than seven hundred and fifty 
persons whom he deemed it worth his while 
to send away. Thus signally was the long- 
foretold depopulation of the land completed ; 
and, although nomadic tribes wandered 
through the country, and the Edomites settled 
in some of its southern parts, yet the land re- 
mained on the whole comparatively unin- 
habited, and ready for the return of the He- 
brews, whose restoration had been as much 
the subject of prophecy as their exile. 

Horrible Barbarity. 

We have seen that Zedekiah reigned for 
eleven years, and then — an act of extreme folly 
— he rebelled against the Babylonians. The 
bitter end came surely and speedily. Jerusa- 
lem was invested ; famine did its horrible work 
within the walls, and the enemy destroyed the 
land without. The besieged endeavored to 
escape by stratagem, but utterly failed. The 
king was taken, and brought before Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who condemned him to have his eyes 
put out, the last thing those eyes of his were 
permitted to see being the murder of his own 
sons ; he saw their blood spilt, and then came 
-endless night. Bound in brazen fetters, Zede- 
kiah was taken to Babylon. 

Had not the prophet Ezekiel asserted that 
it should be so — " I will bring him to Babylon, 
to the land of the Chaldaeans, yet shall he not 
see it, though he shall die there?" and had 



not Jeremiah foretold, " He shall surely be de- 
livered into the hand of the king of Babylon, 
and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and 
his eyes shall behold his eyes?" And so it 
was: he saw Nebuchadnezzar face to face — he 
saw his own sons executed — but he never saw 
the land into which he was carried away cap- 
tive. 

After this the walls of Jerusalem were lev- 
elled; the city sacked ; the Temple burnt, and 
Babylonia completely triumphant. 

This scene of desolation affords a graphic 
theme for one of England's sacred poets : 

" Oh weep for those that wept by Babel's stream, 
Whose shrines are desolate, whose land a dream; 
Weep for the harp of Judah's broken spell ; 
Mourn ! where their God hath dwelt the Godless dwell ! 

And where shall Israel lave her bleeding feet? 
And when shall Zion's songs again seem sweet, 
And Judah's melody once more rejoice 
The hearts that leapt before its heavenly voice? 

Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, 
How shall ye flee away and be at rest ? 
The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave, 
Mankind their country — Israel but the grave." 

The bitter end which the prophets had fore- 
seen and foretold had come. The meridian 
splendor of Solomon's reign had gradually 
faded into twilight, and now the purple twi- 
light had deepened into night. No doubt, of 
the captives carried away into Babylon, there 
were some who read, however obscurely, the 
Divine promise of a Redeemer, and the bright- 
ness of the glory they held in anticipation 
rendered them oblivious of all the troubles 
that must first come. The bitter lamentations 
of Jeremiah, the heart-stirring appeals of 
Isaiah, the marvelous visions of Ezekiel, the 
pathetic words of Micah, the revelations of 
Amos, were familiar to them. 

The}' all pointed to a latter-day glory, but 
the Jews counted the latter days to be near at 
hand : doubtless a deliverer would soon arrive 
as strong as Samson, as brave as Gideon, as 
good as Samuel ; a soldier and a statesman 
who should overthrow these Babylonians, 
teach these blaspheming idolaters there was 
still a God in Israel, and set up a kingdom 




(312) 



THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. Ez. XXIV. 1 5 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



313 



that should be the joy of the whole earth, and 
last till time should be no more. That even 
the most clear-sighted, the most spiritually- 
minded should foresee that the kingdom to be 
set up was not a kingdom of this world ; that 
He who set it up should in earthly estimation 
be no higher than a carpenter, with a log for 
His throne, and an adze for His sceptre — would 
appear most improbable. 

Renowned Tyre. 

A considerable part of the prophecies of 
Ezekiel is devoted to the famous city of Tyre. 
Great is the renown of Tyre, " whose mer- 
chants were princes, and whose traffickers 
were among the honorable of the earth." Its 
antiquity, manufactures, commerce, colonies, 
and its connection with remote nations un- 
known, or known but faintly, to the ancients, 
are all points of as high interest as any which 
former times can offer to modern investigation. 
The reader of the Bible has also his own pe- 
culiar interest in this city, from the frequency 
with which it is mentioned in the sacred books, 
from the amicable relations which subsisted 
between the kings of Tyre and some of the 
greatest of the kings of Israel, from the re- 
markable results of these relations in the time 
of Solomon, and, more than all, from the pro- 
phecies of the overthrow of this great city, 
and the exact fulfilment which these prophecies 
have received. Ezekiel devotes two entire 
chapters to this city, which have always been 
regarded as among the most remarkable docu- 
ments which the ancient world has left to us. 
The first describes the future history of Tyre, 
which was afterwards accomplished to the very 
letter ; the other gives a minute and most in- 
teresting account of the commerce of Tyre, 
and its great markets and fairs. 

The prophet proceeds to inform us that the 
masts of the Phoenician vessels were of 
" cedar." In Lebanon the most celebrated 
grove of cedars is near the village of Eden ; 
and it is remarkable that Ezekiel mentions the 
trees of Eden as the choicest in Lebanon. 
The inhabitants of the mountain devoutly be- 
lieve that this is the arove from which Solo- 



mon drew the cedar wood for the Temple, 
and that the few large and ancient trees which 
still remain were in being in his time. They 
have also a superstitious notion that they can- 
not be counted, as every person gives a dif- 
ferent number who sees them. This is a fact, 
however accounted for, as no two travellers 
agree in the number — probably from interpret- 
ing differently the term " largest" in counting 
them up. The native Christians of the moun- 
tain, every year upon the anniversary of the 
Transfiguration, perform mass upon a homely 
stone altar, reared under the most venerable 
of the trees, in the open temple of nature. 

Cedars of Lebanon. 

With respect to the employment of cedar- 
trees for masts, this may be taken to imply the 
large size of the Tyrian ships ; for we seldom 
read of their being used but in ships of un- 
usual bulk. The Romans usually employed 
firs ; but the enormous ship which conveyed 
the obelisk of the Vatican from Egypt to Rome 
had for her mast a very tall and large cedar, cut 
in the woods of Cyprus. The ship itself was 
sunk in the harbor of Ostia, by order of Cali- 
gula, to serve as a foundation for a pier and 
some towers. The main-mast in the galley of 
king Demetrius was also made of a cedar- 
felled in Cyprus, one hundred and eighty-feet 
long and eighteen in diameter. 

The negotiations of the king of Tyre with 
David and Solomon, for the cutting down of 
the timber and the carriage of it when cut, 
teach us that at that period cedar was used 
generally, in the surrounding countries, in the- 
construction of temples and palaces ; as there 
is no appearance of anything out of the ordi- 
nary course of business in the agreement. 
Nothing could be fitter for the purpose re- 
quired than cedar wood. Its size and straight- 
ness, and above all its durability, were most 
desirable for buildings that were to last. The- 
beauty of the wood, the high polish cf which 
it was susceptible, and its fragrance, also rec- 
ommended it equally for the temple and the 
palace ; and that for centuries it continued to- 
be sought for such purposes, we find from*. 



314 



PALACES OF CEDAR. 



Jeremiah's denunciation of woe to the rich, 
who built themselves houses with large rooms, 
and made wide their windows, and with ceil- 
ings of cedar, which were painted with ver- 
milion. 

The ships of fir-trees, masted with cedars, 
are further described as being provided with 
oars made of the oaks of Bashan, which seems 
to show that the ships of Tyre were no other 
than galleys, designed to be propelled by 
rowers, as was the case with most of the more 
ancient shipping, the sails being only used as 
an assistance and relief to the oars, just as sails 
are now used in vessels mainly propelled by 
steam. 

With this impression agrees what follows — 
" the Assurites have made thy benches of 
ivory," if these benches were those on which 
the rowers sat, as is usually supposed. If so, 
the Hebrew poet gives a lively idea of the 
magnificence of the Tyrian vessels, by de- 
scribing the mean use to which so costly a 
material was applied. It is not, however, to 
be understood that these or any other benches 
were made wholly of ivory, but that they were 
inlaid and enriched with it. The ivory itself 
was doubtless the produce of their trade with 
India and Ethiopia, and, as manufactured by 
the Phoenicians into various ornaments and 
articles of taste, was extensively in use among 
the Israelites, especially in the furniture of 
royal residences. We see from the Egyptian 
monuments that ivory was abundant at remote 
times in Egypt, for in the procession of tribute- 
bearers we see crisp-headed bearers of huge 
teeth from Ethiopia and Central Africa, and 
white men similarly laden, who also bring 
ivory and the Asiatic elephant, and who must 
have come from the East. 

Costly Sails for Ships. 

We are next told that the sails of these ships 
were of fine linen from Egypt ; which is an 
interesting corroboration of our knowledge 
from other sources, that weaving was one of 
the principal occupations of the ancient Egyp- 
tians, and the products of their looms in great 
demand among- the neighboring nations. 



The prophet then proceeds to enumerate the 
products which the merchants of various coun- 
tries brought to the great mart of Tyre, and 
for which they received in exchange the mer- 
chandise and manufactures of the Phoenicians. 

The intercourse of Solomon with Tyre en- 
ables us to perceive the kind of commodities 
which the inhabitants of that state were likely 
to require from Palestine; and the account in 
Ezekiel perfectly corresponds with the intima- 
tions so long before conveyed — " Judah and the 
land of Israel traded with thee; corn of Minnith, 
honey of raisins, oil and balm, gave they to 
thee for thy wares." The corn of Judaea was 
in fact highly prized ; it excelled even that of 
Egypt.' It was not therefore merely the prox- 
imity of the country which led the Phoenicians 
to prefer this market, but the better produce. 
The other productions also mentioned by 
the prophet are among those which the Holy 
Land was famous for producing of a superior 
quality. The strong vine which had been 
native in this country from time immemorial 
afforded them an abundance of delicious 
grapes. The " oil " of Palestine even still 
excels that of Provence, notwithstanding the 
depressed state of the culture under Turkish 
despotism. The " balm " was collected in the 
plain of Jericho and in the lands about the 
Lake of Gennesareth ; and was of the same 
sort as that which still bears a high repute 
under the name of the balm of Mecca. The 
fact thus brought before us, that Palestine was 
the granary of the Phoenicians, explains in the 
clearest manner the good understanding which 
subsisted between those two nations. It is a 
striking feature in the Jewish history, that with 
| the other nations around them they lived in a 
j state of almost continual warfare ; and that 
| under David and Solomon they became con- 
{ querors and subdued considerable countries ; 
j and yet with their nearest neighbors, the 
Phoenicians, they were never engaged in hos- 
tilities. But if a sense of their weakness pre- 
vented them from attacking these mighty cities, 
the natural policy of the Phoenicians no less, 
on the other hand, restrained them from any 
hostile attempts upon a country from which 



THE WEEPING PROPHET. 



315 



they drew their subsistence : to which it may 
be added, that it seems to have been a maxim 
among them to avoid all wars and forcible 

"""""lISi 



Lebanon : but after nis buildings had been 
finished, timber could not well have formed 
the staple of the commercial intercourse be- 




extension of their dominion upon the continent 
of Asia. 

What Palestine received from Tyre in ex- 
change for its produce is not directly stated in 
Scripture. Solomon obtained timber from 



THE CAPTURE OF TYRE. Ez. XXvi. 2, 3. 

tween the countries 



We may, however, with 
tolerable safety conclude that in this way the 
Israelites obtained such of the manufactures 
of the Phoenicians, and such of the commodi- 
ties which they imported from foreign parts, 



316 



ORNAMENTS OF DRESS. 



as they required. We know that the Phoeni- 
cians excelled in the manufacture of ornaments 
of dress, implements, utensils, baubles, and 
gewgaws, for which they found a ready sale 
among the less civilized of the nations with 
which they had intercourse : and it is very 
likely that most of the ornaments worn by the 
Jewish women were obtained from them. A 
curious list of such articles appears in Isa. iii. 
18-23. 

" The wool of the wilderness," translated 
" white wool " in the authorized version, was 
one of the wares supplied by the pastoral 
tribes, who then, as now, wandered their flocks 
over the Syrian as well as the Arabian deserts. 
The fleece of these sheep is the finest known ; 
improved as it is by the heat of the climate, 
the continual exposure to the open air, and the 
care that these people bestow upon their flocks, 
which constitute almost their only business — 
all which circumstances tend to render it more 
precious. 

' In Ezekiel, " Tubal and Meshech " are said 
to have brought to the markets of Tyre " slaves 
and vessels of brass." It seems to be agreed 
that the names Tubal and Meshech apply to 
the countries lying between the Black and 



Caspian seas. This probability is strength- 
ened by the fact that the wares in question are 
exactly such as these regions produced., Cap- 
padocia, together with the Caucasian districts, 
from the very earliest times was the chief seat 
of the slave-trade, and always continued so in 
the ancient world. 

The finest race of men has always been pre- 
ferred : and it is well known that at the pres- 
ent day the harems of the princes and nobles 
of Turkey and Persia are peopled with the 
most beautiful of the Georgians and Circas- 
sians. Regular bands of kidnappers were 
formerly established throughout these coun- 
tries, whose sole occupation was to surprise 
and carry away boys and girls for the markets 
of Constantinople and Cairo. 

Prophecy lifted its voice against this re- 
nowned city. Tyre, with ships and wealth, 
with merchant princes and nabobs, was des- 
tined to be overthrown. There are gales that 
ships cannot withstand, and a decay that 
wealth cannot arrest. Just as the prediction 
had been uttered, so it came to pass. When 
Tyre was at the height of her splendor it was 
foretold that she would fall, and Tyre fell, igno 
minious in her ruins. 




CHAPTER XXVII. 



DANIEL IN BABYLON. 




ANIELwasofthe 
tribe of Judah 
and of the race 
of David. He, 
with other young 
nobles, was trans- 
ported at an early 
age to Babylon 
by order of Neb- 
£y) uchadnezzar, as 

a hostage for the 
good conduct of Jehoiakim, 
who was then on the throne 
of Judah ; or rather, per- 
haps, under that policy 
which sought to aggran- 
dize the imperial court by the presence and 
services of the noblest and most handsome 
youths of the subject states. 

At Babylon, Daniel received the Chaldsean 
name of Belteshazzar, and was placed with 
other young captives whom Nebuchadnezzar 
willed to be instructed in the science of the' 
Babylonians. Already well instructed in the 
best of sciences, that of his holy religion, 
Daniel resolved to deny himself the use of 
viands forbidden by the law and prepared by 
the hands of idolaters. The three companions 
with whom he was more intimately associated 
followed his example. And God rewarded 
their faith; for, notwithstanding the fears of 
Melzar, the eunuch to whose charge they had 
been intrusted, it was found, when they were 
produced for examination, that not only had 
they not suffered in appearance by their simple 
fare, but were more hale and ruddy than the 
youths who had feasted on the meats and 
wines of Babylon. 

The education of these youths in the 
sciences of the East lasted three years, at the 
-end of which it was found that Daniel and 



his three companions surpassed in science and 
wisdom all the magi of Babylon ; and they 
forthwith commenced their services under a 
king, who, from all that appears, well knew 
how to discover and reward merit. 

Of these magicians, astrologers and sor- 
cerers Kitto remarks : " It is no use to distin- 
guish these various professors of what seemed 
to have formed the boasted learning and 
science of the Babylonians, and which appears 
to have consisted in the neglect of really 
practical and useful knowledge for the vain 
pursuits, and not very humble profession, of 
that which must ever be unattainable to man, 
and which would be useless and mischievous 
could it be attained. The present was made 
the handmaid of the future ; and the abilities 
which might have profited for the existing 
time were exhausted in the attempt to unveil 
the secrets of the time to come. 

" Their boasted cultivation of astronomy 
was merely an accident resulting from the 
attempt to read the future in the stars. Astron- 
omy, as it ever has been in the East, was 
attended to so far, and no farther, than the 
vain science of astrology made it necessary. 
The best account we possess of the learning 
and science of the Chaldaeans is that given by 
Diodorus Siculus ; and although he speaks 
of it with respect, it is easy enough, from his 
account, to see its false foundations and delu- 
sive character. He mentions the Chaldaeans, 
as so called by the Babylonians themselves, 
and intimates the distinction by describing 
them as ' the more ancient Babylonians.' They 
seem, in fact, to have formed the learned 
caste, occupying the same station as the 
priests did in Egypt. The}'- spent all their 
time in the study of ' philosophy,' and were 
especially famous in the art of astrology. 
They were greatly given to divination and the 

(317) 



318 



BELIEF IN ASTROLOGY. 



foretelling of future events, and employed 
themselves, either by purifications, sacrifices 
or enchantments, in averting evils, and in pro- 
curing good fortune and success. 

"They were also skilful in the art of divina- 
tion by the flying of birds and in the interpre- 
tation of dreams and prodigies ; and the pre- 
sages which they derived from the exact and 
diligent inspection of the entrails of sacrifices 
were received as oracles by the people. Diod- 
orus makes some approving observations on 
their method of study, stating that their 
knowledge and science were traditionally 
transmitted from father to son, thus proceed- 
ing on long-established rules; and he then 
proceeds to inform us that the Chaldaeans 
held the world to be eternal, that it had no 
certain beginning and should have no end. 
But they all agreed that all things were 
ordered by a Divine Providence ; and that the 
motions of the heavens were not performed 
by chance, or of their own accord, but by the 
determinate will and appointment of the gods. 

" Therefore, from long observation of the 
stars, and an exact knowledge of the motions 
and influences of every one of them (in which 



" The following is remarkable : 'As they 
foretold things to come to other kings formerly,, 
so they did to Alexander, who conquered Da- 
rius, and to his successors, Antigonus and 
Seleucus Nicator ; and accordingly things fell 
out as they declared. They also tell private 
men their fortunes so certainly that those who 
have found the thing true by experience have 
esteemed it a miracle, and beyond the art of 
man to perform.' After giving some account 
of their astronomical system, Diodorus adds: 
'This we may justly and truly say, that the 
Chaldaeans excel all men in astrology, having 
studied it more than any other art or science.' " 

A Startling Dream. 

A test as to Daniel's power soon occurred. 
The king was troubled in his sleep by a dream, 
which agitated him exceedingly. He sum- 
moned before him his wise men, who came 
with the expression of Oriental loyalty, " O 
king, live forever." They desired to know 
the nature of the dream, but Nebuchadnezzar 
had forgotten every particular; he demanded 
that they should tell him the dream on pain 
of cruel death and lasting disgrace. It was 



they excelled all other nations), they professed I not, as some may suppose, a very absurd re- 
to foretell things that should come to pass. ! quest ; if these men knew all things, and 
The five planets, the Sun, Mars, Venus, Mer- could explain the meaning, surely it was not 
cury, and Jupiter, they called ' Interpreters/ very unreasonable to suppose that they might 
as being principally concerned in making | ascertain the dream itself. "Tell me the 
known to man the will of the gods. Future dream, and I shall know that ye can show me 
events they held to be foreshown by their the interpretation thereof." All declared the 
rising, their setting, and their color, presaging ' matter impossible, and the king, being in this 
hurricanes, tempestuous rains, droughts, the instance, at all events, a man of his word, 
appearance of comets, eclipses, earthquakes, gave instruction for the execution of all the 
and all other circumstances which were thought magicians and astrologers, 
to bode good or evil, not only to nations in j Having been included in the general pro- 
general, but to kings and private persons in scription of the magi who were unable to dis- 



particular. The planets also, in their courses 
through the twelve signs into which the Chal- 
daeans divided the visible heavens, were held, 
as by more modern astrologers, to have a 
great influence, either good or bad, on men's 



cover and interpret a dream which the king 
himself had forgotten, but which filled his 
mind with concern, Daniel obtained from the 
captain of the guard the suspension of the 
execution of the sentence while he interceded 



nativities, so that, from a consideration of their with the king, and from the king himself he 



several natures and respective positions, it 
might be foreknown what should befall people 
in after life. 



obtained further time on engaging to solve 
the mystery. 

As soon as he had made known his power 




THE HEBREWS IN THE FIERY FURNACE. Dan. iii. 2$. 



(319) 



320 



THE IMAGE OF GOLD. 



to afford Nebuchadnezzar the information he 
desired, he was immediately conducted before 
the monarch, and proceeded to remind him 
that he had seen a compound image and to 
explain to him how this image represented 
"' the things that should come to pass here- 
after." This image had a head of pure gold, 
which the prophet explained to denote Nebu- 
chadnezzar himself, and his successors in the 
•dynasty which he had aggrandized ; the breast 
and arms of silver denoted the second and 
inferior empire of the Medes and Persians ; 
the belly and thighs of brass, the next suc- 
ceeding empire of the Macedonian Greeks ; 
the legs of iron, the empire of the Romans ; 
and the toes, partly iron and part clay, the 
various states and kingdoms into which that 
empire should be divided. 

Lastly, the king had seen a stone which 
smote the image and became a great mountain 
that filled the whole earth, which was so 
interpreted by the prophet as to show to us 
that it was intended to apply to the kingdom 
-of the Messiah, which was to be established 
upon the ruins of these various imperial king- 
doms and empires, and to continue forever. 
The prophet said to the king in the first 
place, "Thou art this head of gold;" but 
he did not indicate the names of the other 
-empires as we have set them down. 

The vastness of the view thus presented be- 
fore the mind of the king, and the deep and 
magnificent import of his dream, overwhelmed 
him not less than the mysterious power which 
had enabled the young prophet to discover 
and unravel that which had baffled the boasted 
skill of the Chaldaean soothsayers. In the 
height of his astonishment and admiration the 
king cast himself at the feet of his captive, and 
would have worshipped him as more than hu- 
man, commanding an oblation and sweet odors 
to be offered to him. 

But Daniel respectfully directed his atten- 
tion to the Great God in heaven whom he 
served, and who had revealed the secret to 
him ; on which the king declared with all sin- 
cerity of conviction, " Of a truth your God is 
2. God of gods, and a Lord of kings." 



Nebuchadnezzar was not slow in rewarding 
one so highly gifted, and so greatly favored 
of Heaven. He made him governor over the 
whole province of Babylon, and bestowed on 
him the distinguished office of Rab-Mag, or 
chief of the Magians. The former appears to 
have been the highest civil employment in the 
state, as the latter was certainly the highest 
among the learned offices of the kingdom. 
At the request of Daniel the king also pro- 
moted his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, 
and Abednego, to important trusts in the prov- 
ince of Babylon under him. 

Idolatry Commanded. 

The king soon after caused to be set up in 
the plain of Dura, near Babylon, a colossal 
image of gold, and set forth a decree, that 
whenever harmonious sounds were heard from 
" the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dul- 
cimer, or any kind of music," every one should, 
on pain of death, fall down and worship it. 
Taking all the circumstances into considera- 
tion, it would seem as if the king had become 
discontented with the particular import of the 
vision, the vastness of which had at the first 
so filled his mind ; and that it was in order to 
counteract or defy its application to himself 
that he now acted. In the visionary image 
his kingdom was but the head of gold, des- 
tined to be superseded and overthrown ; but 
he now sets up an image wholly of gold, as if 
to express under the same symbol the unity 
and continuance of his kingdom. 

It would even seem as if he repented of his 
acknowledgment of the supremacy of Daniel's 
God, the God by whom the vision had been 
sent, seeing that his present orders were so ad- 
verse to that admission. The decree as set 
forth was one with which no pious Jew could 
comply, and it was soon made known to the 
king that the three friends of Daniel paid no 
regard to his command. Daniel himself they 
were probably afraid to accuse, on account of 
his high place and his presumed favor at court. 
The king, in great wrath, summoned the 
accused to his presence, and deliberately re- 
cited to them the terms of his decree and the 




DANIEL INTERPRETING THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Dan. iv. 20. 

21 (321) 



32: 



THE KING DREAMS OF A TREE. 



penalties of disobedience, adding, " Who is 
that God that should deliver you out of my 
hands ? " They unflinchingly answered that 
their God was able to do so ; and resolutely 
declared that they would not serve his gods, 
nor worship the image he had set up. This 
filled the king with fury, and he commanded 
that they should be cast into the "burning 
fiery furnace," heated seven times more than 
it was wont to be heated. But these holy men 
remembered Him who had said, "Though thou 
walkest through the fire, I will be with thee ; " 
and they walked about in the furnace un- 
touched by the devouring flames, and singing 
the praises of Jehovah. 

A Miraculous Deliverance. 

This marvelous sight brought the king to 
his senses; he called them forth ; he acknowl- 
edged the exceeding greatness of the God 
whom they served, and by whom they had 
been preserved ; and in the warm enthusiasm 
of the moment he made a decree that whoso- 
ever spoke a word against this Mighty God 
henceforth, should be destroyed " because 
there is no other God that can deliver after this 
sort." As for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego, they were not only restored to favor, but 
promoted to higher offices in the metropolitan 
province of Babylon. 

Some time after these transactions Nebu- 
chadnezzar was warned of the consequences of 
that excessive pride which formed the chief de- 
fect in a character by no means destitute of 
great and generous qualities. He was " at rest 
in his house, and flourishing in his palace," 
when he saw a dream which made him afraid. 
He beheld a tree which grew till it overspread 
the earth, and all the fowls of heaven roosted 
in its branches, and all the beasts of the field 
reposed beneath its shade. But suddenly " a 
holy one " came down from heaven and com- 
manded the tree to be hewn down, leaving 
only the stump in the earth ; and by one of 
those transitions usual in dreams, the language 
of " the holy one " passed from the condition 
<y( the tree to that of the human being it repre- 
sented : " Let his portion be with the beasts 



in the grass of the earth ; let his heart be 
changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be 
given to him, and let seven times pass over 
him." 

This dream no one could interpret but 
Daniel. When the king recited it to him, and 
the perception of its strange and afflicting im- 
port came upon him, concern and astonish- 
ment held him mute ; but when he recovered 
himself, he proceeded to open its meaning to 
the king. The tree represented himself and 
the greatness of the kingdom which God had 
given to him ; and the words of " the holy 
one" were explained to mean — "That they 
shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling 
shall be with the beasts of the field, and they 
shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they 
shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven 
times shall pass over thee, till thou know that 
the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, 
and giveth it to whomsoever he will." 

The Glory of Babylon. 

When these words were uttered there were 
no outward indications that the proud mon- 
archy was doomed, but all appearances pointed 
to the contrary. Babylon, the capital of the 
kingdom of Babylonia, had reached the height 
of its splendor. According to Herodotus, the 
city was built on both sides of the Euphrates, 
the connection between its two divisions being 
kept up by means of a bridge made of wooden 
planks, laid over stone piers. The streets are 
described as being parallel, and the houses 
from three to four stories in height; the city 
was surrounded by a broad and deep ditch , 
and by a wall flanked with towers, and pierced 
with one hundred gates of brass. The wall 
was built of bricks formed from the earth 
taken out of the moat, and cemented by a 
composition of heated bitumen and reeds, the 
former being brought from Is, on the Eu- 
phrates, about one hundred and twenty-eight 
miles from Babylon. The statements vary 
with regard both to the height and thickness 
of the wall. Herodotus says it was three hun- 
dred feet high, and seventy-five feet thick, a 
statement which seems highly improbable. 



DANIEL IN BABYLON. 



323 



Strabo reduces the height to seventy-five feet, 
and further says, that two chariots driving in 
opposite directions could pass each other on 
the summit of the wall. 

In the centre of the city was the Temple of 
Jupiter Belus. It was the square tower, from 
which rose seven other towers, in regular suc- 
cession ; in the topmost tower was a splendidly- 
decorated chapel having a table and couch of 
solid gold. The building was ascended from 
without by means of a winding-stair ; the walls 
which surrounded it enclosed a space of thirty- 
three acres, and it was approached by brazen 
gates of enormous strength and magnificent 
workmanship. This tower, it has been con- 
jectured, was none other than that of Babel, 
erected by presumptuous builders not long 
after the flood. 

Wonderful Hanging-Gardens. 

Herodotus visited the city shortly after the 
conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus, and he de- 
cribes its wondrous hanging-gardens, contain- 
ing nearly four acres of land, elevated far 
above the level of the city, and bearing lofty 
trees that would have done no discredit to the 
forests of Media. These gardens consisted of 
a series of terraces raised one above the other, 
like seats in an amphitheatre, and resting on 
arches and pillars, some of which were filled with 
earth. We are also told of a great engineering 
work, namely, the tunnel under the Euphrates, 
and there is no doubt that the city was most 
extensive and remarkable. Its area has been 
estimated at seventy-two square miles ; but it- 
must be borne in mind that these ancient cities 
had but few points of resemblance to a modern 
town ; they were rather enclosed districts, 
agricultural and pasture land being within the 
walls, and its population bearing no proportion 
to the density of that of our great cities at the 
present time. 

Babylon was in all its glory when the Jew- 
ish prophets foretold its speedy destruction. 
" And Babylon," said Isaiah, " Babylon, the 
glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chal- 
dees' excellency, shall be as when God over- 
threw Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never 



be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from 
generation to generation, neither shall the 
Arabian pitch tents there, neither shall the 
shepherds make their fold there; but wild 
beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their 
houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and 
owls shall dwell there, and apes (satyrs) shall 
dance there. Thou shalt take up this taunt- 
ing speech against the king of Babylon and 
say, How hath the oppressor ceased ! The 
golden city ! The Lord hath broken the staff 
of the wicked and the sceptre of the rulers." 
These words were uttered in the time of Ahaz, 
years before Babylonia had established hersel f 
as a separate kingdom. 

Not content with faithfully interpreting the 
dream of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the tree, 
Daniel in the depth of his concern ventured 
to let fall a word of counsel. " Wherefore, O 
king," he said, "let my counsel be acceptable 
to thee, and break off thy sins by righteous- 
ness, and thine iniquities by showing kindness 
to the poor; perhaps it may be a lengthening 
of thy tranquillity." 

This, doubtless, made some temporary im- 
pression upon the king ; but such impressions 
have seldom great effect in changing a per- 
vading bent of mind. At the end of about 
twelve months, as Nebuchadnezzar was walking 
on the roof of his palace, with all the glories 
of Babylon, which he had made the greatest 
city in the world, spread out before him, he 
was lost in the contemplation of his own great- 
ness and the magnificence with which he was 
surrounded. " Is not this," he cried, " great 
Babylon, which I have built for a royal habi- 
tation by the might of my power and for the 
honor of my majesty?" The words had 
scarcely passed his lips when he heard a voice 
from Heaven saying, " O king Nebuchadnez- 
zar, thy kingdom is departed from thee ! " 

The King Stricken with Insanity. 

And in that same hour his reason departed 
from him — he was smitten with a singular dis- 
ease of mind, which unfitted him not only for 
the rule of kingdoms, but for the society of 
men. He was then suffered to follow the bent 



324 



THE KING'S REASON RESTORED. 



of his diseased impulse, under which he ap- 
pears to have supposed himself transformed 
into a beast ; and he went forth into the narks 
and meadows, where he abode among the cat- 



his nails grew like the unsightly claws of birds. 
The account of these transactions is given 
in a proclamation which Nebuchadnezzar is- 
sued after his recovery. He there states, that 




BKLSHAZZAR SEEING THE WRITING ON THE WALL. 



Dan. 



tie, and lived on vegetables. In this mad and 
savage state he remained, his body being 
nightly wetted by the dews of heaven, till his 
hair grew out like the plumage of eagles, and 



after continuing in this state for seven years, 
" Mine understanding returned unto me, and 
I blessed the Most High, and I praised and 
glorified Him that liveth forever and ever, 



DANIEL IN BABYLON. 



325 



•whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
and His kingdom from generation to genera- 
tion." This was the result which had been 
sought by this awful visitation ; and no sooner 
had he realized the conviction that "the Most 
High doeth according to His will in the armies 
of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth ; and none can stay His hand, or say unto 
Him, What doest Thou ? " than his kingdom 
and his glory were restored to him. His no- 
bles and courtiers repaired to him, as soon as 
the change was known ; he was once more in- 
vested with the imperial purple, and recon- 
ducted reverently to his throne. " Now," the 
proclamation concluded, "1, Nebuchadnezzar, 
praise, and extol, and glorify the King of 
heaven, all whose works are truth, and His 
ways judgment ; and those that walk in pride 
He is able to abase." 

Belsliazzar's Tyrannical Reign. 

Nebuchadnezzar did not long survive his 
restoration, and the reign of his son and suc- 
cessor, Evil-merodach, was of short duration, 
as he was in 561 B.C. slain in a battle with the 
Medes and Persians. He was succeeded by 
his son Belshazzar. The end only of this mon- 
arch's reign is minutely noticed in the narra- 
tive of Daniel ; but from other sources we 
obtain information respecting acts in the early 
part of his reign, of which only a barbarous 
and jealous tyrant could have been capable. 
His last and most heinous offence was the 
profanation of the sacred vessels of the Temple 
of Jerusalem, which had been respected by 
his illustrious grandfather, and even by his in- 
capable father. 

He made a great feast " to a thousand of his 
lords," and ordered the sacred vessels to be 
brought, that he and revelers might drink wine 
from them. That there was in this a studied 
insult to the Most Lligh God, whom Nebuchad- 
nezzar had been taught by many severe lessons 
to hold in reverence, is plain from the words 
in which the account is given : " He praised 
the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, and stone; 
but the God in whose hand was his breath, 
and whose were all his ways, he glorified not." 



In the midst of this profane reveiry, a hand 
suddenly appeared writing words of mysterious 
import upon the wall, over against the king. 
The monarch was sobered in an instant. The 
writing was unintelligible to him, for, although 
the words were, as appears from the sequel, 
written in the vernacular Chaldaean language, 
the characters were the old Hebrew, with 
which he was unacquainted. 

The King Terrified. 

The attendance of the magi and astrologers 
was then commanded : but they were quite 
unable to read the words, much less to give 
an explanation of them. This increased the 
alarm of the impious king; and when the 
terror was at its height, the queen-mother (or 
rather, perhaps, grandmother) made her ap- 
pearance, and reminded him of Daniel, whom 
she mentioned as one " in whom is the spirit of 
the Holy God, and in the days of thy grand- 
father, light and understanding, and wisdom, 
like the wisdom of the gods, was' found in 
him." That Belshazzar needed to be thus re- 
minded of the character and services of Daniel 
seems to imply that he no longer retained his 
high office at court, but had withdrawn into 
private life. 

It was the custom in most Oriental courts 
for the archimagus, or the officer whose station 
corresponded the nearest to that which Daniel 
occupied, to lose his office on the death of the 
king to whose court he was attached ; and this 
was probably the case in Babylon. It is, how- 
ever, supposed by some that Daniel, in prospect 
of events then rapidly approaching, had volun- 
tarily withdrawn from court, to avoid an official 
connection with the fortunes, and thereby in- 
volve himself in the ruin of a falling house. 
But those who offer this conjecture forget, or 
do not know that the acceptance or abandon- 
ment of court employments is not and never 
was optional in any eastern kingdom. 

Daniel was sent for; and the king repeated 
what he had heard of him, and explained the 
circumstances which required his presence. 
The monarch promised that if he could but ex- 
plain the mysterious words, his rewards should 



326 



WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. 



be the highest in his power to oestow — he 
should be clothed in scarlet, be privileged to 
wear a chain of gold, and should rank as the 
third person in the kingdom. But such honors 
were valueless in the sight of the venerable 
prophet, who had already filled the highest 
stations at court, and to whom the future was 
open as a book. " Thy gifts be to thyself, and 
give thy rewards to another; nevertheless, I will 
read the writing to the king." And he did so. 



experienses and resulting convictions of his 
renowned grandfather, adding — "And thou, 
his grandson, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled 
thy heart, though thou knewest all this." He 
then proceeded to read the inscription — 

Mene {number), Mene {number), Tekel 
{weight), Peres {division), Upharsin {and di- 
visions); and explained the words thus: 

Mene, God hath numbered thy reign. 

[Mene], and finished it (the repetition of the 




DANIEL INTERPRETING THE WRITING. Dan. V. 26. 



It was not enough to read off the mere 
words as they stood. It is probable that any 
educated Jew among the captives in Babylon 
could have done that ; but it was necessary 
that the true import should be affixed to words 
which were in themselves merely indicative of 
the great prophetic truths hidden in them. This 
required a prophet instructed from on high, 
and was such a task as no man then in Babylon, 
save Daniel, could accomplish. Before pro- 
ceeding to explain these great words the 
prophet undauntedly reminded the king of the 



word giving intensity and completeness to the 
signification). 

Tekel, thou art weighed in the balance, and 
found wanting. 

Peres, thy kingdom is divided — 

Upharsin, and given to the Mede and the 
Persian (Darius and Cyrus). 

The king understood this well. His mind 
took in all the fearful significance of these 
oracular sentences. But he royally restrained 
his emotions, and dismissed the prophet, with 
orders that the promised rewards should be 



DANIEL IN BABYLON. 



327 



bestowed upon him. The sacred historian 
adds — " That same night was Belshazzar, king 
•of the Chaldaeans, slain." How he came by 
his death we are not told ; but we may collect 
from Xenophon that he perished through a 
conspiracy against his life by two nobles upon 
whom he had inflicted the highest indignities 
which men could receive. 

He was succeeded by his son, Laborosoa >- 
chod, a boy, who died in less than a year, in 
consequence of which the Scriptural account 
relates, as immediately following the death of 
Belshazzar, that " Darius the Mede took the 
kingdom." The family of Nebuchadnezzar was 
in fact extinct, and the Median king, Darius 
(the Cyaxares of secular history), the brother 
of the queen-mother, took, the kingdom, as 
next of kin, through her, to the Chaldaean 
crown. The claim of Darius may not have 
been very strong ; but it was as strong as any 
which could be opposed to it, and was backed 
by a power which had risen very high under 
the generalship of his nephew, Cyrus, and 
which no power in those parts was in a condi- 
tion to oppose. 

Babylon Overthrown. 

A very singular circumstance, impossible 
for any human foresight to have reckoned 
upon, occurred during the siege of Babylon, 
.and was most pointedly mentioned by the 
-prophets. It was, that the river should be 
dried up before the city should be taken : "A 
drought is upon her waters, and they shall be 
dried up;" " I will dry up her sea, and make 
her springs dry." This, as Bishop Newton 
remarks, was most unlikely ever to happen, 
the river being two furlongs broad, and deeper 
than two men standing upon one another, so 
that the city was thought to be better fortified 
by the river than by the walls. But so it was, 
that Cyrus turned the course of the river Eu- 
phrates, which ran through the midst of Baby- 
lon, and, by means of deep trenches and canals, 
so drained the waters, that the river became 
easily fordable for his soldiers to enter the city. 
It was by this means that the mighty Babylon, 
ivhich was deemed impregnable, and was sup- 



plied with provisions for many years, was most 
unexpectedly taken. 

It is not a little singular that the capture of 
Babylon should be described as involving the 
destruction of its idols. " Babylon is fallen, 
is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods 
he hath broken unto the ground." " Bel 
boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were 
upon their beasts, and upon their cattle." 
There are other prophecies to the same effect. 
Now the Persians, by whom Babylon was taken 
and retained, detested idolatry nearly as 
much as did the Jews themselves, and de- 
stroyed the idols of the places they conquered, 
when not restrained by prudential considera- 
tions. What was actually done in this respect, 
history does not state. We know that Cyrus 
readily gave up the spoils of the Temple of 
Jerusalem, although they had been conse- 
crated to the god Bel ; and some years after 
Xerxes plundered and destroyed the temples 
and idols of " the great city." This he did 
from professed hostility to image worship, for 
which he was indeed notorious; but partly to 
reimburse himself for the vast expenses f his 
wars by the precious metals of which their 
idols were composed, or with which they were 
covered. It will be remembered that the im- 
age which Nebuchadnezzar set up was of gold. 

Striking- Fulfilment of Prophecy. 

With equal minuteness and precision, by 
prophetic vision, it was foretold that this great 
event, the capture of Babylon, should take 
place during a feast. And this also came to 
pass: for the city was taken in the night of a 
great annual festival, while the inhabitants 
were dancing, drinking, and revelling, so that 
the extreme parts of this vast city were already 
in the hands of the enemy before those who 
dwelt in the central parts were aware of their 
danger. 

But, although taker, by an enemy, the hu- 
man probabilities were that a town so great, 
so advantageously situated for the seat of a 
great empire, would only sustain a temporary 
shock from such a calamity; and would then, 
under its new masters, recover its strength and 




(328J 



DANIEL IN BABYLON. 



329 



greatness. This has happened to other great 
cities of the East and West, and why might it 
not happen to Babylon? Plow but through 
Divine inspiration could the prophets know 
that Babylon should become desolate and 
utterly forsaken, and that man and beast should 
remove from it ? 

It did so happen, however. The conquerors 
had a city of their own not very far off, and 
much more conveniently situated, with regard 
to their native dominions, as the seat of em- 
pire ; and, although for a time they made it 
the residence of the court during a part of 
every year, Susa, the Shusan of Scripture, on 
the river Tigris, became the real capital of the 
empire. This was a sore blow to the pros- 
perity of Babylon ; and when Alexander con- 
quered the East, it was no longer the mighty 
city which it had been when the prophets gave 
forth their denunciations against it. It was 
still, however, great; and the Macedonian 
conqueror contemplated making it the central 
seat of his vast empire. But the downward 
doom of Babylon was sealed in the counsels 
of heaven, and the hero, in the midst of his 
magnificent projects, died there, and his em- 
pire was divided. 

The Den of Lions. 

However, the favor which Daniel received 
at the hands of the new king was highly dis- 
pleasing to the native princes and governors, 
and they resolved to compass his ruin. They 
knew too well the purity of his public admin- 
istration to indulge any hope of substantiating 
any charge against him in that respect; but 
they also knew his uncompromising adhe- 
rence to the obligations of his peculiar religion, 
and were not without hope of thereby effect- 
ing his downfall. The fear of arousing the 
suspicion of Darius to their design obliged 
them to cast their net very widely. They pro- 
posed to the king that he should issue a de- 
cree that whoever should petition to any god — 
but himself — for the space of a month, should 
be cast into the den of lions. In this assump- 
tion of Divine honors by kings there was 
nothing unparalleled ; and the easy and some- 



what vain king, taking it as a mark of affec- 
tion and loyalty to him on his accession, too 
readily consented; and gave to it all the 
solemnity of one of those decrees which, when 
once issued, could not be recalled. 

Daniel could not but know that this measure 
was really levelled at himself; yet he in no- 
wise altered his customary services to the God 
of Israel. He did not even stoop to make his 
devotions secret ; but thrice a day, as he had 
always been wont to do, he offered up his 
orisons with his windows open towards Jerusa- 
lem Due note of this was taken by the ene- 
mies of Daniel, who hastened to the king, and 
accusing him of contempt and of rebellion 
against the royal decree, demanded the in- 
stant execution of its dreadful penalties against 
him. 

The unhappy king at once saw the snare 
which had been laid for the prophet and him- 
self; but he saw also that he was under the 
most binding of known obligations to enforce 
the decree he had issued. His grief, his re- 
morse, his rage, were alike impotent ; and 
nothing was left him but to turn to the vague 
hope that the God whom Daniel so faithfully 
served, and by whom he had been so signally 
favored, would interfere for his deliverance. 
Comforting himself with this assurance, which 
he imparted to the prophet, the king aban- 
doned him to the punishment which the de- 
cree had awarded. Daniel was cast into the 
den of lions, the mouth of which was imme- 
diately closed with a large stone, which was 
sealed up with the king's own signet. 

Darius, the king of the Medes and Persians,., 
passed that night in sleepless sorrow , he re- 
fused to take his usual food, and forbade the 
instruments of music to be played before him. 
Very early in the morning he left his bed and 
hastened to the den of lions, still cherishing 
the faint hope that Daniel might be yet alive. 
When he drew near he called out, " O Daniel, 
servant of the living God, is thy God, whom 
thou servest continually, able to deliver thee 
from the lions ? " A voice answered from the 
cavern, " O king, live forever ! My God hath 
sent His angel, and hath shut the lions* 



330 



DANIEL'S GREAT AGE. 



-mouths; inasmuch as before Him innocency 
was found in me, and also against thee, O 
king, have I done no hurt." 

Overjoyed to find that the man whom he so 
highly esteemed had been thus miraculously 
preserved, Darius ordered that he should be 
immediately released from the dungeon, and 
directed that his accusers should be cast into 
the lions. The mighty power which had re- 
strained the ravenous beasts from harm was 
then withdrawn, and the wretched plotters be- 
came in an instant the victims of their rage 
and hunger. 

Several figures of lions have been found 
among the ruins of Babylon ; some coins rep- 
resent a lion's den under the walls of a for- 
tress, and an intaglio found in the same quarter 
represents a man between two lions. It would 
perhaps be too much to say that any of this 
had special reference to the incident we have 
recorded , but they afford interesting corrob- 
oration to the Scriptural account by show- 
ing that lions were well known at Babylon, 
and that there were one or more dens of these 
animals in that great city. In the fulness of 
his satisfaction and astonishment the king 
issued a decree to all the nations of his vast 
empire, commanding " that in every dominion 
of my kingdom men tremble and fear before 
the God of Daniel, for He is the living God, 
and steadfast forever." 

The Prophet's Last Days. 

It is recorded of Daniel that he lived through 
the reign of Darius the Mede, and into that 
of Cyrus ; indeed, one of his visions is dated 
in the third year of Cyrus, when he must 
have reached the ninetieth year of his age. 
There is no reason to doubt that Daniel re- 
tained his authority and influence under the 
latter monarch, and there is much reason to 
conclude that he brought that great prince 
acquainted with those prophecies which had 
a long time before predicted not only the res- 
toration of the Jews to their own land, but 
that this restoration was to be effected under 
a king named Cyrus. But although he had 
thus probably an important part in bringing 



about this result, there is no evidence that he 
availed himself of the privilege conceded to 
his countrymen. 

Some have asserted that he returned from 
captivity with Ezra, and took upon him the 
government of Syria ; but it is more likely 
that he was too old to take part in so great a 
charge, and that, according to the usually re- 
ceived opinion, he died in Persia. Epiphanius 
and others affirm that he died at Babylon ; 
and they say that his sepulchre was to be seen 
there, many ages after, in the royal cave. But 
it seems more probable that, according to the 
common tradition, he was buried at Susa or 
Shusan, where he sometimes resided, probably 
in his official capacity, and where he was 
favored with some of his last visions. Jose- 
phus says that there was at Susa a magnificent 
edifice in the form of a tower, which was said 
to have been built by Daniel, and which 
served as a sepulchre for the Persian and Par- 
thian kings. This, in the time of the historian, 
retained its perfect beauty and presented a fine 
specimen of the prophet's skill in architecture. 
That this tower was built by Daniel there is 
little ground to believe; but that a monument 
of the kind would be ascribed to him by the 
numerous Jews resident in those parts in and 
before the time of Josephus is highly prob- 
able. 

Benjamin of Tudela mentions that he was 
shown the reputed tomb of Daniel at Susa on 
the Tigris; and at the present day a tomb 
bearing his name is the only standing building 
among the ruins of Shus, the ancient Susa. 
The city itself is now a gloomy wilderness 
inhabited by lions, hyenas, and other beasts 
of prey ; and the tomb stands at the foot of 
the most elevated of the heaps of ruin, which 
time, by covering with mould and drift, has 
converted into mounds or hillocks. The 
structure is modern and of the usual form of 
the tombs of holy men throughout that coun- 
try ; but nothing could have led to its being 
built there but the belief, attested by some 
previous monument, that it was the real site 
of the prophet's sepulchre. The tomb is a 
small building, but affords shelter to a few 




DANIEL TOUCHED BY THE ANGEL. Dan. X. IO. 



(331) 



332 



AN ILLUSTRIOUS PROPHET. 



dervishes, who are supported by the alms of 
the pilgrims who visit the sepulchre. These 
dervishes are now the only inhabitants of 
Susa, and various species of wild and ravenous 
beasts roam at large over that spot on which 
some of the proudest palaces ever raised by 
human art once stood. 

Daniel's Visions. 

The last six chapters of Daniel's book are 
occupied by the prophecies, in the form of 
visions, which were delivered at different times, 
but which are all in some degree connected as 
parts of one grand scheme, in which the in- 
terests of the Hebrew and Christian churches 
are concerned. They extend through many 
ages, and exhibit, under the most striking 
representations, the rise and fall of successive 
kingdoms : they characterize, in terms highly 
descriptive, the four great monarchies of the 
world, to be succeeded by that kingdom which 
is an everlasting dominion, and which shall 
not be destroyed. They even point out inter- 
mediate subdivisions of empires, particularly 
that of the four kingdoms into which the em- 
pire of Alexandria should be broken. 

The prophet Daniel must be considered as 
one of the most remarkable characters of which 
the Scriptures give us any record. All through 
his history the representation is that he was in 
alliance with supernatural power. He was 
more than a Hebrew captive ; he was more 
than a Daniel ; he was more than man, for he 
was Divinely guided and upheld. Raised up 
for a special purpose, as so many of the great 
men of the Bible were, he fulfilled his mission 
with a fidelity, a courage and a zeal conspicu- 
ous even among the renowned heroes of Bibli- 
cal history. 

It is interesting to notice that although he 
lived to a very great age, although the furrows 
and cares of many years even decades of years, 
were written upon his face, he never lost his sub- 
lime confidence, never failed in any emergency. 
One great reason for this is undoubtedly the 
fact that all through his checkered career he 
was blessed with visions from on high. It 
would seem as if the prophet Daniel had but to 



! open his eyes to see the invisible, and to stop 
and listen to hear the unutterable. He rose to 
every occasion, was not appalled by threats,. 
was not made giddy by flatteries, and main- 
tained his lofty character to the end. 

In the tenth chapter of the book which 
bears his name, a very interesting account is 
given of one of those visions by which he was 
so frequently cheered. He affirms that he had 
been in mourning for the space of three weeks; 
no pleasant bread had he eaten ; neither flesh 
nor wine had been taken for sustenance ;. 
neither had he anointed himself according to» 
the custom of those days. 

A Mysterious Visitor. 

In stern severity, as was the manner with 
the old Hebrew prophets, he had humiliated 
himself, and in that lowly frame of mind, the 
windows of his soul being open, it was fitting 
that the light of Heaven should come in. He 
narrates particularly the circumstances of this- 
vision. It was on the four and twentieth 
day of the first month, and he was by the side 
of. the great river, which is Hiddekel. He 
lifted up his eyes, and lo! before him was a 
certain man of extraordinary appearance. He 
was clothed in linen and his loins were girded 
with the fine gold of Uphaz. From the further 
vivid description which is given, it seems that 
his body was like beryl, while his face had the 
appearance of lightning, and his eyes were as 
lamps of fire. His rms and his feet were like 
in color to polished brass. The man spoke and 
his voice was like the sound of many waters,, 
or, as the language expresses it, " the voice of 
his words was like the voice of a multitude." 

The prophet is careful to tell us that he 
alone saw the vision ; it appeared to be a 
special revelation to himself. Others were 
with him, but their eyes, it seems, were holden, 
and, although this mysterious messenger from 
the other world was so near, they were not 
sensible of his presence. Yet, conscious that 
something unusual was transpiring, a great 
quaking fell upon them, and they fled to hide 
themselves. Daniel affirms that no strength 
was left in himself, and in this burning presence 



DANIEL IN BABYLON. 



333 



liis comeliness was ^urned into corruption. 
Still he heard what was spoken, and having 
heard it he fell into a deep sleep on his face, 
and his face was toward the ground. 

While thus overawed and faint under the 
power of the wonderful vision, behold, a hand 
touched him, and he was lifted from the ground 
upon which he had fallen. Thus upheld, he 
received the communication, the message 
intended especially for him. There he stood, 
trembling, face to face with a reality in human 
shape and form from the other world. He 
was told not to fear and was given to under- 
stand that whatever calamities might come 
upon the kingdom whose destruction he had 
foretold, he himself should still be guarded 
and preserved, and that his times and seasons 
and the various events of his future life were 



all in the hands of that God of Israel who 
had hitherto directed and miraculously pre- 
served him. 

He was told what should befall his people 
in the later days. Having heard this, he set 
his face toward the ground and became dumb. 
He complains that by the vision his sorrows 
were turned upon him, and he retained no 
strength. Then the angel came again and 
touched him and said, " Oh, man, greatly be- 
loved, peace be unto thee. Be strong; yea, 
be strong." With this announcement there 
came to him renewed strength. The vision 
vanished : the mysterious messenger departed. 
Daniel, who had been touched by the very 
hand of Omnipotence, went longer than Elijah 
did in the strength which had been received 
from God. 




CHAPTER XXVIII. 




JONAH AT NINEVEH. 



ET us fix our minds 

upon the events which 

transpired during the 

period of the Prophet 

Jonah's public life. A 

description of the great 

Assyrian empire and 

its capital, Nineveh, 

with a narrative of Jonah's visit to 

this famous city, will necessitate a 

return to Jewish history. 

Jehoash, or Joash, reigned in 
Judah, and while the priest Jehoiada 
lived, he did well and justly, a com- 
mendable sort of character, and 
very young. He gave orders for the repair 
of the Temple, and gave instructions to the 
clergy to see that his orders were carried out ; 
but while they took the money, they did not 
do the work, and when Joash had been on 
the throne more than three and twenty years 
the Temple was still unrepaired, and nobody 
seemed to know what had become of the 
money collected for the work. 

At last the high-priest interfered — and it 
was a marvel he did not interfere sooner — and 
gave instructions that the people were not to 
pay any money to the priests at all, these gen- 
tlemen forgetting very often what they had 
received, but that they were to drop their con- 
tributions through the slit in the lid of a very 
large money-box, and that when the box was 
tolerably full the king's scribe, acting on the 
part of the laity, and the high-priest on the 
part of the clergy, should together open the 
chest, count up the money, make the necessary 
memoranda, and then settle so far as they 
could with the trades-people. Under this 
arrangement the work went on very well 
indeed. It is said of those who had the work 
(334) 



in hand that they " dealt faithfully," and a. 
higher compliment could not be paid. 

Towards the end of the reign of Jehoash 
the Syrian king Hazael marched on Jerusalem 
and so terrified the weak monarch that he 
yielded up all the church plate, and having 
thus satisfied the cupidity of his enemy, was 
permitted to remain in an ignoble peace. But 
not long ; two of his chief men rose up 
against him, and "smote him and he died," 
and then his son Amaziah became king. 

While these events were transpiring in the 
kingdom of Judah, Jehu, the soldier who had 
won the crown of Israel, led a careless and 
indifferent life, and dying, left the throne to 
Jehoahaz his son. The young king was 
almost immediately involved in a terrible war 
with Hazael of Syria ; one defeat followed 
another; army after army was overthrown; 
city after city was captured. Elisha had fore- 
seen all this : he saw plainly that when Hazael 
had murdered his sovereign lord and usurped 
his throne, he would not be slow in bringing 
heavy calamity on Israel. The army, by re- 
peated engagements, was reduced to ten 
thousand infantry, fifty cavalry, and ten char- 
iots ; the emphatic language of Scripture is 
that the people were made "like the dust by 
threshing." 

We are told that at present in the East, as 
in the times to which the Scriptures refer, the 
threshing-floor is in the open air, and is the 
most level and hardest piece of ground which 
can be found near the harvest-field. The top 
of the hill is preferred when it can be obtained, 
for the advantage of the subsequent winnow- 
ing. For use, as the regular threshing-floor 
on the estate, this spot is often prepared by 
the removal of about six inches depth of the 
soil and filling the vacancy with a firm com- 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 



335 



post of manure and clay. Still, with all this 
care to prevent the intermixture of gravel and 
earthy particles, much very tine dust irom the 



that the straw itself is much crushed and 
broken by the treading ol the cattle so that 
small particles oi broken straw lie mingled 




JONAH CAST INTO THE SEA. — Jon. i. 5. 



surface of the threshing-floor is produced by 
the act of threshing, and remains when the 
corn and straw are removed. Add to this 



with the small dust of the threshing-floor^ 
These circumstances render the figure em- 
ployed by the writer very vivid and distinct to- 



336 



AMAZIAH'S ARMY 



an eastern imagination and full of meaning. 
After a while, however, the people obtained 
peace, only again to resort to idolatrous prac- 
tices, and to do as wickedly as they had done 
before. Then Jehoahaz died and was suc- 
ceeded by his son Joash. Our Scriptures 
assert that he was a wicked man, that " he did 
evil in the sight of the Lord,'' whereas Jose- 
phus tells us " He was a good man, and in his 
disposition was not at all like his father." It 
is most likely that these different characters 
of Joash suited the different parts of his reign, 
and that he was, as according to our Bible, at 
first a wicked king, and then, as according to 
Josephus, he was reclaimed, and became a 
good one, and so continued thereafter. 

Brilliant Victories. 

It was in the reign of Joash that Elisha the 
prophet died ; shortly before his death he was 
waited on by Joash, who was bemoaning the 
wretched condition of his people by reason 
of the ravages of the Syrians ; Elisha " com- 
forted him," says Josephus, "and bade the 
king bend a bow that was brought him ; and 
when the king had fitted the bow for shooting, 
Elisha took hold of his hands and bade him 
shoot; and when he had shot three arrows, 
and then left off, Elisha said, If thou hadst 
shot more arrows, thou hadst cut the kingdom 
of Syria up by the roots ; but since thou hast 
been satisfied with shooting three times only, 
thou shalt fight and beat the Syrians no more 
times than three, that thou mayest recover 
that country which they cut off from thy 
kingdom in the reign of thy father. So 
when the king had heard that he departed, 
and a little while after the prophet died." 

On the death of Hazael, king of Syria, Joash 
made war on his successor Adad, obtained a 
victory in three battles, and recovered the 
country which Hazael had captured. 

Meanwhile, Amaziah had ascended the 
throne of Judah, and executed summary ven- 
geance on his father's murderers. After this he 
assembled a large army, and with a hundred 
thousand men from the tribes of Israel, made 
war on the Amalekites, Edomites, and Ge- 



balites. But he was warned not to war with the 
Israelites for his auxiliaries ; Amaziah — al- 
though the pecuniary loss was very great, as 
he was bound to pay the men he had hired — 
availed himself of the caution, sent away his 
allies, and with his own comparatively small 
army achieved very decided victories over the 
nations already named. The old sin that had 
so often brought evil on Judah and Israel was 
repeated. Amaziah patronized and practised 
idolatry, and puffed up with vanity at his own 
successes, commanded all Israel to return to 
their allegiance to the house of David. 

Speedily came the answer: " King Joash to 
king Amaziah. There was a vastly tall cypress 
tree in Mount Lebanon, as also a thistle ; this 
thistle sent to the cypress tree to give the 
cypress tree's daughter in marriage to the 
thistle's son ; but as the thistle was saying this, 
there came a wild beast and trod down the 
thistle : and this may be a lesson to thee not 
to be so ambitious, and to have a care, lest 
upon thy good success in the fight against the 
Amalekites, thou growest so proud as to bring 
dangers upon thyself and thy kingdom." 

On the receipt of this letter the wrath of 
Amaziah burnt hot and fierce; he assembled 
his troops, and began his invasion of the 
dominions of Joash, but his men were either 
unwilling or afraid of the issue of battle ; they 
forsook the king, who fell into the hands of 
the enemy. At first Amaziah despaired of his 
life ; he looked for nothing from the hands of 
the provoked Joash but death. The king of 
Israel, however, proposed terms; they were 
hard terms, no less than the surrender of Jeru- 
salem ; but the humiliated monarch, with the 
fear of death on him, consented. He was led 
as a captive to his own capital ; his conqueror, 
disdaining to enter by the gate, ordered a con- 
siderable part of the wall to be levelled, and 
drove his chariot through the breach. 

He then appropriated to his own use all the 
treasures, of the holy Temple and the royal 
palaces, and taking hostages for the good be- 
havior of the king, left Amaziah at Jerusalem, 
and returned to Samaria. Unhappy king, he 
felt himself now to be a mere "thistle" to the 




JONAH PREACHING AT NINEVEH. Jon. ill*. 4. 



(337) 



338 



A GREAT FISH. 



" cypress" of Israel, felt that the " wild beast" 
had indeed trodden. His old prestige was 
never recovered, and years afterwards, when 
Joash had been fifteen years in his grave, and 
Jeroboam II. was on the throne of Israel, a 
conspiracy was raised against Amaziah, who 
fled to Lachish, and was there sought out and 
slain. 

The son of Amaziah, a lad of sixteen, Aza- 
riah by name, was permitted to ascend the 
vacant throne of Judah, but he does not ap- 
pear to have distinguished himself in any re- 
markable way either for good or evil. As to 
Jeroboam of Israel, he at the first was 
thoroughly bad, and " departed not from all 
the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who 
made Israel to sin ; " but it has been con- 
jectured that although he began wickedly, and 
was the cause of a vast number of misfortunes 
to the Israelites, he was afterwards reclaimed, 
and became a good king. This seems prob- 
able on account of his being encouraged by a 
prophet to undertake a great military enter- 
prise in which he was highly successful. 

Prophecies of Jonah. 

The prophet who encouraged Jeroboam was 
Jonah, who foretold that he should make war 
with the Syrians, conquer their army and en- 
large the bounds of his kingdom in the north- 
ern provinces as far as the city called Hamath, 
and southerly as far as the Dead sea. Jero- 
boam achieved what had been predicted, and 
relieved many of his subjects from the dread 
of the Syrians. It was a good work well 
done. 

But turning from the connected history of 
Judah and Israel, we must fasten our attention 
on this singular man, Jonah. 

Jonah's prophecy stands as the fifth of the 
twelve lesser prophets in our canonical ar- 
rangement ; chronologically, it should stand 
first of all, before Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel. 
Jonah was the first of the prophets whose 
books have come down to us. About thirty 
years, it is conjectured, before he delivered his 
message to Jeroboam, this Jonah was sent 
with a warning and threatening to one of the 



largest cities in the world. He was com- 
manded to go to Nineveh, and denouncing- 
the extreme wickedness of its inhabitants, pro- 
claim its destruction within forty days. Jonah 
was afraid, and, as Josephus has it, " he ran 
away from God." The impossibility of doing- 
so is plain, but he ran away from his duty, 
brought misery on himself and trouble on 
others ; was cast out of the ship, and is said to 
have been swallowed by a great fish, who- 
threw him at last on dry land ; then he went 
to Nineveh on his important errand. 

A Famous City. 

It appears that this city, the capital of the 
kingdom of Assyria, extended its length along 
the eastern bank of the Tigris, while its breadth 
reached from the river to the eastern hills. 
All the ancient writers concur with Jonah in 
describing Nineveh as an " exceeding great 
city." But as none of these writers lived till 
after its destruction, their accounts, derived 
from old records and reports, are necessarily 
brief and incomplete. The best account which 
we possess is that furnished by Diodorus, who 
states that Ninus, having surpassed all his 
ancestors in the glory and success of his arms, 
resolved to build a city of such state and 
grandeur as no sovereign coming after him 
should be easily able to exceed. 

Accordingly, having brought a vast number 
of his forces together, and provided the neces- 
sary treasure, and everything which his de- 
sign required, he built near the Tigris a city 
very famous for its walls and fortifications. 

Diodorus adds, that the founder was not 
deceived in his expectations, for no one ever 
after built a town equal to it for the extent of 
its circumference and the stateliness of its 
walls. These were a hundred feet high, and 
so wide that three chariots might be driven 
upon them abreast. There were 1,500 towers 
upon the walls, all of them two hundred feet 
high. Ninus appointed the city to be chiefly 
inhabited by the richest of the Assyrians, and 
freely allowed people from other nations to 
• dwell there. He also granted to the citizens 
a large surrounding territory, and gave his- 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 



339 



own name, Ninus, to the town. It may be 
added, that Strabo and other ancient writers 
say that Nineveh was more extensive than 
even Babylon. 

We are not to suppose that the whole of 
the vast enclosure of Nineveh was built upon. 
It was no doubt loosely built, with the houses 
much apart, as at Babylon, and containing ex- 
tensive plantations, parks, gardens, fields and 



pired nothing happened; the city was not 
overthrown, and he who had uttered the pre- 
diction, and had looked for the fulfilment of 
his words, was very angry. It seems that he 
would have preferred the utter destruction of 
the city rather than that his threatening should 
not be executed. 

Years afterwards Nineveh did fall ; the sands 
of the desert swept over her ; she was dead, 




ROYAL PALACE AT NINEVEH. 



open grounds, as the larger Oriental towns 
still do. 

To this great city Jonah declared his mes- 
sage—forty days and Nineveh was to be de- 
stroyed. The people listened with awe and 
wonder as they heard the terrible denuncia- 
tion, and they believed the words of the pro- 
phet. A solemn fast and national humiliation 
was proclaimed; the Ninevites cried to the 
God of Jonah, and when the forty days ex- 



buried, forgotten— the site of her wealth and 
glory unknown, her very existence doubted. 

But a few years ago we were not ac- 
quainted with a single great monument of 
Assyrian art. Travellers who visited the banks 
of the Euphrates and Tigris brought back with 
them to Europe bricks covered with a multi- 
tude of little, graphic, nail-shaped characters, 
seals, and tubes or cylinders, bearing strange 
representations of men and fantastic animals : 



340 



IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. 



and these little curiosities, which were found 
for the 'most part at a few days' journey from 
Bagdad, in the neighborhood of Hillah, were 
lodged in the various collections, without any 
one suspecting the erudition which might some 
day spring from them, and help to clear up the 
ancient history of Assyria. Reports were also 
brought of two or three shapeless remains of 
sculpture, such as a lion devouring a man, and 
the robe and feet of an unknown female. 

In December, 1842, Mons. Botta, the French 
consul at Mosul, commenced a series of exca- 
vations opposite Mosul, in one of the mounds 
on the eastern banks of the Tigris. Tradition, 
as well as the works of travellers, had long 
pointed out the mounds opposite Mosul as 
being the site of ancient Nineveh. Mons. Botta 
discovered but very few fragments of any im- 
portance at this spot, and advanced a little 
farther, to Khorsabad, situated on the east of 
the Tigris, at a distance of about ten miles 
north-east of Mosul. In a few days he laid 
bare walls of brick and gypsum — in fact, an 
entire palace decorated with colossal sculp 
tures, representing scenes of the religious, 
royal, military, and private life of one of the 
most celebrated nations of antiquity, with 
whom we were hitherto but vaguely ac- 
quainted, from the sacred writings, and the 
accounts of Herodotus. 

It is with a kind of stupor that the spectator 
at the present day contemplates some of these 
sculptures in the galleries of the Louvre. So 
remarkable an event could not fail to excite 
the emulation of English explorers. One of 
them, Mr. Austen Henry Layard, did not long 
delay excavating other mounds, near the small 
village of Nimroud, at about twenty-two and 
a half miles from Mosul, and thirty-nine miles 
from Khorsabad, on the left or eastern bank of 
the Tigris, and at a distance of less than three 
miles from that stream. His zeal has been 
crowned with no less success than that of 
Mons. Botta; he has enriched the British Mu- 
seum with prodigious evidences of ancient 
Assyrian civilization, and many famous relics 
have found their way to our own country. 

These discoveries, which were more unex- 



pected and more important than any others of 
an analogous nature which have preceded them 
in the present century, have given an extraor- 
dinary impetus to the science of archaeology 
and history. The French and other consuls 
and archaeologians of various nations con- 
tinued with great ardor the work commenced 
under such happy auspices by Messrs. Botta 
and Layard. Mons. Place, French consul at 
Mosul, discovered on the site of Khorsabad 
the first Assyrian statue dug up, for previously 
to his so doing the figures found were in half- 
relief only. This statue is four feet and a half 
high, and represents a person holding a kind 
of bottle. Mons. Place discovered, also, a wall, 
five feet high, of painted and enamelled bricks, 
on which are represented animals, men, trees, 
etc. Arguing from this rapid success, it is no 
longer possible to doubt that most of the brick 
mounds scattered about in the valleys of the 
Euphrates and Tigris contain immense ruins 
of the Assyrian empire ; the pioneers of science 
may dig into the bowels of the earth with con- 
fidence, for they will certainly make discoveries 
of invaluable importance towards aiding us to 
study the religions, the annals, and the man- 
ners of Asiatic antiquity. 

Exploits of Sennacherib 

Among the most interesting and important 
discoveries of Mr. Layard is a full history of 
the exploits and victories of Sennacherib, 
copied from the bulls placed by the royal per- 
sonage in his palace at Nineveh. One inscrip- 
tion reads as follows : " Hezekiah, king of 
Judah," says Sennacherib, in his inscriptions 
on the bulls excavated by Mr. Layard, " who 
had not submitted to my authority; forty-six 
of his principal cities, and fortresses, and vil- 
lages depending upon them, I captured, and 
carried away the spoils. The fortified towns, 
and the rest of the towns which I spoiled, I 
severed from his country and gave to the kings 
of Ascalon, Ekron, and Gaza, so as to make 
his country small. In addition to the former 
tribute imposed upon their country, I added 
a tribute, the nature of which I fixed. I also 
took from Hezekiah the treasures he had col- 




SELLING THE CHILDREN OF JEWISH CAPTIVES. Joel iii. 



(341) 



342 



NINEVEH'S OVERTHROW. 



lected in Jerusalem ; thirty talents of gold, 
and eight hundred talents of silver, the treas- 
ures of his palace, besides his sons and his 
daughters, and his male and female servants, 
and brought them all to Nineveh." 

Mr. Layard observes, " There can be little 
doubt that the campaign against the cities of 
Palestine, recorded in the inscriptions of Sen- 
nacherib, is that described in the Old Testa- 
ment. We are told there, in the Book of 
Kings, that the king of Assyria, in the four- 
teenth year of Hezekiah, ' came up against all 
the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.' " 
This feat Sennacherib records in his inscrip- 
tions. What is very striking, and indeed con- 
clusive, is that the amount of treasure in gold 
taken from Hezekiah is the same on the As- 
syrian monument as in the inspired record. 
Thus the gigantic stone bulls, long hidden 
under the accumulated debris of ages, respond 
to the labors of Layard, and come forth into 
noonday light, and proclaim that the history 
recorded in the Book of Kings is alike authen- 
tic and reliable, and therefore safe from the 
bitter assaults on its integrity in which sciol- 
ists and sceptics delight to indulge. 

The most instructive history of the final de- 
struction of Nineveh is given by Ctesias in a 
statement preserved in Diodorus Siculus. It 
is worth extracting in full. Arbaces, a Mede, 
a valiant and prudent man, and general of the 
forces which were sent every year out of 
Media to Nineveh, was stirred up by Belesis, 
the governor of Babylon, to overthrow the 
Assyrian empire. Hereupon Arbaces prevailed 
with the Medes to invade the Assyrian empire, 
and drew the Persians, in hopes of liberty, to 
join the confederacy. He sent messengers 
into Arabia, and gained that prince for a con- 
federate. Sardanapalus, being informed of the 
revolt, led forth the forces of the rest of the 
provinces against them, whereupon, a battle 
being fought, the rebels were totally routed, 
and, with great slaughter, were driven to the 
mountains, seven furlongs from Nineveh. . 

While Sardanapalus was rejoicing at these 
victories, and feasting his army, Arbaces in- 
duced the Bactrians to revolt, fell suddenly on 



the king's camp, and making a great slaughter 
of some, forced the rest into the city. Here- 
upon Sardanapalus committed the charge of 
the whole army to the queen's brother, and 
took upon himself the defence of the city. 
But the rebels twice defeated the king's forces, 
and the king, being afterwards besieged, many 
of the nations revolted to the confederates, and 
Sardanapalus, perceiving that the kingdom 
was like to be lost, sent forth into all the 
provinces of the kingdom in order to raise 
soldiers, and to make all other preparations 
necessary to endure a siege ; and he was the 
more encouraged to this in that he was ac- 
quainted with an ancient prophecy that Nine- 
veh could never be taken by force till the 
river became the city's enemy. 

Destruction by Fire. 

The siege continued two years. The third 
year it happened that the river, overflowing 
with continual rains, came up into a part of 
the city, and tore down the walls, twenty fur- 
longs in length. The king, hereupon, con- 
ceiving that the oracle was accomplished in 
that the river was an apparent enemy to the 
city, utterly despaired ; and therefore, that he 
might not fall into the hands of his enemies, 
he caused a huge pile of wood to be made in 
his palace court, and heaped upon it all his 
gold, silver, and royal apparel, and enclosing 
his eunuchs and concubines in an apartment 
within the pile, caused it to be set on fire, and 
burnt himself and them together, which, when 
the revolters came to understand, they entered 
through the breach in the walls, and took the 
city, and clothed Arbaces with a royal robe, 
and committed to him the sole authority, pro- 
claiming him king. 

The prophecy of Nahum leads us to be- 
lieve that Nineveh was a magnificent, great, 
and powerful city ; that it was overthrown in 
its meridian grandeur, when its prestige, and 
its wealth, and population were greatest. 
While the people that were destined to over- 
throw this great city are not mentioned by 
name, the description of the invading army, 
as composed of chariots and horsemrn. indi- 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 



343 



cates the Medes as the victors. Media relied 
on her cavalry most of all for success, and her 
armies were composed chiefly of horsemen. 

The prophet also predicts that the city 
would be plundered, its inhabitants slain with 
the sword, and its chief places set on fire. 



quake, or depopulated by pestilence, the pro- 
phecy of Nahum would remain unfulfilled, and 
therefore untrue. If the city had been weak- 
ened, and continued, like Rome or Athens, the 
thin shadow or skeleton of what it was, the 
inspired prophecy would not be fulfilled. 




ASSYRIAN WINGED BULL. 



Those very things which the secular historian 
has recorded are just the facts predicted in the 
inspired record. The events were predicted a 
century before they occurred ; while the his- 
torians who tell the story of her ruin were 
totally unacquainted with the word of God. 
If Nineveh had been swallowed up by an earth- 



But it was utterly destroyed ; it was laid 
waste, and the place on which it stood has 
only recently been identified. This is what 
the prophet predicted : " He shall make an 
utter end of the place thereof; it shall be 
empty, void, and waste," and the ruins now 
prove the truth of the prophecy. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 




THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 




UR attention is next 
directed to the his- 
tory which follows 
the ancient prophe- 
cies, and precedes 
the advent. The in- 
terval of four centu- 
ries, from the close 
of the records of the 
Old Testament to 

/^/C%4wlp the events which 
heralded the birth 

of Jesus Christ, may 
be divided into four 
periods: the continuance of the Persian do- 
minion, till B.C. 331; the Greek empire in 
Asia, B.C. 331-167; the independence of 
Judaea under the Asmonaean princes, b. c. 167- 
'63 ; and the rule of the house of Herod, com- 
mencing in B.C. 40, and extending beyond the 
Christian era to the destruction of Jerusalem 
in A. d. 70. The last two periods also include 
the relations of Judaea to Rome. There is 
little that possesses any great intrinsic interest, 
except the struggle of the Maccabees for re- 
ligion and liberty against Antiochus Epiph- 
anes. 

The first two of these periods — a space just 
equal to that from the death of Elizabeth to 
the accession of Victoria in England — form 
almost a blank in the history of the Jews. 
They seem to have been content to develop 
their internal resources and their religious in- 
stitutions under the mild government of Persia. 
Their affairs were managed by high-priests, 
who were possessed of large power, and for 
many years were content to let the nation re- 
main passive, thankful for the privilege of 
maintaining an existence among other and 
more powerful realms. 

Eusebius assigns twenty years to the pontif- 
(344) 



icate of Jaddua, who was high-priest both under 
Darius Codomannus and after the fall of the 
Persian empire. Josephus tells a romantic story 
of an interview between Jaddua and Alexander 
the Great. While Alexander was besieging 
Tyre, he sent to demand the submission of the 
Jews, who answered that they were the faithful 
vassals of Darius. After taking Gaza Alex-: 
ander marched against Jerusalem. Jaddua,. 
by the command of God in a vision, hung the 
city with garlands, and went forth in solemn 
procession to meet the conqueror at Sapha 
(the watch), an eminence in full sight of the 
city and the Temple. On seeing the high-priest 
in his state robes, the priests in their sacred 
dresses, and the people clothed in vvhite v Alex- 
ander fell prostrate in adoration, and, rising, 
embraced the high-priest. 

To the remonstrances of Parmenio he re- 
plied that he worshipped, not the priests, but 
the Name engraved upon his frontlet, and that 
he recognized him in a figure that had ap- 
peared to him in a vision in Macedonia and 
bidden him to conquer Persia. Entering 
Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice, and was shown 
the prophecies of Daniel relating to himself. 
He granted the Jews, not only in Judaea, but 
also in Media and Babylonia, the free enjoyment 
of their own laws, and exemption from tribute 
during the Sabbatic year. The statement of 
Justin, that on Alexander's advance into Syria 
he was met by man}' eastern princes with 
their diadems, affords some confirmation to 
the story of the high-priest's coming out to 
meet him in person. 

It is certain that Jerusalem and Judaea sub- 
mitted to the conqueror, and there are traces 
subsequently of the privileges he is said to 
have granted to the Jews. Alexander's homage 
to Jehovah, and his pleasure at being named 
as the instrument of destiny, are points thor- 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



345 



oughly consistent with his character. There is 
nothing improbable in his having received the 
submission of Judaea from the high-priest and 
princes about the time of the siege of Gaza. 
At all events Jerusalem was too important to 
have been passed over by Alexander himself, 
as it is by the historians. He enlisted Jewish 
soldiers, and removed a large number of Jews 
to Egypt, to aid in peopling his new city of 
Alexandria. 

The Samaritans are said to have claimed the 
same privileges as the Jews, which Alexander 
refused to grant. Hence probably arose the 
rebellion in which they murdered the Mace- 
donian governor, Andromachus, and which 
Alexander punished by the destruction of Sa- 
maria. Palestine thenceforth remained quiet 
under Alexander, who died b. c. 323. 

The Macedonian conqueror must not, how- 
ever, be dismissed without some further notice 
of his real place in Jewish history, and in the 
sacred history of the world — a place not de- 
pendent on any incidental circumstances, such 
as his visit to Jerusalem. 

The Young Macedonian. 

In the prophetic visions of Daniel the influ- 
ence of Alexander is necessarily combined 
with that of his successors. They represented 
the several phases of his character ; and to the 
Jews nationally, the policy of the Syrian kings 
was of greater importance than the original 
conquest of Asia. But some traits of the " first 
mighty king " are given with vigorous dis- 
tinctness. The emblem by which he is typi- 
fied suggests the notions of strength and speed; 
and the universal extent and marvellous rapid- 
ity of his conquests are brought forward as 
the characteristics of his power, which was di- 
rected by the strongest personal impetuosity. 
He " ruled with great dominion, and did ac- 
cording to his will ; and there was none that 
could deliver out of his hand." 

He was not simply a Greek, nor must he be 
judged by a Greek standard. He approached 
the idea of a universal monarchy from the side 
of Greece, but his final object was to establish 
something higher than the paramount suprem- 



acy of one people. His purpose was to com- 
bine and equalize — not to annihilate ; to wed 
the East and West in a just union — not to en- 
slave Asia to Greece. The time, indeed, was not 
yet come when this was possible ; but if he 
could not accomplish the great issue, he pre- 
pared the way for its accomplishment. 

The first and most direct consequence of 
the policy of Alexander was the weakening of 
nationalities, the first condition necessary for 
the dissolution of the old religions. The swift 
course of his victories, the constant incorpora- 
tion of foreign elements in his armies, the fierce- 
wars and changing fortunes of his successors, 
broke down the barriers by which kingdom 
had been separated from kingdom, and opened 
the road for larger conceptions of life and faith 
than had hitherto been possible. 

The contact of the East and West brought 
out into practical forms thoughts and feelings 
which had been confined to the schools. Pa- 
ganism was deprived of life as soon as it was 
transplanted beyond the narrow limits in which 
it took its shape. The spread of commerce 
followed the progress of arms; and the Greek 
language and literature vindicated their claim 
to be considered the most perfect expression 
of human thought by becoming practically 
universal. 

Privileges Granted to Jews. 

The Jews were at once most exposed to the.. 
powerful influences thus brought to bear upon 
the East, and most able to support them. In 
the arrangement of the Greek conquests, which 
followed the battle of Ipsus, Judsea was made 
the frontier land of the rival empires of Syria 
and Egypt; and though it was necessarily 
subjected to the constant vicissitudes of war, 
it was able to make advantageous terms with 
the state to which it owed allegiance, from the 
important advantages which it offered for attack 
or defence. Internally also the people were 
prepared to withstand the effects of the revo- 
lution which the Greek dominion effected. 
The constitution of Ezra had obtained its full 
development. A powerful hierarchy had suc- 
ceeded in substituting- the idea of a church for 



346 



CONQUESTS OF ALEXANDER. 



that of a state, and the Jew was now able to 
wander over the world and yet remain faithful 
to the God of his fathers. 

Through a long course of discipline, in 
which they had been left unguided by pro- 
phetic teaching, thj Jews had realized the na- 
ture of their mission to the world, and were 
waiting for the means of fulfilling it. The 
conquest of Alexander furnished them with 
the occasion and the power. But at the same 
time the example of Greece fostered personal 
as well as popular independence. Judaism 
was speedily divided into sects, analogous to 
the typical forms of Greek philosophy. But 
even the rude analysis of the old faith was 
productive of good. The freedom of Greece 
was no less instrumental in forming the Jews 
for their final work, than the contemplative 
spirit of Persia, or the civil organization of 
Rome ; for if the career of Alexander was 
rapid, its effects were lasting. 

A Man Unlike all Others. 

The city which he chose to bear his name 
perpetuated in after ages the office which he 
providentially discharged for Judaism and 
mankind; and the historian of Christianity 
must confirm the judgment of Arriaii, that 
Alexander, "who was like no other man, 
could not have been given to the world with- 
out the special design of Providence." And 
Alexander himself appreciated this design 
better even than his great teacher ; for it is 
said that when Aristotle urged him to treat 
the Greeks as freemen and the Orientals as 
slaves, he found the true answer to this coun- 
sel in the recognition of his Divine mission to 
unite and reconcile the world. 

One high-priest rapidly succeeded another 
among the Jews until we come to Simon II., 
b. c. 226. Four years later the crown of 
Egypt passed to Ptolemy IV. Meanwhile the 
rival kingdom of the Seleucidae, in Syria, had 
reached the climax of its power, and the 
throne had just been ascended by the most 
ambitious of its kings, Antiochus III., the 
■Great. He made war on Ptolemy for the 
provinces of Phoenicia, Ccelesyria and Pales- 



tine ; but was defeated at the battle of Raphia, 
near Gaza. After this victory, Ptolemy went 
to Jerusalem ; and, not content with offering 
sacrifices, he entered the Holy of Holies, 
whence he is said to have been driven out by 
a supernatural terror. He gave vent to his 
resentment by a cruel persecution of the Jews 
at Alexandria, the first example of such meas- 
ures for nearly two hundred years. Its con- 
sequence was the alienation of the Jews both 
of Palestine and Egypt. 

The death of Ptolemy, when his son Ptol- 
emy V. was only five years old, gave a new 
opening to the ambition of Antiochus the 
Great. That king, who had been occupied for 
the last twelve years in subduing a revolt in 
Asia Minor and attempting in vain to recover 
the provinces beyond the Tigris from the 
Parthians and Bactrians, formed a league with 
Philip V. of Macedon, for the partition of 
Ptolemy's dominions. After a fierce contest, 
in which Judaea suffered severely, Antiochus 
became master of Ccelesyria and Palestine. 
The Jews, who had again been ill-treated by 
Scopas, the general of Ptolemy, welcomed 
Antiochus as a deliverer. He granted them an 
annual sum for the sacrifices, and forbade for- 
eigners to enter the Temple. 

Attempt to Seize the Sacred Treasures. 

The conquered provinces were restored to 
Ptolemy as the dowry of his bride, Cleopatra, 
the daughter of Antiochus ; but the Syrian 
king did not give up their possession and af- 
terwards he resumed them altogether. It is 
under his son and successor, Seleucus IV., 
that the writer of the second book of Mac- 
cabees places the attempt of Heliodorus to 
seize the treasures of the Temple, and his 
miraculous repulse. The graphic account is 
given in detail as follows : 

" Now when the holy city was inhabited 
with all peace, and the laws were kept very 
well, because of the godliness of Onias the 
high-priest, and his hatred of wickedness, it 
came to pass that even the kings themselves 
did honor the place, and magnify the Temple 
with their best gifts ; insomuch that Seleucus 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



347 



king of Asia, of his own revenues, bare all the 
•costs belonging to the service of the sacrifices. 
But one Simon, of the tribe of Benjamin, who 
was made governor of the Temple, fell out 
with the high-priest about disorder in the 
city. 

"And when he could not overcome Onias, 
he gat him to Apollonius the son of Thraseus, 
who then was governor of Ccelesyria and 
Phenice, and told him that the treasury in 
Jerusalem was full of infinite sums of money, 
so that the multitude of their riches, which 
•did not pertain to the account of the sacrifices, 
-was innumerable, and that it was possible to 
•bring all into the king's hand. Now when 
Apollonius came to the king, and had shewed 
him of the money whereof he was told, the 
king chose out Heliodorus his treasurer, and 
•sent him with a commandment to bring him 
the aforesaid money. 

Terror in Jerusalem. 

" So forthwith Heliodorus took his journey, 
under a color of visiting the cities of Celosyria 
and Phenice, but indeed to fulfil the king's 
purpose. And when he was come to Jeru- 
salem, and had been courteously received of 
the high-priest of the city, he told him what 
intelligence was given of the money, and de- 
clared wherefore he came, and asked if these 
things were so indeed. Then the high-priest 
told him that there was such money laid up 
for relief of the widows and fatherless children : 
and that some of it belonging to Hircanus, son 
of Tobias, a man of great dignity, and not as 
that wicked Simon had misinformed ; the sum 
whereof in all was four hundred talents of 
silver, and two hundred of gold : and that it 
was altogether impossible that such wrongs 
should be done unto them, that had committed 
it to the holiness of the place, and to the 
miajesty and inviolable sanctity of the Temple, 
honored over all the world." 

" But Heliodorus, because of the king's com- 
mandment given him, said, that in any wise it 
must be brought into the king's treasury. So 
at the day which he appointed, he entered in 
to order this matter : wherefore there was no 



small agony throughout the whole city. But 
the priests, prostrating themselves before the 
altar in the priests' vestments, called unto 
heaven upon him that made a law concerning 
things given to be kept, that they should safely 
bepreserved for such as had committed them to 
be kept. Then whoso had looked the high-pi icst 
in the face, it would have wounded his heart: 
for his countenance and the changing of his 
color declared the inward agony of his mind. 
For the man was so compassed with fear and 
horror of the body, that it was manifest to them 
that looked upon him, what sorrow he had 
now in his heart. 

" Others ran flocking out of their houses to 
the general supplication, because the place 
was like to come into contempt. And the 
women girt with sackcloth under their breasts, 
abounded in the streets ; and the virgins that 
were kept in ran, some to the gates, and some 
to the walls, and others looked out of the 
windows. And all holding their hands toward 
heaven, made supplication. Then it would 
have pitied a man to see the falling down of 
the multitude of all sorts, and the fear of the 
high-priest, being in such an agony. They 
then called upon the Almighty Lord to keep 
the things committed of trust safe and sure 
for those that had committed them. Never- 
theless, Heliodorus executed that which was 
decreed. Now as he was there present him- 
self with his guard about the treasury, the 
Lord of spirits, and the Prince of all power, 
caused a great apparition, so that all that pre- 
sumed to come in with him were astonished 
at the power of God, and fainted, and were 
sore afraid. 

" For there appeared unto them a horse with 
a terrible rider upon him, and adorned with a 
very fair covering, and he ran fiercely, and 
smote at Heliodorus with his fore-feet, and it 
seemed that he that sat upon the horse had 
complete harness of gold. Moreover, two 
other young men appeared before him, notable 
in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely 
in apparel, who stood by him on either side, 
and scourged him continually, and gave him 
many sore stripes. 







US) 



REPULSE OF HELIODORUS IN THE TEMPLE. — 2 MaCC. iii. 2J . 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



349 



"And Heliodorus fell suddenly unto the 
ground, and was compassed with great dark- 
ness : but they that were with him took him 
up, and put him into a litter. Thus him, that 
lately came with a great train and with all his 
guard into the said treasury, they carried out, 
being unable to help himself with his weapons : 
and manifestly they acknowledged the power 
of God : for he by the hand of God was cast 
down, and lay speechless without all hope of 
life. But the}' praised the Lord, that had 
miraculously honored his own place ; for the 
Temple, which a little afore was full of fear 
and trouble, when the Almighty Lord ap- 
peared, was filled with joy and gladness. 

Treachery Suspected. 

" Then straightway certain of Heliodorus' 
friends prayed Onias, that he would call upon 
the Most High, to grant him his life, who lay 
ready to give up the ghost. So the high- 
priest suspecting lest the king should miscon- 
ceive that some treachery had been done to 
Heliodorus by the Jews, offered a sacrifice for 
the health of the man. Now as the high- 
priest was making an atonement, the same 
young men in the same clothing appeared and 
stood beside Heliodorus, saying, Give Onias 
the high-priest great thanks, insomuch as for 
his sake the Lord hath granted thee life; and 
seeing that thou hast been scourged from 
lieaven, declare unto all men the mighty 
power of God. And when they had spoken 
these words, they appeared no more. So 
Heliodorus, after he had offered sacrifice unto 
the Lord and made great vows unto him that 
had saved his life, and saluted Onias, returned 
with his host to the king. Then testified he 
to all men the works of the great God, which 
he had seen with his eyes. 

"And when the king asked Heliodorus, who 
might be a fit man to be sent yet once again 
to Jerusalem, he said, If thou hast any enemy 
or traitor, send him thither, and thou shalt re- 
•ceive him well scourged, if he escape with his 
life ; for in that place, no doubt, there is an 
■especial power of God. For He that dwelleth 
in heaven hath His eye on that place, and de- 



fendeth it ; and He beateth and destroyeth 
them that come to hurt it. And the things 
concerning Heliodorus, and the keeping of the 
treasury, fell out on this sort." 

The accession of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes 
secured the triumph of the Syrian party in 
Judaea. This prince, whose conduct, as well 
as his end, gained him the nickname of" Epi- 
manes " (the madman), had been sent by his 
father, Antiochus the Great, as a hostage to 
Rome. He returned with a contempt for his 
subjects added to that love of oriental luxury 
which the kings of Syria had now acquired ; 
but his vices might have been chiefly danger- 
ous to himself had not his Roman education 
inflamed the ambition which he inherited from 
his father. He found the Jewish high-priest 
at Antioch, whither Onias had gone to clear 
himself from the accusations of Simon, which 
were backed by the hostility of Apollonius, 
the governor of Ccelesyria. The Greek party 
were represented, not only by Simon, but by 
the high-priest's own brother, Joshua (Jesus), 
who went so far as to adopt the Greek name 
of Jason, and set aside his own nationality. 

Crime Avenged. 

By an 'enormous bribe in money and prom- 
ises of annual tribute, Jason obtained the high- 
priesthood, while Onias III. was deposed, and 
detained at Antioch. For the first time, Greek 
customs were openly introduced into Judaea, 
with a success which shows to what an extent 
the Jews had already become Greek in spirit. 
Not content with surrendering the privileges 
of free worship obtained from former kings, 
and neglecting the services of the Temple, 
Jason built a gymnasium, where the Jewish 
youth practised the Greek athletic exercises. 
Jason also sent representatives to the quin- 
quennial games of the Tyrian Hercules, with 
large presents, which even his envoys scrupled 
to apply to the heathen sacrifices, but bestowed 
them for building ships. 

In three years, however, Jason was in his 
turn undermined by Menelaus, whom he had 
sent to Antioch with the tribute, and who had 
obtained the high-priesthood by flattering the 



350 



A MURDERER PUNISHED. 



king's vanity and offering a higher bribe. He 
arrived at Jerusalem, " having the fury of a 
cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast," while 
Jason fled to the Ammonites. Unable to raise 
the money he had promised, Menelaus was 
summoned to Antioch. He sold some of the 
vessels of the Temple to the Tyrians, in order 
to bribe Andronicus, who governed Antioch 
during the king's absence in Cilicia. 

The deposed high-priest, Onias, who was 
still at Antioch, charged Menelaus with sacri- 
lege, and fled for sanctuary to the sacred grove 
of Daphne. At the instigation of Menelaus, 
Andronicus enticed Onias from the sanctuary 
and put him to death. Antiochus, who re- 
turned about this time, was moved to pity by 
the blameless character of Onias ; and, perceiv- 
ing doubtless the treasonable schemes of An- 
dronicus, he put the murderer to death. 

Meanwhile a great tumult had broken out 
at Jerusalem, in consequence of the sacrileges 
committed by Lysimachus, the brother and 
deputy of Menelaus. Lysimachus was killed, 
and Menelaus was accused before Antiochus, 
when he reached Tyre on his way to attack 
Egypt ; but Menelaus escaped through bribery, 
and his accusers were punished for the insur- 
rection. Thus the affair ended. 

Jerusalem Stormed and Captured. 

We must here glance at the relations of 
Syria toward Egypt. Ptolemy VI. Philometor 
was an infant when he succeeded his father, 
b. c. 181 ; but the government was ably con- 
ducted by his mother Cleopatra, the sister of 
Antiochus Epiphanes. Her death led to a war 
with Syria, and Antiochus successfully con- 
ducted four campaigns against Egypt, from 
which he only retired on the haughty man- 
date of the Roman ambassador, M. Popillius 
Laenas. During the second of these cam- 
paigns a report was spread of the king's death. 
Jason attacked Jerusalem at the head of i.ooo 
men, and drove Menelaus into the citadel ; but, 
after great cruelties against the citizens, he 
was compelled to fly to the land of Amnion. 
Thence he fled to Egypt, and afterward to 
Sparta, where he sought protection on some 



claim of kindred, and there he " perished in a 
strange land." Meanwhile his attempt had 
the most extraordinary consequences in the 
history of the Jews. 

Antiochus was led to believe that Judaea 
had revolted, an idea no doubt encouraged 
by Menelaus, in order to get rid of his own 
enemies. The king returned from Egypt in a 
state of fury ; took Jerusalem by storm, slaying 
young and old, women and maidens. Forty 
thousand fell in the conflict, and as many 
were sold into slavery. Guided by Menelaus, 
he entered the Temple, profaned the altar by 
the sacrifice of a swine, and having caused 
part of its flesh to be boiled, he sprinkled the 
broth over the whole sanctuary, and polluted 
the Holy of Holies with filth. 

He carried off the sacred vessels and other 
treasures, to the amount of 1800 talents, and 
returned to Antioch, leaving a savage Phrygian, 
named Philip, as his governor at Jerusalem, 
and Andronicus at Gerizim, where the Samari- 
tan temple seems to have been profaned in like 
manner. Menelaus, who is stigmatized as the 
worst of all the three, is not again named in 
the books of Maccabees. His subsequent 
death under Antiochus Eupator was regarded 
as a judgment for his crimes. 

Two years later Antiochus vented upon 
Judaea the exasperation of his dismissal from 
Egypt. Policy too, as well as passion, may 
have urged him to destroy a province now 
thoroughly disaffected, and likely soon to fall 
into the power of Egypt. Apollonius, the old 
enemy of the Jews, was sent to Jerusalem at 
the head of 22,000 men, with orders to slay all 
the male adults, and to seize the women and 
children. Pretending that his mission was 
friendly, he waited till the Sabbath, and then 
fell upon the unresisting people. 

A frightful massacre took place : the city 
was pillaged and set on fire : its fortifications 
were dismantled : and a tower was erected on 
Mount Zion, overlooking both the Temple and 
the city, from which the garrison sallied forth 
upon all who dared to resort to the deserted 
sanctuary. Then followed one of the severest 
persecutions recorded in the history of relig- 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



351 



ion. Antiochus issued an edict for uniform- 
ity of worship throughout his dominions, and 
committed its execution in Samaria and Judaea 
to an old man named Athenaeus, one of those 
fanatics who have been produced by hea- 
thenism, as well as by religions that claim a 
more earnest faith. A strong element of such 
fanaticism may be traced in the character of 
Antiochus himself. 

While his quick and versatile Greek tem- 
perament, trained in Roman ideas of power, 
and corrupted by oriental luxury, led him to 
indulge in all the vices and freaks for which 
despotism supplied the means — at one time 
rioting through the streets of Antioch with 
his boon companions, at another going through 
a mock canvass for the Roman magistracies, 
and pretending to hold them — he was all the 
while a munificent and bigoted supporter of 
the Greek worship. '■ The admirers," says 
Dean Milman, " of the mild genius of the 
Grecian religion, and those who suppose relig- 
ious persecution unknown in the world to the 
era of Christianity, would do well to consider 
the wanton and barbarous attempt of Antio- 
chus to exterminate the religion of the Jews 
and substitute that of the Greeks." 

Temple of Olympian Jove. 

The Samaritans submitted without resist- 
ance, and their temple on Mount Gerizim was 
dedicated to Zeus Xenius. At Jerusalem 
Athenaeus began his work by converting the 
sanctuary into a temple of Zeus Olympius. 
Its courts were polluted by the most licentious 
orgies ; the altar was loaded with abominable 
offerings ; and the old idolatry of Baal was 
re-established in the obscene form in which it 
had been carried to Greece. The copies of 
the Book of the Law were either destroyed, 
or profaned by heathen and doubtless obscene 
pictures. 

The practice of Jewish rites, and the refusal 
to sacrifice to the Greek gods, were alike pun- 
ished with death. Two women, who had circum- 
cised their children, were led round the city 
with the babes hanging at their breasts, and 
then cast headlong from the wall. A company 



of worshippers were burned by Philip in a 
cave, to which they had fled to keep the Sab- 
bath. The favorite test of conformity was the 
compulsion to eat swine's flesh ; and two par- 
ticular cases of heroic resistance make this 
one of the brightest pages in Jewish and 
Christian martyrology. A chief scribe, named 
Eleazar, a man of noble person and ninety 
years of age, when a piece of swine's flesh 
was thrust into his mouth, spat it out, and 
willingly offered his body to the torments. 
When some of the officers, for old acquaint- 
ance sake, besought him to provide some 
meat, and eat it as if it were the unclean food, 
he made a reply which contains the whole jus- 
tification of the martyr's constancy to death : 

" It becometh not our age in any wise to 
dissemble, whereby many young persons 
might think that Eleazar, being fourscore 
years old and ten, were now gone to a strange 
religion, and so through mine hypocrisy, and 
desire to live a little time, should be deceived 
by me, and I get a stain to my old age, and 
make it abominable. For though for the 
present time I should be delivered from the 
punishment of men, yet I should not escape 
the hand of the Almighty, neither alive, nor 
dead." 

He concluded by declaring his resolve, " to 
leave a notable example to such as be young 
to die willingly and courageously for the hon- 
orable and holy laws." His tempters, incensed 
at his obstinacy, grew doubly cruel, and, as 
he was expiring beneath their blows, he cried : 
" It is manifest unto Jehovah, that hath the 
holy knowledge, that whereas I might have 
been delivered from death, I endure sore pains 
in body by being beaten; but in soul am well 
content to suffer these things, because I fear 
Him." Thus was he "tortured, not accepting 
deliverance, that he might obtain a better 
resurrection ; " and he is included, with the 
other martyrs of the age, in the "cloud of 
martyrs," " of whom the world was not worthy, 
who obtained a good report through faith." 
Some Christian writers have called him " the 
proto-martyr of the Old Covenant," a glory,, 
however, which belongs to Abel. 



352 



UNDAUNTED HEROISM. 



" Others had trial of mockings and scourg- 
ings." Such was the fate of the seven breth- 
ren who, with their mother, were brought into 
the king's own presence, and, having refused 
to eat swine's flesh, were put to death with in- 
sults and torments, of which the horrid details 
may be read in the original text. From the 
eldest to the youngest they displayed not only 
constancy, but triumph; and the mother, after 
encouraging each in his turn, herself suffered 
last. The atrocities committed at Jerusalem 
were rivalled in the country. But at this very 
crisis, when the worship and the people of 
Jehovah seemed doomed to extinction, a new 
light arose for both ; and the result showed 
how needful was the baptism of fire to purify 
the people from Grecian corruptions. 

Meanwhile the persecutor himself became a 
signal example of the retribution which awaits 
despotic power and unbridled passion ; and, 
before relating the resurrection of Judaea un- 
der the Maccabees, we may anticipate the 
short period of four years, to notice the fate of 
Antiochus Epiphanes. 

Mad Antiochus. 

He was in the eastern provinces when he 
heard of the revolt of Judaea and the defeat of 
his general Lysias. Hastening back to avenge 
the disgrace, he attacked a temple at Elymais, 
the very place where his father had lost his life 
in a similar attempt. The mortification of being 
repulsed seems to have brought to a climax 
the madness which despotism usually engen- 
ders ; and he died in a raving frenzy at Tabae in 
Persia, b. c. 164. His end was regarded, by 
Greeks as well as Jews, as a judgment for his 
sacrilegious crimes ; and he has left to history 
a name as odious as that of Nero, with whose 
character he had many points in common. 

It is very remarkable that this great perse- 
cution, and the subsequent history of the glo- 
rious regeneration of Judaea under the Macca- 
bees, should have been passed over by the 
Greek and Roman historians. The contempt- 
uous summary given by Tacitus is even more 
significant than the silence of the rest, and 
shows how far prejudice can lead even the 



most careful writers from the truth. He speaks 
as follows : — " During the dominion of the 
Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, the 
Jews were the most abject of their dependent 
subjects. After the Macedonians obtained the 
supremacy of the East, king Antiochus en- 
deavored to do away with their superstition 
and introduce Greek habits, but was hindered 
by a Parthian war from reforming a most re- 
pulsive people." 

Magnificent Achievements. 

The spirit of this passage may explain the 
indifference of other authors. The uncompro- 
mising devotion of the Jews to their religion 
and their national traditions, and their claim 
to be worshippers of the only true God, excited 
among the heathen, and especially those who 
laid claim to philosophy, the same affected 
contempt and unaffected resentment which led 
Gibbon to sneer at Palestine as a country no 
larger nor more favored by nature than Wales. 
Nor is it only this brilliant passage of the 
Jewish annals that escaped the notice and the 
sympathy of the western historians. The 
period of 370 years, from the decree of Cyrus 
to the revolt of the Maccabees, embraces the 
most brilliant events of Greek and Roman his- 
tory. The aristocratic republics of Greece and 
the monarchy of Rome had reached their cli- 
max at its commencement, amidst the rapid 
growth of philosophy and art. 

Its first quarter of a century beheld the ex- 
pulsion of the Pisistratids from Athens and the 
Tarquins from Rome. The struggles which 
placed Rome at the head of the Italian states, 
and formed her republican constitution, the 
Persian and Peloponnesian wars, the conflict 
of the Greek states for the supremacy which 
they at last yielded to the Macedonian, and the 
very conquest which brought Alexander to 
Judaea, are all related just as they might have 
been if there had been no such nation as the 
Jews. 

The keen inquiries of Herodotus, who vis- 
ited Egypt and Tyre at the very time when 
Ezra and Nehemiah were regulating the re- 
stored state, produced nothing but the notice 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



353 



of Necho's victory over Josiah and capture of 
Cadytis (probably Gaza), the mistake " that 
the Syrians of Palestine " learned circumcision 
from the Egyptians, and the mention of them 
as serving with the Phoenicians in the fleet of 
Xerxes. 

The silence of the historians of Alexander 
and his successors about the Jewish people is 
the more remarkable, as they have to mention 
Judaea as the scene of war ; it is matched by 
the Romans even when they come into contact 
with Syria and Egypt ; nor is it even broken 
when (if we may believe the historian of the Mac- 
cacabees) Rome formed an alliance with Judas 
Maccabaeus. A century later, when Pompey 
penetrated into the Temple, the sacred city 
suggests even to Cicero nothing better than a 
nickname for his distrusted leader ; nor does 
Tacitus notice the very advent of Christ with 
half the interest he shows in the relations of 
the Herodian princes to the Caesars. Surely 
we cannot but see in all this a Divine purpose, 
that the outer, like the inner life, of the chosen 
people, should lie hidden from the world at 
large, and pursue a course apart from the ordi- 
nary current of warlike and political conflict, 
till from their bosoms should emerge the band 
of lowly and unworldly men, who were to pro- 
claim "a kingdom not of this world." 

Religious Zeal. 

In preparation for that event, the Jewish 
people had a history of its own, for which 
we could wish to possess more abundant 
materials. They had resumed the ordinances 
of their religion, purified from their old 
idolatries by the captivity, and with their 
zeal constantly stimulated by antagonism with 
the Samaritans. Politically they were sub- 
ject first to Persia, and then to Egypt ; but, 
as long as their tribute was paid, their relations 
to their sovereign were kindly, and they were 
left to the government of their high-priests 
and patriarchal princes till the great Syrian 
persecution. The extinction of royalty, after 
it had served its purpose by giving an image 
of Messiah's kingdom, removed the chief in- 
fluence which had led to apostasy in Israel 
23 



and to idolatry in Judah ; and the very de- 
pendence which debarred them from political 
freedom gave them the better opportunity for 
religious organization. 

The band by which the " people of God " 
were held together was at length felt to be 
religious and not local ; and all the more, so 
from the existence of large portions of uie 
nation separate from the rest, in the great 
eastern " dispersion," or in the new community 
formed in Egypt. The Jews incorporated 
in different nations still looked to Jerusalem 
as the centre of their faith. The boundaries 
of Canaan were passed ; and the beginnings 
of a spiritual dispensation were already made. 

Maccabaean War of Independence. 

The Jews restored to Palestine resumed 
their agricultural life on a land rendered 
doubly fertile by having " enjoyed her Sab- 
baths as long as she lay desolate, to fulfil 
threescore and ten years ; " and it may be ob- 
served in passing, that the ordinance of the 
Sabbatic year, which had been so systemati- 
cally neglected before the captivity, was ob- 
served in the Maccabaean age. How the 
land was divided among the returned families 
we are not told ; but this much seems clear, 
that it soon fell chiefly into the hands of the 
nobles, who, becoming rapidly enriched 
through the fertility of the soil, resumed that 
course of oppression toward the poor, which 
the old prophets had so vehemently denounced 
as the crying sin of their class. An order 
which thus sets itself above the social bonds 
of mutual kindness is prone to maintain its 
consequence against popular discontent by 
foreign influence; and, just as the princes of 
Judah headed the idolatrous and Egyptian 
party in the last days of the monarchy, so 
now they were the leaders of the Syrian 
party. Their influence was resisted, as for- 
merly by the prophets, so now by the priests, 
who headed the glorious uprising of the nation 
in defence of their religion. The issue of that 
contest proves that the nation was still sound 
at heart at the time of the Syrian domination. 

The persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes 



354 



A BOLD CONFESSOR. 



called forth a glorious resistance, which ended 
in establishing the independence of Judaea 
under the Maccabaean or Asmonaean princes. 
This was accomplished by the instrumentality 
of human virtues, the lofty patriotism, adven- 
turous valor, daring and sagacious soldiership, 
generous self-devotion, and inextinguishable 
zeal of heroic men in the cause of their coun- 
try and their God. 

Deeds of Valor. 

In Modin, a town on an eminence com- 
manding a view of the sea, the exact site 
of which is unknown, lived an aged priest 
of the line of Joarib, named Mattathias. He 
was the father of five sons in the prime of 
life, Johanan, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jon- 
athan. When Apelles, the officer of Antiochus, 
arrived at Modin to enforce the execution of 
the royal edict against the Jewish religion, 
he made splendid offers to Mattathias, as a 
man of great influence, to induce him to 
submit to the king's command. The old priest 
not only rejected his advances, but publicly 
proclaimed his determination to live and die 
in the faith of his fathers. Other Jews were 
found more ready to apostatize, and one of 
them advanced to the altar to sacrifice to the. 
heathen gods. The sight so incensed Matta- 
thias, that he sprang upon the apostate and 
slew him upon the altar, and then turning 
upon the royal commissioner he struck him 
dead at his feet. 

This bold act brought matters to a crisis, 
and Mattathias, calling upon all the citizens 
who were zealous for the Law, to follow him, 
fled to the mountains, where he was joined by 
his sons, and by many of his countrymen. 
Their numbers rapidly increased, but the 
Syrian troops having surprised one thousand 
in a cave, attacked them on the Sabbath-day, 
and meeting with no resistance, slew them 
without mercy. This led Mattathias and his 
followers to declare that it was lawful to en- 
gage in defensive warfare on the Sabbath. 

The insurgents conducted their revolt with 
equal enterprise and discretion. For a time 
they lay hid in the mountain fastnesses, and, as 



opportunity occurred, poured down upon the 
towns ; destroyed the altar of the heathen 
gods; circumcised children by force ; inflicted 
severe punishments upon all apostate Jews 
whom they captured ; recovered many copies 
of the Law, which their enemies had wan- 
tonly defaced ; and re-established the syna- 
gogues for public worship — the Temple being 
defiled and in possession of the enemy. 

But the age of Mattathias was ill-suited to 
this laborious and enterprising warfare ; hav- 
ing bequeathed the command to Judas, the 
most valiant of his sons, he sank under the 
weight of toil and years. So great already 
was the terror of his name, that he was buried 
without disturbance on the part of the enemy's 
troops, in his native city of Modin. 

Marvelous Triumphs of Maccabseans. 

Judas, the third and most warlike of the 
sons of Mattathias, and hence surnamed 
" Maccabaeus " (the Hammerer), is one of the 
grandest characters in Jewish history. If his 
youth added vigor and enterprise to the cause, 
it lost nothing in prudence and discretion. 
He had already done good service under his 
father, and was by far the best qualified leader 
the patriot army could have been given. 
He succeeded in collecting a force of 6,000 
men, and having tried his troops by many 
surprises, and night attacks, in which he cap- 
tured a number of cities, which he fortified 
and garrisoned, he ventured to meet the enemy 
in the open field. He first encountered Apol- 
lonius, the governor of Samaria, who marched 
against him from that city. Judas routed 
him and captured his sword, which he ever 
afterwards wore. Seron, the deputy-governor 
of Ccelesyria, advanced to revenge the defeat 
of Apollonius, but was met and beaten by 
Judas in the strong pass of Beth-horon, where 
Joshua had defeated the Canaanites centuries 
before. 

Antiochus was furious when he heard of 
these disasters to his army, as they occurred 
at a time when his extravagance had exhausted 
his treasury. His eastern provinces, Armenia 
and Persia, refused their tribute. He there- 




PUNISHMENT OF ANTIOCHUS. 2 MaCC. IX. 7. 



(355) 



356 



A CAMP ON FIRE. 



fore was constrained to divide his forces, 
marching himself into the East and leaving 
Lysias, his general, to crush the insurrection 
in Judaea. The rapid progress of Judas de- 
manded immediate resistance. Philip, the 
Syrian governor in Jerusalem, sent urgent 
solicitations for relief. 

The vanguard of the Syrian army, amount- 
ing to 20,000 men, under the command of 
Nicanor and Gorgias, advanced rapidly into 
the province ; it was followed by the general- 
in-chief Ptolemy Macron, their united forces 
assuming an army of 40,000 foot and 7,000 
horse. A number of slave merchants came 
with them, Nicanor having suggested the 
policy of selling as slaves as many of the Jews 
as they could capture, in order to discharge 
the arrears of tribute due to Rome. 

Judas assembled his little band of 6,000 
men at the ancient sanctuary of Mizpeh ; there 
they fasted and prayed ; and then Judas, who 
knew that his only hope, save in his God, was 
in the enthusiastic zeal of his followers for the 
law of Moses, issued, in strict conformity to its 
injunctions, the appointed proclamation, that 
all who had married wives, built houses, or 
planted vineyards, or were fearful, should re- 
turn to their homes. His force at once melted 
away to 3,000 badly armed but devoted men. 
With the audacity of genius, he marched rap- 
idly with this little force to Emmaus, where 
the enemy lay encamped, and having learned 
that Gorgias had been detached with 5,000 in- 
fantry and 1,000 cavalry, all picked men, to 
gain his rear and attack him in the night, the 
enemy still supposing him to be at Mizpeh, he 
boldly resolved to storm the Syrian camp be- 
fore Gorgias could return. - 

His trust in Jehovah was not in vain. He 
communicated his resolution to his men, as 
they arrived on the heights overlooking the 
hostile camp at daybreak, and hurled them 
with terrific force upon the still unsuspicious 
foe. The Syrians made but a feeble resistance, 
and fled on all sides unto Gazara, and unto the 
plains of Idumaea, and Azotus and Jamnia. 
Three thousand Syrians fell in the battle. 
The excellent discipline of the Jewish army 



now made itself conspicuous. Juoas was 
aware that Gorgias would soon return, and he 
held his troops from the plunder of the camp 
until the arrival of that general, who came 
back disappointed at not finding the Jewish 
insurgents among the mountains where he had 
hoped to surprise them. 

To his dismay he beheld his own camp a 
blaze of fire, and before his forces had recov- 
ered from their astonishment, Judas and his 
men were among them, sword in hand. The 
contest was short and decisive. The Syrians 
fled without making a stand, and in their 
flight suffered immense loss. The rich booty 
of the camp fell into the hands of the Jews, 
" much gold and silver, and blue silk and pur- 
ple of the sea, and great riches." 

The Conquerors Rejoicing. 

The Jews, with just retribution, sold for 
slaves as many of the slave merchants as they 
could find. A due share of the spoil was given 
to the maimed, the widows and the orphans ; 
and the rest was divided among the conquer- 
ors. The next day was the Sabbath, a day 
indeed of rest and rejoicing. But this success 
only excited the honorable ambition of the 
Maccabee. Hearing that a great force was as- 
sembling beyond the Jordan, under Timotheus 
and Bacchides, he crossed the river, and gained 
a great victory and a considerable supply of 
arms. Here two of the chief oppressors of the 
Jews, Philarches and Callisthenes, perished ; 
one in battle, the other burnt to death in a 
house where he had taken refuge. Nicanor 
fled in the disguise of a slave to Antioch. So 
closed the first triumphant campaign of the 
Maccabees. 

We may recall here a striking passage in 2 
Maccabees : 

"About that time cameAntiochus with dis- 
honor out of the country of Persia. For he 
had entered the city called Persepolis, and 
went about to rob the temple, and to hold the 
city; whereupon the multitude, running to de- 
fend themselves with their weapons, put them 
to flight; and so it happened, that Antioch us 
was put to flight and returned with shame. 



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357 



" Now when he came to Kcbatane, news was 
brought him what had happened unto Nicanor 
and Timotheus. Then swelling with anger, 
he thought to avenge upon the Jews the dis- 
grace done unto him by those that made him 
flee. Therefore commanded he his chariot- 
man to drive without ceasing, and to despatch 
the journey, the judgment of God now follow- 
ing him. For he had spoken proudly in this 
sort, That he would come to Jerusalem, and 
make it a common burying-place of the Jews. 
But the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, 
smote him with an incurable and invisible 
plague. 

" Howbeit, he nothing at all ceased from his 
bragging, but still was filled with pride, breath- 
ing out fire in his rage against the Jews, and 
■commanding to haste the journey : but it came 
to pass that he fell down from his chariot, car- 
ried violently ; so that having a sore fall, all 
the members of his body were much pained. 
And thus he that a little afore thought he 
might command the waves of the sea (so proud 
was he beyond the condition of man), and 
weigh the high mountains in a balance, was 
now cast on the ground, and carried in a horse- 
litter, shewing forth unto all the manifest 
power of God." 

Further Exploits of the Maccabee. 

The next year an army of 60,000 infantry 
and 5,000 cavalry, commanded by Lysias in 
person, appeared at Bethsura, a little north of 
Hebron, towards the southern frontier of 
Judaea. Judas attacked this force promptly 
with 10,000 men, and gained a decisive vic- 
tory, inflicting a loss of 5,000 killed upon the 
enemy. Thus on all sides triumphant, Judas 
led his heroic army into the ruined and deso- 
late capital of his people — Jerusalem. 

They found the courts of the Temple over- 
grown with tall shrubs, and the chambers of 
the priests thrown down. With wild lamenta- 
tions and the sound of martial trumpets they 
mingled their prayers and praises to the God 
of their fathers. The Syrians still held the 
tower on Mount Zion, and Judas took the 
precaution to hold them in check with a strong 



force, while he proceeded to install the most 
blameless of the priests in their office, to re- 
pair the sacred edifice, to purify every part 
from the profanation of the heathen, to con- 
struct a new altar, to replace out of the booty 
all the sacred vessels, and at length to cele- 
brate the feast of Dedication — a period of 
eighty days — which ever after was held sacred 
in the Jewish calendar. It was the festival of 
the regeneration of the people, which, but for 
the valor of the Maccabees, had almost lost its 
political existence. 

The neighboring tribes beheld with undis- 
guished jealousy the 're-establishment of a 
powerful state in Judaea. But Judas, having 
strongly fortified the Temple on the side of 
the citadel, anticipated a powerful confederacy 
which was forming against him, and carried 
his victorious arms into the territories of the 
Idumaeans and Ammonites. Thus discomfited 
on every side, the Syrians and their allies be- 
gan to revenge themselves on the Jews who 
were scattered in Galilee and the provinces 
beyond the Jordan. Judas revenged a cruel 
stratagem of the inhabitants of Joppa, who de- 
coyed 200 Jews or families on board their 
ships and threw them into the sea. He made 
a descent upon the place, and burned many 
houses on the harbor and many of their ships. 
In Jamnia another treacherous massacre was 
committed, and he revenged it by burning the 
town, the flames of which were seen from 
Jerusalem, a distance of twenty-five miles. 

A great force from Tyre and Ptolemais 
advanced into the neighboring country. 
Timotheus, son of a former general of the 
same name, laid waste Gilead with great 
slaughter. Judas divided his army into three 
parts. He took 8,000 men himself, and 
crossed the Jordan into Gilead; sent 3,000 
under his brother Simon into Galilee; and 
left the remainder, under Joseph, the son of 
Zacharias, and Azarias, to defend the liber- 
ated provinces, but with strict orders to refrain 
from attacking the enemy. The Maccabees, 
as usual, were irresistible. Both expeditions 
were successful, and future dangers were 
guarded against. 




f358) 



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But the commanders who were left at home 
failed to obey their orders ; and having under- 
taken an expedition against Jamnia, a seaport, 
were defeated with severe loss by Bacchides, 
the ablest of the Syrian generals. The defeat 
was shortly after revenged by the indomitable 
Judas ; but not without loss. When they 
proceeded, after observing the Sabbath in 
Adullam, to bury the dead, small idols were 
found in the clothes even of some of the 
priestly race. A sin-offering was sent to 
Jerusalem, not only to atone for the guilt of 
these men, but for the dead, in whose resur- 
rection the Maccabsean Jews had full faith. 

Elephants in Battle. 

About this time Antiochus Epiphanes, the 
great persecutor of the Jews, died, as 
has been related already. His young son, 
Antiochus V. Eupator, b. c. 164-162, was 
placed on the throne by Lysias ; Demetrius, 
the rightful heir, being a hostage in Rome. 
The first measure of Lysias was to attempt 
the subjugation of Judaea, where in Jeru- 
salem itself the garrison of the unsurrendered 
fortress on Mount Zion, joined to a strong 
party of the apostate Jews, anxiously awaited 
his approach. The royal army at once laid 
siege to Bethsura on the Idumaean frontier, 
not far from Hebron, which Judas had strongly 
fortified. Their force consisted of 80,000 or 
100,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, and thirty- 
two elephants. The elephants seem to have 
excited great terror and astonishment. Ac- 
cording to the Jewish annalist, each beast 
was escorted by 1,000 infantry, splendidly 
armed, and 500 horsemen; and each beast 
bore a tower containing thirty-two armed men. 
To provoke the elephants to fight, they 
showed them the blood of grapes and mul- 
berries. 

The whole army in radiant armor spread 
over the mountains and valleys, so that the 
mountains glistened therewith, and seemed 
like lamps of fire. Bethsura made a gallant 
defence, and Judas marched promptly to its 
relief. Wherever he fought the Israelites were 
successful, and his heroic brother, Eleazar, ex- 



cited the admiration of his countrymen by 
rushing under an elephant, which he stabbed 
in the belly, and was crushed to death by its 
fall. The force of the enemy was overwhelm- 
ing, however, and Judas was compelled to re- 
treat to Jerusalem. Bethsura, pressed by 
famine (it was the Sabbatic year, the land lay 
fallow, and supplies were scarce), capitulated 
on honorable terms ; and the royal army joined 
the siege of that part of the capital which was 
held by Judas. Jerusalem, resisted all their 
assaults ; the Syrians began to suffer from 
want of provisions ; and intelligence arrived 

j that affairs at A/itioch needed their immediate 
attention. 

The second Book of Maccabees gives a vivid 

J description of the appearance of an angel in 
behalf of the Hebrews, and the signal victory 
which took place under his supernatural guid- 
ance and help : 

" So he [Lysias] came to Judaea, and drew 
near to Bethsura, which was a strong town, but 
distant from Jerusalem about five furlongs ; and 
he laid sore siege unto it. Now when they that 
were with Maccabseus heard that he besieged 
the holds, they and all the people with lamen- 
tations and tears besought the Lord that He 
would send a good angel to deliver Israel. 

"One in White Clothing." 

" Then Maccabaeus himself first of all took 

j weapons, exhorting the others that they would 

i jeopard themselves together with him to help 
their brethren ; so they went forth together 

1 with a willing mind. And as they were at 
Jerusalem, there appeared before them on 

; horseback one in white clothing, shaking his 
armor of gold. 

" Then they praised the merciful God all 
together, and took heart, insomuch that they 
were ready not only to fight with men, but with 
most cruel beasts, and to pierce through walls 
of iron. Thus they marched forward in their 

! armor, having a helper from heaven ; for the 

j Lord was merciful unto them." 

The army which Antiochus Epiphanes had 
led into Persia returned under Philip, who 

I claimed the guardianship of the young king. 



360 



A HORRID MASSACRE. 



Upon this Lysias advised Antiochus to make 
peace with the Jews. The king was no 
sooner admitted into the city, than he broke 
the terms just made by pulling down the new 
wall of Judas, after which he retired to Anti- 
och, and recovered the capital from Philip. 
His triumph was brief, for Demetrius, the son 
of Seleucus IV. — whose rightful inheritance 
had been usurped by his uncle Antiochus 
Epiphanes — returned from Rome, where he 
had been a hostage, overthrew and put to 
death Antiochus and Lysias, and became 
king. Affairs now took a sudden turn. 

Swift Punishment. 

The new king adopted a more dangerous 
policy against the independence of Judaea 
than the invasion and vast armies of his pre- 
decessor. The looser and less patriotic Jews 
ill-brooked the severe government of the party 
of Judas. Many, perhaps, were weary of the 
constant warfare in which their valiant cham- 
pion was engaged- Menelaus, the renegade 
high-priest, had accompanied the army of 
Lysias, and endeavored to form a faction in 
his favor ; but, on some dissatisfaction, Lysias 
had sent him to Berea, where he was thrown 
into a tower of ashes, and suffocated — a 
fit punishment, it was said, for one who had 
polluted the altar fires and holy ashes of God's 
shrine. 

Onias, son of the Onias murdered by means 
of Menelaus, the heir of the priesthood, fled 
to Egypt, and Alcimus, or Jacimus, was raised 
to the high-priesthood. By reviving the title 
of high-priest, to the supreme authority, De- 
metrius hoped, if not to secure a dependent 
vassal in the government of Judaea, at least to 
sow discord among the insurgents. He sent 
Alcimus, supported by Bacchides, his ablest 
general, to claim the sacerdotal dignity. The 
zealots for the Law could not resist the title 
of the high-priest. Jerusalem submitted. But 
no sooner had Alcimus got the leaders into his 
power than he basely murdered sixty of 
them. 

Bacchides returned to Antioch, leaving the 
high-priest as governor ; while the indefati- 



gable Judas went through the cities of Judah 
rallying the patriots. Alcimus again repaired 
to Antioch for help ; and Nicanor, who was 
sent to restore him, was defeated by Judas 
at Capharsalama. He retired to the citadel of 
Zion, where his refusal to listen to the over- 
tures of the priests until Judas was delivered 
up to him, and his ferocious cruelties, reunited 
the patriots in resistance and prayer for his 
overthrow. A battle ensued at Adasa, near 
Beth-horon, where Judas gained his most 
glorious victory, on the 13th of Adar (end of 
February, b. c. 161), a day which was kept as 
a national festival. Nicanor was slain, and his 
head and hand were exposed as trophies at 
Jerusalem. The independence of Judaea was 
won, though it was not finally secured till 
after several years of contest, and the death of 
all the Maccabaean brothers. Meanwhile the 
land enjoyed a brief interval of rest. 

Death of Judas Maccahaeus. 

It is at this juncture that the name of Rome 
first appears in Jewish history. The imagi- 
nation of Judas was captivated by the suc- 
cesses she had gained against the Gauls and 
Spaniards, and especially over those Greek 
powers with which he was so fiercely strug- 
gling. He had heard of their defeats of Philip, 
Perseus, and Antiochus the Great, and of their 
power to set up and cast down kings ; but he 
seems to have been most attracted by their 
republican form of government. He sent to 
Rome Eupolemus the son of John, with Jason 
the son of Eleazar, to propose a league against 
Syria ; and the envoys brought back a letter, 
inscribed on brazen tablets, containing the 
articles of alliance between the Romans and 
the Jews. 

But before they reached Judaea, the career 
of Judas was closed ; gloriously, indeed, but 
in a manner which we can scarcely doubt 
that one of the old prophets would have 
regarded as a judgment for seeking strength 
from a heathen alliance, as the only error of 
his life. 

Demetrius had sent his whole force, under 
Bacchides, to restore Alcimus and avenge 



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361 



Nicanor. The treaty with Rome seems to 
have offended the extreme party of the As- 
sidaeans; and Judas had only three thousand 
men to oppose to the enemy's twenty thou- 
sand foot and two thousand horse. Their camp 
was at " Berea " (probably Beeroth), and his 
at "Eleasa." His men, terrified by the dis- 
parity of numbers, continued to desert, till 
only eight hundred remained. These urged 
Judas to fly, and wait for a better opportunity. 
His reply shows that prophetic instinct which 
has often warned a hero of coming death : 
" If our time be come, let us die manfully for 
our brethren, and let us not stain our honor! " 
He took post, with his chosen warriors, over 
against the right wing of the Syrians, where 
Bacchides commanded. He defeated this wing, 
the strength of the Syrian army, pursuing them 
to Azotus. But the Syrians on the left, scarcely 
meeting with opposition, fell upon the rear of 
the victorious Jews. The odds were over- 
whelming ; and the disaster was crowned by 
the death of Judas, whereupon his followers 
fled. His brothers, Jonathan and Simon, re- 
covered his body, and buried him in his father's 
sepulchre at Modin, amidst the lamentations 
of all Israel, as they cried, " How is the valiant 
man fallen that delivered Israel ! " 

A Patriot and Hero. 

As Adasa was the Marathon of the Jewish 
war of freedom, so Eleasa was its Thermopylae ; 
and, when Scripture history recovers its place 
in the literature of Christendom, the fame of 
Leonidas will no longer eclipse that of Judas 
Maccabaeus. His best eulogy is the simple 
Tecord of his deeds, of which his historian as- 
sures us that they were too many to be written. 
^'Among those lofty spirits," says Dean j 
Milman, " who have asserted the liberty of 
their native land against wanton and cruel op- 
pression, none have surpassed the most able I 
of the Maccabees in accomplishing a great end j 
with inadequate means ; none ever united more ' 
generous valor with a better cause ; " none, we 
may add, more completely gave God the 
glory. There is at least one worthy tribute to 
his honor, in the splendid oratorio of Handel. 



The triumph of Bacchides and the " impious 
faction " was aided by the distress of a ^reat 
famine and the friends of Judas were hunted 
down on every side. But, as before, this want of 
moderation compelled resistance. Jonathan, 
J surnamed Apphus (the wary), the fifth and 
I youngest son of Mattathias, was chosen 
leader, as the most warlike of the three sur- 
viving brothers ; Simon aiding him with his 
counsel. They established themselves in the 
wilderness of Tekoah, where their first ex- 
ploit was to avenge their eldest brother John 
(Jonathan), surnamed Gaddis, who was treach- 
erously killed by the Arabs, while convey- 
ing some of the effects of the patriots to 
the care of Nabathaeans. Incensed by this 
deed, Bacchides, on a Sabbath, attacked their 
position in the marshes of the Jordan ; but 
they escaped by swimming across the river, 
having slain 1 ,000 of the Syrians. 

Rival Rulers. 

Bacchides now occupied himself with forti- 
fying Jericho, Emmaus, Beth-horon, Bethel, 
and other strong cities in Judah, and he placed 
in them hostages from the chief families. Al- 
cimus had set to work with equal ardor to pull 
down the walls round the Temple, when he was 
struck with a palsy, and died in great torment. 
Upon this, Bacchides returned to Antioch, and 
the land had rest for two years. At last Bac- 
chides gave up the enterprise. Before he re- 
treated, however, he accepted the invitation of 
Jonathan to make peace; restored his prison- 
ers and hostages ; and promised not again to 
molest the Jews, a promise which he kept. 
Jonathan established himself at the fortress of 
Michmash, so renowned in the history of his 
great namesake, the son of Saul. There he 
governed the people, and " destroyed the un- 
godly men out of Israel." This state of things 
lasted for about six years. 

The claim of Alexander Balas, a pretended 
son of Antiochus Epiphanes, to the crown of 
Syria, led to a new advancement of Jonathan 
and the Jews who were courted by both 
rivals. Demetrius wrote first, authorizing 
Jonathan to raise an army, and commanding 



362 



A PRIEST-PRINCE. 



that the hostages in the tower of Zion should 
be delivered to him. This was at once done, 
and Jonathan than began to repair the forti- 
fications of Jerusalem. Meanwhile all of the 
hostile party fled from the fortified cities, ex- 
cept Bethsura. 

Next came the letter from Alexander, 
nominating Jonathan to the high-priesthood, 
which had been vacant since the death of 
Alcimus, and sending him a purple robe and 
a crown of gold. Jonathan assumed these I 
insignia at the feast of Tabernacles, and thus 
began the line of the priest-princes of the 
Asmonaean family. Demetrius, in despair, 
now made new and unbounded offers ; free- 
dom for all the Jews of his kingdom from 
tribute, from the duties on salt, and from crcwn- 
taxes ; and exemption from the payment of the 
third of the seed and the half of the produce 
of the fruit-trees. The three governments of 
Apherema, Lydda, and Ramathem, including 
the port of Ptolemais, were to be taken from 
Samaria and annexed to Judaea forever, under 
the sole government of the high-priest. An 
army of 30,000 Jews was to be raised at the 
king's expense, to garrison the cities and act 
as a police. Jerusalem, with its territory, 
was declared holy, free from tithe and tribute, 
and a place of asylum. 

Terrible Destruction. 

A large annual sum was promised for the 
works of the Temple and the fortifications of 
the city, and the revenues of Ptolemais were 
assigned for the ordinary expense of the 
sanctuary. All Jewish captives throughout 
the Syrian empire were to be set free, and all 
the feasts were to be holidays for them. More 
moderate offers might have been a better 
proof of good faith. The Jews had more 
confidence in Alexander, who was, moreover, 
favored by Rome ; and, after he had defeated 
and killed Demetrius, b. c. 150, he gave Jona- 
than a magnificent reception at Ptolemais, on 
his marriage with Cleopatra, the daughter of 
Ptolemy Philometor. 

Three years later, the younger Demetrius 
(who afterwards resigned as Demetrius II. 



Nicator) attempted to recover his father's 
kingdom ; and his adherent Apollonius, 
governor of Ccelesyria, advanced to Jamnia 
and sent a challenge to Jonathan. A battle 
was fought near Azotus, in which the infantry 
of Jonathan stood firm against the Syrian 
cavalry, who attacked them on all sides, till the 
fresh forces of his brother Simon routed the 
wearied horsemen, who fled to the temple of 
Dagon at Azotus. Jonathan burned the city 
and temple, with the men in it to the number 
of 8,000; and after receiving the submission 
of Ascalon he returned to Jerusalem. 

A new enemy now took the field against 
Alexander, in the person of his father-in-law, 
Ptolemy, who marched into Syria, professedly 
as a friend. Jonathan met him at Joppa, and 
was favorably received, in spite of the accusa- 
tions of his enemies. We need not here relate 
the alliance of Ptolemy with the young Deme- 
trius, nor the defeat and death of Alexander, 
followed by the death of Ptolemy and the 
accession of Demetrius II. Nicator to the 
throne of Syria. 

Jonathan's political tact not only brought 
him safe through this revolution, but gained 
new advantages for his country. During the 
confusion, he had laid siege to the tower on 
Zion, for which act his enemies accused him to- 
the new king, who summoned him to Ptole- 
mais. Leaving orders to press the siege, he 
went with a body of priests and elders, 
carrying splendid presents. He gained great 
favor with Demetrius, who confirmed him in 
the high-priesthood ; and a present of 300 
talents to the king secured for Judaea most of 
the privileges which had been promised by 
Demetrius I. 

The unpopularity of Demetrius, in conse- 
quence of his disbanding the Syrian troops 
and replacing them by mercenaries whom he 
had brought with him from Crete, opened the 
door to the schemes of Tryphon, who claimed 
the throne for Antiochus, son of Alexander 
Balas. Jonathan seized the opportunity to 
obtain from Demetrius a promise of the evac- 
uation of the long-contested tower, and sent 
him a body of 3,000 Jews, who had saved his 




JONATHAN DESTROYING THE TEMPLE OF DAGON. 1 Ma.CC. X. 84. 



(363) 



364 



END OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 



life in a tumult at Antioch. But the immediate 
danger was no sooner past than Demetrius 
became estranged from Jonathan, and failed 
to fulfil his promises. 

The defeat of Demetrius by Tryphon placed 
Antiochus VI. Theos on the throne b. c. 144. 
Jonathan was confirmed in all his honors, and 
his brother Simon was made captain-general 
of the country from the Ladder of Tyre to the 
borders of Egypt. Gaza and Bethsura were 
reduced, and Jonathan defeated the partisans 
of Demetrius near the lake Gennesareth, and 
again in the region of Hamath, and advanced 
as far as Damascus; while Simon secured 
Ascalon and took Joppa. Having renewed the 
alliance with Rome, and also, if we may trust 
•our leading authority, with the Lacedaemo- 
nians, Jonathan summoned the elders to fortify 
the cities of Judaea, to heighten the walls of 
Jerusalem, and to block out the tower on Zion 
by a great mound from the city and the 
Temple. They were engaged on this work 
when Tryphon, who was plotting a usurpation, 
and regarded Jonathan as his chief obstacle, 
enticed him to Ptolemais, with a guard of only 
i.OOO men, who were slain, and Jonathan was 
inade prisoner. Quick results followed. 

Jonathan Put to Death. 

The enemies of the Jews now rose in every 
quarter; but Simon was acknowledged as 
leader, and marched to Adida to meet Try- 
phon, who was advancing to invade Judaea. 
When Tryphon found with whom he had to 
do, he opened negotiations. Pretending that 
Jonathan had been seized for money due to 
the king, he promised to release him on the 
payment of 100 talents of silver and the deliv- 
ery of two of his sons as hostages. Simon ex- 
pected treachery ; but, lest his motives should 
be mistaken, he accepted the terms. 

Tryphon verified his fears ; and, after being 
foiled by Simon in all his attempts to advance 
to Jerusalem and relieve the Syrian garrison, 
he marched into Gilead, still carrying Jonathan 
with him, and killed and buried him at Bas- 
•cama. On his retiring to Antioch, Simon re- 
moved thebones of Jonathan to Modin, where 



he built a stately monument, with seven obe- 
lisks, for Mattathias, his wife, and their five 
sons ; the whole forming a sea-mark for pass- 
ing ships, which could be seen from a distance. 

Independence Secured. 

Simon, surnamed Thassi, the second of son 
Mattathias, and the last of the five brethren, 
was high-priest from b. c. 143 to b. c. 1 35. He 
was not the least glorious for the vigor and wis- 
dom of his administration. He openly espoused 
the party of Demetrius against Tryphon, and 
received from that monarch a full recognition 
of the independence of his country. Instead, 
therefore, of interfering in foreign affairs, he 
directed his whole attention to the consolida- 
tion and internal security of the Jewish king- 
dom. He sent an embassage, which was hon- 
orably received at Rome ; he fortified Bethsura 
on the Idumaean frontier, and Joppa, the great 
port of Judaea; reduced Gazara; and at length 
broke off the last and heaviest link of the Syrian 
fetters, by taking, by the aid of famine, the 
tower of Jerusalem. He at once demolished 
the tower, and then, with incredible labor, 
levelled the hill on which it stood, so that it 
no longer commanded the hill of the Temple. 
Simon executed the law with great impartiality 
and vigor ; repaired the Temple, and restored 
the sacred vessels. 

The wasted country began, under his pru- 
dent administration, to enjoy its ancient fer- 
tility. " The ancient men sat in all the streets, 
communing together of good things, and the 
young men put on glorious and warlike ap- 
parel." While his internal government was 
just and firm, he opened up a commerce with 
Europe through the port of Joppa, and re- 
newed the treaties with Rome and Lacedse- 
mon. The letters in favor of the Jews, ad- 
dressed by the Roman senate to the states 
and islands of Greece and Asia Minor, and to 
the great potentates of Asia, including even 
the Parthian Arsaces, are a striking evidence 
of the wide dispersion of the Jewish race, even 
in those times, and of the all-commanding 
policy of Rome, which was reaching out to 
compass the world. 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



365 



In the meantime Demetrius the rightful sov- 
ereign of Syria, had been taken prisoner in 
an expedition against the Parthians. Antio- 
chus VII. Sidetes, his brother, now levied an 
army to dispossess the usurper and murderer, 
Tryphon, whom he quickly defeated, and be- 
sieged in Dora. Simon openly espoused his 
party, but Antiochus considered Simon's as- 
sistance dearly purchased at the price of the 
independence of Palestine, and, above all, the 
possession of the important ports of Joppa and 
Gazara. Athenobius, his ambassador, sent to 
demand tribute and indemnification, was struck 
with astonishment at the riches and splendor 
of Simon's palace ; and on the Jewish sover- 
eign refusing all submission, and only offering 
a price for the possession of Joppa, Antiochus 
sent his general, Cendebeus, to invade the 
country, and thus began the last war which 
the Maccabees had to wage with Syria. Simon, 
now grown old, entrusted the command of his 
forces to Judas and John Hyrcanus, his sons. 
They defeated Cendebeus and took Azotus, 
and returned to Jerusalem in triumph. 

A Renowned High-Priest. 

But the Maccabaean race seemed destined 
to perish by violence. Ptolemy, son of Abu- 
bus, the son-in-law of Simon, under a secret 
understanding with Antiochus, king of Syria, 
formed a conspiracy to usurp the sovereignty 
of Judaea. At a banquet in Jericho, he con- 
trived basely to assassinate Simon and his 
elder son ; and at the same time endeavored 
to surprise the younger son, John Hyrcanus, 
in Gazara ; but John managed to escape, and 
went at once to Jerusalem, where he was 
unanimously proclaimed high-priest and ruler 
of the country, and began at once to show his 
illustrious qualities. 

John Hyrcanus was the second son of 
Simon, under whom he had been commander 
of the army. He inherited the vigor and 
ability of his family, and was high-priest for 
thirty years. His first act was to march 
against Jericho, to revenge the base murder 
of his father and brother ; but Ptolemy had in 
his power the mother and brethren of Hyrca- 



nus. He shut himself up in a fortress, and 
exposed his captives on the walls, scourging 
them, and threatening to put them to death. 
The noble-minded woman exhorted her son, 
notwithstanding her own danger, to revenge 
his father's murder ; but Hyrcanus hesitated ; 
the siege was protracted ; and, at length, 
according to the improbable reason assigned 
by Josephus, the year being a Sabbatic year, 
entirely raised the siege. 

Ptolemy fled to Philadelphia ; of his subse- 
quent fate we know nothing. The rapid 
movements of Hyrcanus had disconcerted the 
confederacy between the assassin and Anti- 
ochus. Still, however, the Syrian army over- 
ran the whole country. Hyrcanus was be- 
sieged in Jerusalem, where he was reduced to 
the last extremity by famine. He had been 
compelled to the hard measure of expelling" 
from the city all those, the young and old, of 
both sexes, who were incapable of contribut- 
ing to the defence. The besiegers refused to 
let them pass ; and many perished miserably 
in the ditches and on the out-works. 

But Antiochus proved a moderate and 
generous enemy ; on the feast of Tabernacles 
he conceded a week's truce, and furnished the 
besieged with victims for sacrifice, bulls with 
golden horns, and gold and silver vessels for 
the Temple service. He was gratefully called 
Antiochus Eusebes (the pious). Finally he 
concluded a peace, of which the terms, though 
hard, were better than Hyrcanus, in the low 
condition to which he was reduced, could 
fairly expect. The country was to be reduced 
to a tributary state, and the fortifications of 
Jerusalem were to be dismantled. The king" 
treated Hyrcanus with favor, and summoned 
him to attend him on the expedition which he 
made against Parthia, ostensibly to release, his 
imprisoned brother Demetrius Nicator. 

Hyrcanus returned before the defeat which 
lost Antiochus his throne and life. Demetrius 
escaped, and recovered the throne of Antioch. 
Hyrcanus seized the glorious opportunity of 
throwing off the yoke of Syria, and the Jewish 
kingdom regained its independence, which was 
never again lost until it was compelled to ac- 



366 



FAMILY MURDERS. 



knowledge the Roman dominion — first under 
the Asmonaean dynasty, then under the house 
of Herod. 

The Syrian monarchy being distracted by 
rival competitors for the throne, the prudent 
and enterprising Hyrcanus lost no opportunity 
of extending his territory and increasing his 
power. He took Samega and Medaba, in the 
trans-Jordanic region. But his greatest tri- 
umph, that which raised him the highest in 
the opinion of his zealous countrymen, was 
the capture of Sichem or Samaria, and the 
total destruction of the rival temple on Mount 
Gerizim. It was levelled to the earth ; not a 
vestige remained. The sanctuary on Mount 
Zion thus regained its pre-eminence in the 
Holy Land, and the Jews once more imposed 
upon the Samaritans the sacred law, " that 
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to 
worship." 

A Remarkable Triumph. 

The reduction of Samaria was effected by 
Aristobulus and Antigonus, the sons of John 
Hyrcanus, in the twenty-sixth year of his rule. 
The city of Samaria was utterly destroyed, and 
its site converted into pools of water from its 
own abundant springs. Most of Galilee sub- 
mitted to the authority of the high-priest, who 
again renewed the alliance of his family with 
Rome. Of his buildings at Jerusalem, the 
most important was the Tower of Baris, at the 
northwest corner of the enclosure of the 
Temple. It was afterward the Antonia of 
Herod. 

Thus the Holy Land, under the name of 
Judaea, was restored to its ancient limits, and 
the people enjoyed their worship, under a race 
of priest-princes, who held their authority in 
submission to the Divine law. But no human 
affairs ever reached the climax of prosperity 
without taking the downward turn; and it was 
taken with frightful rapidity by the successors 
of John Hyrcanus, who displayed a personal 
ambition unknown to the pure patriotism of 
the Maccabees, and were soon engaged in fierce 
contests for supreme power. Then began those 
family murders, which form the most horrid 



feature of oriental despotism, and which 
reached their climax under Herod. 

One chief source of these evils was the rup- 
ture of the religious unity of the nation, by the 
rise of the opposing sects of the Pharisees and 
Sadducees, which, springing from a doubtful 
origin, and from causes long at work, had be- 
come established during the government of 
John Hyrcanus. Toward the end of his reign, 
Hyrcanus, provoked by an insult from one of 
the leading Pharisees, joined the" party of the 
Sadducees, a step which left a heritage of 
trouble to his successors. " The cause of this 
rupture," says Dean Milman, "is singularly 
characteristic of Jewish manners. During a 
banquet, at which the chiefs of the ruling sect 
were present, Hyrcanus demanded their judg- 
ment on his general conduct and administra- 
tion of affairs, which he professed to have regu- 
lated by the great principle of justice (the 
' righteousness ' which was the watchword of 
the Pharisees), and by strict adherence to the 
tenets of their sect. 

" The Pharisees, with general acclamation, 
testified their approval of all his proceedings; 
one voice alone, that of Eleazar, interrupted the 
general harmony: — ' If you are a just man, 
abandon the high-priesthood, for which you 
are disqualified by the illegitimacy of your 
birth.' The indignant Hyrcanus demanded the 
trial of Eleazar for defamation. By the influ- 
ence of the Pharisees he was shielded, and es- 
caped with scourging and imprisonment. Hyr- 
canus, enraged at this unexpected hostility, 
listened to the representations of Jonathan, a 
Sadducee, who accused the rival faction of a 
conspiracy to overawe the sovereign power; 
and from that time he entirely alienated him- 
self from the Pharisaic councils." 

John Hyrcanus died exactly sixty years, or 
the space of two complete generations, after 
his grandfather Mattathias. As he began a 
new generation of the Maccabaean house, so was 
he the first who escaped the violent end to 
which his father and uncles had succumbed. 
His death marks the transition from the theo- 
cratic commonwealth, under the Maccabaean 
leaders, to the Asmonaean kingdom, which was 



THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 



367 



established by his son Judas or Aristobulus, 
whose Greek name is but too significant of the 
Grecian character of the new era. 

The only two of the first generation of the 
Maccabaean family who did not attain to the 
leadership of their countrymen like their broth- 
ers, yet shared their fate — Eleazar by a noble 
act of self-devotion, John, apparently the eldest 
brother, by treachery. The sacrifice of the 
family was complete ; and probably history of- 
fers no parallel to the undaunted courage with 
which such a band dared to face death, one by 
by one, in the maintenance of a holy cause. 
The result was worthy of the sacrifice. The 
Maccabees inspired a subject-people with inde- 
pendence ; they found a few personal follow- 
ers and they left a nation. 

Contending- for the Holy City. 

The great outlines of the Maccabaean con- 
test, which are somewhat hidden in the annals 
thus briefly epitomized, admit of being traced 
with fair distinctness, though many points 
must always remain obscure, from our igno- 
rance of the numbers and distribution of the 
Jewish population, and of the general condi- 
tion of the people at the time. The disputed 
■succession to the Syrian throne, B.C. 153, was 
the political turning-point of the struggle, 
which may thus be divided into two great 
periods. During the first period the pacriots 
maintained their cause with varying success 
-against the whole strength of Syria : during 
the second they were courted by rival fac- 
tions, and their independence was acknowl- 
edged from time to time, though pledges 
given in times of danger were often broken 
when the danger was over. 

The paramount importance of Jerusalem is 
conspicuous throughout the whole war. The 
loss of the Holy City reduced the patriotic 
party at once to the condition of mere gue- 
rilla bands, issuing from "the mountains" or 
*' the wilderness," to make sudden forays on 
the neighboring towns. This was the first 
aspect of the war ; and the scene of the early 
exploits of Judas was the hill-country to the 
north-east of Jerusalem, from which he drove 



the invading armies at the famous battle-fields 
of Beth-horon and Emmaus (Nicopolis). 

The occupation of Jerusalem closed the first 
act of the war, B.C. 166; and after this Judas 
made rapid attacks on every side — in Idumaea, 
Amnion, Gilead, Galilee — but he made no 
permanent settlement in the countries which he 
ravaged. Bethsura was fortified as a defence 
of Jerusalem on the south ; but the authority 
of Judas seems to have been limited to the 
immediate neighborhood of Jerusalem, though 
the influence of his name extended more 
widely. 

On the death of Judas, the patriots were 
reduced to as great distress as at their first 
rising ; and as Bacchides held the keys of the 
" mountain of Ephraim," they were forced to 
find a refuge in the lowlands near Jericho, 
and after some slight successes Jonathan was 
allowed to settle at Michmash undisturbed, 
though the whole country remained abso- 
lutely under the sovereignty of Syria. So far 
it seemed that little had been gained, when 
the contest between Alexander Balas and De- 
metrius I. opened a new period. Jonathan 
was empowered to raise troops ; the Jewish 
hostages were restored ; many of the fortresses 
were abandoned; and appareudy a definite 
district was assigned to the government of 
the high-priest. The former unfruitful con- 
flicts at length produced their full harvest. 

Patriots and Martyrs. 

The defeat at Eleasa, like the Swiss St. 
Jacob, had shown the worth of men who 
could face all odds, and no price seemed too 
great to secure their aid. When the Jewish 
leaders had once obtained legitimate power, 
they proved able to maintain it, though their 
general success was checkered by some re- 
verses. The solid power of the national party 
was seen by the slight effect which was pro- 
duced by the treacherous murder of Jonathan. 
Simon was able at once to occupy his place 
and carry out his plans. The Syrian garrison 
was withdrawn from Jerusalem ; Joppa was 
occupied as a sea-port ; and " four govern- 
ments " — probably the central parts of the 



368 



A ROMAN KING. 



old kingdom of Judah, with three districts 
taken from Samaria — were subjected to the 
sovereign authority of the high-priest. 

The war, thus brought to a noble issue, if 
less famous, is not less glorious than any of 
those in which a few brave men have success- 
fully maintained the cause of freedom or re- 
ligion against overpowering might. The an- 
swer of Judas to those who counselled retreat 
was as true-hearted as that of Leonidas ; and 
the exploits of his followers will bear favor- 
able comparison with those of the Swiss, or 
the Dutch, or the Americans. 

It would be easy to point out parallels in 
Maccabaean history to the noblest traits of 
patriots and martyrs in other countries ; but it 
may be enough here to claim for the contest 
the attention which it rarely receives. It 
seems, indeed, as if the indifference of classical 
writers were perpetuated in our own days, 
though there is no struggle — not even the 
wars of Joshua or David — which is more pro- 
foundly interesting to the Christian student. 
For it is not only in their victory over ex- 
ternal difficulties that the heroism of the Mac- 
cabees is conspicuous ; their real success was 
as much imperilled by internal divisions as by 
foreign force. They had to contend on the 
one hand against open and subtle attempts to 
introduce Greek customs, and on the other 
against an extreme Pharisaic party, which is 
seen from time to time opposing their coun- 
sels. And it was from Judas and those whom 
he inspired that the old faith received its last 
development and final impress before the 
coming of our Lord. 

The history of the Herodian family presents 
one side of the last development of the Jewish 
nation. The evils already seen found an un- 
expected embodiment in the tyranny of a 



foreign usurper. Religion was adopted as a 
policy; and the Grecian designs of Antiochus 
Epiphanes were carried out, at least in their 
spirit, by men who professed to observe the 
Law. 

Side by side with the spiritual " kingdom of 
God," proclaimed by John the Baptist, and 
founded by Christ, a kingdom of the world 
was established, which in its external splendor 
recalled the traditional magnificence of Solo- 
mon. 

Ancestry of the Herods. 

Various accounts are given of the ancestry 
of the Herods ; but, neglecting the exagger- 
ated statements of friends and enemies, it 
seems certain that they were of Idumaean 
descent, a fact which is indicated by the forms 
of some of the names which were retained in 
the family. But though aliens by race, the 
Herods were Jews in faith. The Idumaeans 
had been conquered and brought over to 
Judaism by John Hyrcanus ; and from the 
time of their conversion they remained con- 
stant to their new religion, looking upon 
Jerusalem as their mother city, and claiming 
for themselves the name of Jews. 

The general policy of the whole Herodian 
family, though modified by the personal char- 
acteristics of the successive rulers,, was the 
same. It centred in the endeavor to found a 
great and independent kingdom, in which the 
power of Judaism should subserve the state. 
The protection of Rome was in the first in- 
stance a necessity ; but the designs of Herod 
I. and Agrippa I. point to an independent 
eastern empire as their end, and not to a 
mere subject monarchy. At this moment He 
appeared of whom it was prophesied that the 
government should be upon His shoulder, and 
His kingdom should never end. 




THE NATIVITY. 



Advent of Christ. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 




come now to the impor- 
tant period in the Bible 
narrative which com- 
memorates the life of 
**' Christ. The sublime 
prophecies which had 
gone before all point- 
ed to the " fulness of 
^ave sign of the appear- 
ing of One who should outrank the 
grand old patriarchs and heroes of 
the earlier ages. His is the one ma- 
jestic figure, which, in resplendent 
glory, gives immortal interest to the 
sacred annals, and now, after waning 
centuries, fills the eye of the world. 
The time when the history of Christ com- 
mences was that period of civil quiet when the 
Romans had subjected nearly all the known 
world to their power; and their empire — the 
widest the world had ever seen — extended from 
the Tigris to the Atlantic, and from the North- 
ern ocean to Mount Atlas and the borders 
of Ethiopia. The various nations comprising 
this mighty empire had ceased their struggles 
for independence, and their contentions among 
themselves, and the whole lay in the stillness 
of exhausted strength under the iron yoke of 
imperial Rome. Most of these nations were 
under the direct rule of governors sent from 
24 



Rome ; but a few were allowed the shadow of 
independence, inasmuch as the internal govern- 
ment was administered by native princes tribu- 
tary to Rome. 

Among these comparatively favored nations 
was Judea, which was at this time governed by 
a king of its own, called Herod, and surnamed 
the Great. The family of Herod was of recent 
importance in the country, and had risen upon 
the downfall of the Asmonsean dynasty, founded 
by the illustrious Maccabees. Its prosperity 
began with Antipater, the father of Herod, who 
was of Idumaean (Edomitish) origin, and, under 
himself and his son, owed its growth to the 
patronage and favor of the successive masters 
of the Roman world, Julius, Anthony, Augus- 
tus ; the last of whom seems to have enter- 
tained a personal liking for Herod, to whom 
he allowed as much power as was perhaps 
compatible with his position as a vassal of the 
empire. 

The repose in which the world lay at this 
time was somewhat animated by a very general 
expectation of some great event — of the com- 
ing of some mysterious personage, who was to 
set right the wrong things of the world, and 
subdue all things to his power. The Jews 
claimed a peculiar property in him, knowing 
from their prophecies that the Messiah was to 
arise from among themselves, out of the house 

(369) ' 



370 



MARY VISITED BY AN ANGEL. 



of David. But the expectation was not con- 
fined to them ; for there were abroad the 
whisperings of mysterious oracles, which may 
be traced in the Roman Virgil's ode, entitled 
Pollio, where we recognize them as reflected 
from the inspired strains of the Hebrew 
prophets. 

And He, for whom the earth was thus wait- 
ing, came — and men knew Him not — knew 
Him not then, because He appeared not with 
the visible glories and conquering powers 
which all expected ; but came in poverty and 
lowliness, " a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief." 

But the Messiah was not to enter without a 
harbinger the world he came to redeem. The 
turn of an old priest called Zacharias arrived 
to enter the sanctuary, and to offer incense 
there in behalf of the people, who remained 
in prayer outside. While employed in this 
sacred service, an angel appeared suddenly 
before him, and saluted him as the parent of 
the appointed harbinger, on whom the name 
of John and the abstinence of a Nazarite were 
even then imposed. The astonished priest, 
knowing that he and his wife Elizabeth had 
lived childless to old age, could not conceal 
his bewilderment and doubt, and mourned his 
wish for some sign from which he might gather 
confidence. To punish this incredulity, the 
required sign was made somewhat penal, and 
it was declared that he should be speechless 
for a season. Accordingly he went forth dumb 
to the wondering people, and he remained 
dumb until the things of which he had doubted 
were accomplished. 

About six months after this, the same angel 
appeared in Nazareth, an obscure town of 
Galilee, to a virgin named Mary, and hailed 
her as the destined mother of the Saviour of 
the world. The pious virgin, however, startled 
at so strange a visitant and his momentous 
announcement, ventured to hint a doubt natu- 
rally suggested by her unmarried condition ; 
but she was assured that this immortal birth 
was not to be according to the ordinary course 
of nature, but would owe its origin to the 
" power of the Most High." 



She therefore bowed her head in pious sub- 
mission, saying, " Behold the handmaid of the 
Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word, 
even as thou hast said." When we consider 
the misconception under which even the 
chosen disciples of Jesus labored as to the 
real objects of His mission, it seems very pos- 
sible that Mary did not at this time fully un- 
derstand the greatness of her own destiny. 
She knew, however — she could not but under- 
stand — that her promised son was to be the 
long foretold and earnestly desired Messiah, 
" the desire of all nations ; " and that her lot 
was that which had been one of intense desire 
to the daughters of Israel in past and present 
generations. But the vastness of the idea 
which was presented to her, the magnificence 
of the event, awed her spirit, and kept down 
the joyfulness that afterwards arose. 

Marriage Customs. 

It was a custom among the Jews for dam- 
sels to be betrothed, or legally pledged, to 
husbands for a long while, a year or much 
more, before they were actually united. Now 
Mary, although not yet actually married, was 
under betrothment to a pious man of the same 
place, Joseph by name, and a carpenter by 
trade. Such betrothal was in the view of the 
Jewish law regarded as partaking so far of the 
nature of an actual marriage that any unfaith- 
fulness to the engagement was regarded and 
punished. 

When, therefore, this good man discovered 
that his betrothed was anticipating mother- 
hood, his mind was filled with trouble both on 
her account and on his own. He was reluc- 
tant to make Mary a public example, and to 
bring upon her the harsh penalties of the law; 
but was more inclined to find some quiet way 
of dissolving the engagement between them, 
and of thus releasing her from the worst 
consequences of her supposed transgression. 
While these thoughts filled Joseph's mind, he 
was unexpectedly relieved by a visit from the 
angel, who made known to him the real cir- 
cumstance, and encouraged him to complete 
his engagement with Mary, by taking her 




THE ANNUNCIATION. Luke i. 28. 



(371) 



372 



ELIZABETH CONGRATULATED. 



home as his wife and thus afford her protec- 
tion. This was accordingly done, and it was 
thus that Jesus came to be considered the son 
of Joseph. 

It happened that Elizabeth, the wife of 
Zacharias, was a cousin of Mary, and when 
Mary heard that her aged relative was likely 
to become at length a mother, she went to 
congratulate her upon an event which was al- 
ways a matter of great gladness to Hebrew 
women. When they met, circumstances arose 
which enabled the mother of John the Baptist 
to recognize in Mary the mother of one greater 
than he; and her ardent recognition of this 
fact kindled in turn the happy virgin, who 
broke forth in that beautiful chant, " My soul 
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath 
rejoiced in God my Saviour," which is not the 
less — which is much the more, touching to us, 
from its being, in a great degree, composed 
from recollections of the Psalms and of the 
song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. We 
thus gather how well the mother of Jesus was 
versed in the Sacred Scripture ; for her words 
are the outpouring of a mind thoroughly im- 
bued with the ideas and phrases of the proph- 
ets and poets of the Old Testament. 

The Song- of Praise. 

The fact of this visit, and the relationship 
from which it arose, have suggested the prob- 
ability that Christ and John were known to 
each other in childhood. There is probability 
in the conjecture. 

In due time Elizabeth gave birth to a son. 
The father still continued speechless ; but on 
the eighth day, when the child was to be cir- 
cumcised and named, some difficulty was felt 
about the name, which it was the usual prov- 
ince of the father to bestow. The neighbors 
were disposed to call him Zacharias, after his 
parent ; on which the father took a tablet and 
wrote, " His name is John," being the name 
which had before been given by the angel. 
On this his dumbness passed away, and he 
broke forth into an exulting hymn, praising 
God thac the long-expected time of the Mes- 
siah was come, and that his son was destined 



to be His prophet and forerunner. That 
Zacharias so readily apprehended the position 
which his son was to take is explained by the 
! fact that the Jews generally expected that the 
I Messiah was to be preceded by a dignified 
harbinger. This expectation was founded 
upon passages in the prophets, which also led 
to a prevalent notion that this forerunner was 
j to be no other than Elijah the Tishbite in per- 
son ; although some were content to expect 
; one equal to that great prophet in power, and 
endued with the same spirit. 

The Roman emperor, not long after this, 
issued a decree for a general registration or 
census to be taken ; and, according to the 
policy observed on such occasions, the decree 
required every one to be registered in his pa- 
ternal city. This obliged Joseph and Mary 
to travel to Bethlehem, to which, being of the 
house and lineage of David, they belonged. 
The village being full of people, they were 
compelled to take up their lodging in the 
stables which run behind the eastern inns or 
caravanseries, the lodging-room being already 
occupied. 

Here, among the beasts of the stall, was 
born the Saviour of the world ; and here, when 
he had been wrapped in swaddling-clothes, a 
manger was made to serve for his cradle. 

This was the greatest event the world had 
ever seen — for it was the coming of its Re- 
deemer ; but it occurred, and might have 
passed as a common occurrence on the earth 
— the birth of a son to a humble pair — had 
not the angels of God taken notice of it. There 
were abroad that night in the fields around 
Bethlehem shepherds keeping their flocks ; for 
in the eastern countries, where there are no 
enclosures, flocks must needs be watched by 
shepherds night and day. They were aroused 
from their half-slumbering watch by a sudden 
radiance which shone around them from the 
! presence of an angel, whose appearance filled 
: them with dread. But they were reassured by 
the glad and cheerful voice with which he an- 
nounced the glad tidings of great joy: " Unto 
j you is born this day, in the city of David, a 
| Saviour — who is Christ, the Lord." 




(373) 



374 



THE ANGELIC CHORUS. 



There was not a man, woman, or child in 
Israel who was not familiar with the general 
expectation of such a personage. The shep- 
herds there had not the slightest difficulty in 
understanding this joyous intimation. And 
where were they to seek this greatest of 
woman born? They were told to seek him, 



" Glory to God 

peace, good-will towards men." 

The shepherds thought no more of their 
flocks, but hastened away to Bethlehem, and 
having found the infant lying in a manger, as 
the angel had described, they made known all 
that they had seen and heard. Many won- 




NAME ON THE 



not in regal palaces or priestly courts, nor 
lapped in splendor in the mansions of the 
great, but — ■" Ye shall find the babe wrapped 
in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger." 
And immediately there gathered around the 
angel a multitude of the heavenly host, who 
broke forth in praise to God for his love to 
man, and proclaiming in exulting chants — 



dered, but most, even those who wondered, 
let the matter pass from their mind, till some 
thirty or forty years after, when the history of 
"the prophet of Nazareth" became a matter 
of general talk, and then probably some old 
people called to mind the circumstances which 
attended the birth of the holy child at Bethle- 
hem. Mary, now a blessed mother, wondered 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 



'575 



also ; but she forgot nothing — "she pondered 
these things in her heart." 

One mile from Bethlehem is a little plain, 
in which, under a grove of olives, stands the 
bare and neglected chapel known by the name 
of "the Angel to the Shepherds." It is built 
over the traditional site of the fields where, 
in the beautiful language of Luke — more ex- 
quisite than any idyll to Christian ears — " there 
were shepherds keeping watch over their flock 
by night, when, lo, the angel of the Lord came 
upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone 
round about them," and to their happy ears 
were uttered the good tidings of great joy. 

The associations of our Lord's nativity 
were all of the humblest character, and the 
very scenery of His birthplace was connected 
with memories of poverty and toil. On that 
night, indeed, it seemed as though the heavens 
must burst to disclose their radiant minstrel- 
sies ; and the stars, and the feeding sheep, and 
the " light and sound in the darkness and still- 
ness," and the rapture of faithful hearts, com- 
bine to furnish us with a picture painted in the 
colors of heaven. 

But in the brief and thrilling verses of the 
evangelist we are not told that those angel 
songs were heard by any except the wakeful 
shepherds of an obscure village ; and those 
shepherds, amid the chill dews of a winter 
night, were guarding their flocks from the 
wolf and the robber, in fields where Ruth, 
their Saviour's ancestress, had gleaned, sick at 
heart, amid the alien corn, and David, the de- 
spised and youngest son of a numerous family, 
had followed the sheep. 

It might have been expected that Christian 
piety would mark the spot by splendid me- 
morials, and enshrine the rude grotto of the 
shepherds in the marbles and mosaics of some 
stately church. But, instead of this, the Chapel 
of the Herald Angel is a mere rude crypt ; and 
as the traveller descends down the broken 
steps, which lead from the olive-grove into its 
dim recess, he can hardly persuade himself 
that he is in a consecrated place. Yet a half- 
unccnscious sense of fitness has, perhaps, con- 
tributed to this apparent neglect. The poverty 



of the chapel harmonizes well with the hum- 
ble toil of those whose radiant vision it is in- 
tended to commemorate. 

As already stated, the shepherds, when those 
angel songs had ceased to break the starry 
silence, started for Bethlehem. Their way 
would lead them up the terraced hill, and 
through the moonlit gardens, until they 
reached the summit of the gray ridge on 
which the little town is built. On that sum- 
mit stood the village inn. The khan (or cara- 
vansary) of a Syrian village, at that day, was 
probably identical, in its appearance and ac- 
commodation, with those which still exist in 
modern Palestine. 

A Humble Birthplace. 

A khan is a low structure, built of rough 
stones, and generally only a single story in 
height. It consists for the most part of a 
square enclosure, in which the cattle can be 
tied up in safety for the night, and an arched 
recess for the accommodation of travellers. 
The paved floor of the recess is raised a foot 
or two above the level of the court-yard. A 
large khan — such, for instance, as that of which 
the ruins may still be seen at Khan Minyeh, 
on the shore of the Sea of Galilee — might con- 
tain a series of such recesses, which are, in 
fact, low small rooms with no front wall to 
them. They are, of course, perfectly public ; 
everything that takes place in them is visible 
to every person in the khan. They are also 
totally devoid of even the most ordinary furni- 
ture. The traveller may bring his own carpet 
if he likes, may sit cross-legged upon it for 
his meals, and may lie upon it at night. As 
a rule, too, he must bring his own food, attend 
to his own cattle, and draw his own water 
from the neighboring spring.. He would neither 
expect nor require attendance, and would pay 
only the merest trifle for the advantage of 
shelter, safety, and a floor on which to lie. 

But if he chanced to arrive late, and the 
floors were all occupied by earlier guests, he 
would have no choice but to be content with 
such accommodation as he could find in the 
court-yard below, and secure for himself and 



376 



THE STABLE AT BETHLEHEM. 



his family such small amount of cleanliness who happens to have been placed in similar 

and decency as are compatible with an unoc- circumstances 

cupied corner on the filthy area, which must In Palestine it not unfrequently happens that 

be shared with horses, mules, and camels, the entire khan, or at any rate the portion of 

The litter, the closeness, the unpleasant smell it in which the animals are housed, is one of 




THE ANGEL APPEARING 



of the crowded animals, the unwelcome intru- 
sion of the pariah dogs, the necessary society 
of the very lowest hangers-on of the caravan- 
sary, are adjuncts to such a position which can 
only be realized by any traveller in the East 



those innumerable caves which abound in the 
limestone rocks of its central hills. Such 
seems to have been the case at the little town 
of Bethlehem-Ephratah, in the land of Judah. 
Justin Martyr, the apologist, who, from his 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 



377 



birth at Shechem, was familiar with Palestine, 
and who lived less than a century after the 
time of Christ, places the scene of the nativity 
in a cave. This is, indeed, the ancient and 
constant tradition both of the Eastern and the 
Western Churches, and it is one of the few to 
which, though unrecorded in the gospel his- 
tory, we may attach a reasonable probability. 

Over this cave has risen the Church and 
Convent of the Nativity, and it was in a cave 
close beside it that one of the most learned, 
eloquent, and holy of the fathers of the 
church — that great St. Jerome, to whom we 
owe the received Latin translation of the Bible 
— spent thirty of his declining years in study, 
and fasting, and prayer. 

Guided by the lamp which usually swings 
from the centre of a rope hung across the 
entrance of the khan, the shepherds made their 
way to the inn of Bethlehem. The fancy of 
poet and painter has revelled in the imaginary 
glories of the scene. They have sung of the 
'" bright harnessed angels" who hovered there, 
and of the stars lingering beyond their time to 
shed their sweet influences upon that smiling 
infancy. They have painted the radiation of 
light from His manger-cradle, illuminating all 
the place till the bystanders are forced to shade 
their eyes from that heavenly splendor. But 
all this is wide of the reality. 

Such glories as the simple shepherds saw 
were seen only by the eye of faith ; and all 
which met their gaze was a peasant of Galilee, 
already beyond the prime of life, and a young 
mother, of whom they could not know that she 
was wedded maid and virgin wife, with an in- 
fant child, whom, since there was none to help 
her, her own hands had wrapped in swaddling- 
clothes. The light that shone in the darkness 
was no physical, but a spiritual beam ; the 
Dayspring from on high, which had how visited 
mankind, dawned only in a few faithful and 
humble hearts. 

And the Gospels, always truthful and bear- 
ing on every page that simplicity which is the 
stamp of honest narrative, indicate this fact 
"without comment. There is in them nothing 
of the exuberance of marvel, and mystery, and 



miracle, which appears alike in the Jewish 
imaginations about their coming Messiah, and 
in the Apocryphal narratives about the infant 
Christ. There is no more decisive criterion of 
their absolute credibility as simple histories, 
than the marked and violent contrast which 
they offer to all the spurious gospels of the 
early centuries, and all the imaginative legends 
which have clustered about them. Had our 
Gospels been unauthentic, they too must in- 
evitably have partaken of the characteristics 
which mark, without exception, every early 
fiction about the Saviour's life. To the un- 
illuminated fancy it would have seemed in- 
credible that the most stupendous event in the 
world's history should have taken place with- 
out convulsions and catastrophes. 

Strange Legends. 

The Apocryphal Gospel of James has a 
striking chapter, describing how, at that awful 
moment of the nativity, the pole of the heaven 
stood motionless, and the birds were still, and 
there were workmen lying on the earth with 
their hands in a vessel, ' and those who 
handled did not handle it, and those who took 
did not lift, and those who presented it to their 
mouth did not present it, but the faces of all 
were looking up; and I saw the sheep scattered 
and the sheep stood, and the shepherd lifted 
up his hand to strike, and his hand remained 
up ; and I looked at the stream of the river, 
and the mouths of the kids were down, and 
were not drinking ; and everything which was 
being propelled forward was intercepted in its 
course." But of this sudden hush and pause 
of awe-struck nature, of the mysterious splen- 
dors which blazed in many places of the world, 
of the painless childbirth, of the perpetual vir- 
ginity, of the ox and the ass kneeling to wor- 
ship Him in the manger, of the voice with 
which immediately after His birth He told 
His mother that He was the Son of God, and 
of many another wonder which rooted itself in 
the earliest traditions, there is no trace what- 
ever in the New Testament. The inventions 
of man differ wholly from the dealings of 
God. In His designs there is no haste, no 




ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. Luke H. l6. 



(378) 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 



379 



rest ; all things are done by Him in the majesty | 
of silence, and they are seen under a light that j 
shineth quietly in the darkness, " showing all 
things in the slow history of their ripening." 
" The unfathomable depths of the Divine 
counsels," it has been said, "were moved; the 
fountains of the great deep were broken up ; 
the healing of the nations was issuing forth : 
but nothing was seen on the surface of human 
society but this slight rippling of the water: 
the course of human things went on as usual, 
while each was taken up with little projects of 
his own." 

How long the virgin mother and her Holy 
Child stayed in this cave, or cattle-enclosure, 
we cannot tell, but probably it was not long. I 
The word rendered " manger " in Luke ii. 7 j 
is of very uncertain meaning, nor can we dis- j 
cover more about it than that it means a place 
where animals were fed. It is probable that 
the crowd in the khan would not be permanent, I 
and common humanity would have dictated 
an early removal of the mother and her child 
to some more appropriate resting-place. The 
magi, as we see from Matthew, visited Mary in 
" the house." But on all these minor incidents 
the Gospels do not dwell. The fullest of them is 
Luke, and the singular sweetness of his narra- 
tive, its almost idyllic grace, its sweet calm tone 
of noble reticence, seems clearly to indicate I 
that he derived it, though but in fragmentary 
notices, from the lips of Mary herself. It is, 
indeed, difficult to imagine from whom else it ! 
could have come, for mothers are the natural 
historians of infant years. 

On the eighth day from the birth, the child 
was circumcised ; and, according to the custom 
of giving a name at the time of circumcision, 
He then received the name of Jesus, which had 
been given to Him by the angel who first an- j 
nounced His birth. Jesus is the Greek form ' 
(the New Testament being written in Greek) I 
of the Hebrew name Joshua, which was not 
uncommon among the Hebrews. It means a 
Saviour ; and was therefore the most proper i 
name in actual use which could have been j 
chosen for the Messiah. 

The law required that every Hebrew woman ' 



should be separated from the congregation for 
forty days after the birth of a male, and for 
eighty days after the birth of a female child. 
At the expiration of that time the mother was 
to repair to the Temple, to make the offerings 
for her purification. This offering was a lamb 
for those who could afford it ; but those who 
were not able to bring a lamb might offer a 
pair of turtle doves or of young pigeons. The 
mother of Jesus gave the humbler offering, 
and as she probably would not have done this 
if a lamb could have been afforded, we have 
thus an incidental but touching evidence of 
the humble circumstances under which He — 
who was greater than all potentates — was born 
and reared. 

The Jewish traditions allege that mothers 
appeared at the Temple on this occasion in 
white raiment. At the same time the child 
was to be presented before the Lord, and if it 
were a first-born son he was to be redeemed 
from the obligations of sacerdotal services by 
the payment of five shekels of silver. The 
presentation of Jesus was distinguished by a 
very remarkable circumstance. 

Impressive Scene in the Temple. 

There was an aged man at Jerusalem of the 
name of Simeon, whom some identify with a 
venerable Rabbi of that name who is described 
by the Talmudical writers as the father of that 
Gamaliel under which St. Paul completed his 
Jewish education at Jerusalem. Whether so 
or not, this aged Simeon was one of those 
who lived in earnest expectation of the mani- 
festation of the long-promised Messiah, and it 
had been revealed to him that his aged eyes 
should behold the Lord's Christ before they 
closed in death. He entered the Temple at 
the moment of the presentation, and recogniz- 
ing in the Holy Child the fulfilment of his 
hopes, he took Him in his arms, and we may 
conceive that tears of joy bedewed his vener- 
able face as he blessed God that the long- 
hoped-for day had dawned at last. A very 
aged and devout woman, called Anna, who 
was a constant frequenter of the Temple, was 
also present, and shared in the recognition. 



380 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 



and the joy, awakened by the wonderful event. ' eigners had reached the ears of Herod, and 
Some time after the holy family returned to excited in him much jealousy and alarm. He 
Bethlehem, a strong sensation was produced was led at once to conclude that the expected 
at Jerusalem by the arrival of certain eastern Messiah was at length come ; and as he par- 




THE OFFERING OF PURIFICATION. Luke ii. 22. 



sages inquiring publicly for Him who was 
born King of the Jews, and declaring that, 
while in the far East, they had seen His star 
and had come to offer Him their homage. 
The inquiries of these distinguished for- 



took of the general delusion respecting the 
nature of that kingdom which Christ would 
establish, he saw nothing in this but ruin and 
overthrow to the dynasty which he had taken 
so much trouble to establish. Nevertheless, 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 



:J81 



although thus beholding in this event the ac- 
complishment of ancient prophecies, and of 
the desire on which the heart of the nation 
was fixed, he arrived at the horrid resolution 
of destroying in time so dangerous a claimant 
of sovereignty. 

To this end he assembled the ecclesiastical 
authorities, and inquired of them the place 
which prophecy indicated as the birthplace 
of Christ. Citing Micah v: 2 as their authority, 
they with one voice declared that Bethlehem 
was the appointed place ; and accordingly the 
crafty and unscrupulous tyrant directed the 
magi to seek Him of whom they inquired in 
that city ; and he desired that, when they had 
found Him, they would return and impart the 
result to him, that he also might go and ten- 
der his homage. 

The magi then repaired to Bethlehem, and, 
being guided by the star, which reappeared 
before them, they soon discovered the infant 
Jesus. The unexpectedly humble circum- 
stances by which they found Him surrounded 
made no change in their purpose : " they fell 
down and worshipped Him," and then, accord- 
ing to the custom of the East for all persons 
admitted to an audience to offer gifts of more 
or less value, the strangers " opened their 
treasures, and presented to him gold, frankin- 
cense, and myrrh," and these gifts are sup- 
posed by many to have been typical of their 
allegiance and their hopes. 

Herod Decrees Murder. 

They then returned home, without passing 
through Jerusalem as Herod had required, 
according to a warning which they had re- 
ceived in a dream. Another warning, simi- 
larly conveyed to Joseph, occasioned the holy 
family to withdraw into Egypt, which was 
then, and had long been, the general refuge 
for all who were oppressed, or discontented, or 
apprehended danger in Israel. 

When king Herod saw that the eastern 
magi had gone home without again visiting 
Jerusalem his vexation was great, for he 
thereby lost all means of distinguishing from 
among all the infants of Bethlehem the one 



whom lie had destined to destruction. He 
was not a man who ever paused at any steps 
necessary to the accomplishment of the de- 
signs which he had once taken into his mind. 
From this cause his reign was full of horrors; 
and much as we may be shocked, those who 
know his character feel no surprise to find 
that he at once determined to sweep away all 
the infants of Bethlehem under two years old, 
that the one he had doomed might not escape. 
This purpose was accomplished. The evan- 
gelists give no particulars of the dreadful 
scene, and the mind willingly declines the 
contemplation of details so full of horror. 

Soon after this Herod the Great expired,, 
.thirty years after he had been declared king 
of the Jews by the Roman senate, and thirty- 
four years from his actual possession of the 
throne. He was honored with a more magnifi- 
cent funeral than any king of Israel before 
him ; but few, if any, were the real tears shed 
at his death. 

Meanwhile the holy family remained in 
Egypt. The gifts of the eastern sages, no 
doubt, enabled them to travel thither, and to 
live there in comfort. But we have no authen- 
tic accounts of the travel or die sojourn. An 
old tradition' of the Greek Church alleges that 
the family tarried at Hermopolis ; and at a 
place called Matarieh, between Cairo and 
Heliopolis, corresponding to the situation of 
the ancient city of that name, there is a foun- 
tain at which it is pretended that the virgin 
was wont to lave the infant Jesus, and which 
is on that account held in much veneration 
throughout the country. 

When Herod was dead the angel of the 
Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, and en- 
joined him to return to the land of Israel. 
He accordingly took the young child and its 
mother, and returned into Judea. It seems- 
to have been his first intention to remain there, 
probably at Bethlehem ; but finding that 
Archelaus reigned, and fearing that he might 
have inherited the temper of his father, it was- 
deemed more prudent to proceed to Nazareth r 
which, being in Galilee, was under the differ- 
ent government of Herod Antipas. 



382 



THE GALILEAN PEASANT. 



The abode from infancy in Nazareth, coupled 
■with the fact that Mary and Joseph belonged 
to that place, occasioned Jesus to be regarded 
.and called " a Nazarene," although, in fact, a 
native of Bethlehem. This was afterwards 
often alleged as an objection to his being rec- 
ognized as the Messiah ; for it was well known 
(especially since the formnl decision which the 



Not more than one incident of our Lord's 
childhood is recorded in the Scriptures, and 
that occurred when He was twelve years of 
age. There have, indeed, been many spurious 
anecdotes of this period, some of which, picked 
up in the days of ignorance, still linger in the 
memories of uneducated people. These orig- 
inated in certain traditions and Apocryphal 




priests and scribes had communicated to 
Herod) that Bethlehem was the place from 
Avhich the Messiah was to come. Hence the 
strongly expressed objection of some people, 
when at a future time his claim was under dis- 
cussion — "Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 
Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh 
of the seed of David, and out of the town of 
Bethlehem, where David was ? " 



gospels, some of which still exist among the 
curiosities of literature, but which no one re- 
gards as entitled to the slightest credit in 
any ot' the statements which they offer. The 
canonical Gospels are the only sources of our 
real information concerning Jesus, and to them 
we must adhere. The great facts of this his- 
tory need no support from contemporary le- 
gends and incredible traditions. 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 



383 



The law of Moses required that all the males 
of fit age in Israel should three times in the 
year appear before God, at the place of his 
altar and sanctuary. These times were, at the 
feast of the Passover, of the Pentecost, and of 
Tabernacles, of which the first was by far the 
most important as a matter of obligation, and 
the most generally observed. Children were 
not usually taken to Jerusalem till twelve years 
of age, at which time they were deemed to 
come under the obligation of this law, and 
then commence their periodical attendance at 
Jerusalem. 

Women were not required to take these 
journeys, nor did they usually do so ; but they 
seldom failed to accompany their sons when 
they went for the first time to discharge a duty 
to which much importance was attached by 
the Mosaical institutions, and which marked 
the point of transition from childhood to 
adolescence. The son then assumed one of the 
responsible obligations of manhood. It was 
therefore one of those marked points in the 
life of a son in which mothers wish to take 
part, and which they love to celebrate. We 
have in this the reason why Jesus was accom- 
panied not only by Joseph, but by Mary, when, 
at the age of twelve years, he went up to the 
Passover-feast at Jerusalem. 

Journey to Jerusalem. 

This, the first visit to Jerusalem, was an 
occasion to which every male child in Israel 
looked forward with eager expectation and de- 
sire. Conceive the glad assemblage of neigh- 
bors in the early morning, outside the town or 
village, and the animated interchange of salu- 
tations and farewells till the appointed voice 
cried, " It is time to depart." Then they 
marched on leisurely, with minstrelsy and 
psalms, and as they went were joined at the 
meeting of the roads, and in the villages, by 
new parties bent on the same object— their 
happy faces suiting well their holiday attire. 

They needed no provision for this journey; 
for wherever they passed they were received 
with shouts of joy and blessing; and before 
every door tables laden with bread, honey and 



dates were set forth for their refreshment. 
Conceive the pride of the lads who were for 
the first time privileged to join this cheerful 
pilgrimage ; conceive the sorrow of those who 
were not yet of the due age, when those who 
were going thus up to " the city of the Great 
King," and to walk in the courts of His " holy 
and beautiful house," passed on, leaving them 
behind. 

When they drew near the city, parties who 
had already arrived, and many of the stated 
inhabitants, would hasten forth to meet the 
new-comers and conduct them to their respec- 
tive quarters. At that season no inhabitant 
of Jerusalem considered his house as his own. 
The city was the city of the whole people, not 
of the inhabitants alone : and when Israel came 
up to appear before Jehovah, eveiy citizen re- 
garded his dwelling as belonging to his breth- 
ren as much as to himself. Every house was 
thus filled with strangers, and the master was 
usually the worst accommodated person in it. 
But the utmost liberality of the inhabitants 
could not provide lodging for all the vast mul- 
titudes which repaired on these occasions to 
Jerusalem. 

A large proportion of the pilgrims, there- 
fore, remained in tents during the festival. 
The whole environs of Jerusalem were then 
turned into an encampment, and all the streets 
and open places, and all the hills and valleys 
around the city, were covered with tents. But 
the feast was at the finest season of the year; 
the days were balmy and the nights enjoyed 
the full moon, so that those who remained 
altogether without shelter experienced little 
inconvenience. 

Having celebrated the feast in Jerusalem, 
the party from Nazareth returned ; and it was 
not until the evening of the first day's journey 
that Mary and Joseph became alarmed at the 
absence of their son, whom they had supposed 
to be with some kinsfolk or neighbors in another 
part of their large company. But as in such 
cases the different members of the same family 
join each other in the evening camp, and as 
Jesus came not, and could not be found, they 
returned the next day to Jerusalem to seek 



384 THE JEWISH DOCTORS 

This return occupied the second 



Him there 
day. 

On the third day they searched the city and 
at length found Him in the Temple, " sitting 



self, which none but the priests might enter r 
but in the area of the Temple — in one of the 
courts or porticoes, where the doctors of the 
law used to sit and deliver their instructions. 




CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. — Luke ii. 46 



in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them 
and asking them questions. And all that heard 
Him were astonished at His understanding 
and His answers." We are not to suppose 
that He was in the building of the Temple it- 



Neither are we to suppose that He thus early, 
and among these venerable persons, took the 
part of a teacher, for the allusion to His " ques- 
tions " and His " answers " is quite sufficiently 
explained by our knowledge that the Jewish 



THE CHILD IN THE MANGER. 



;}85 



doctors pursued such a plan of instruction as 
dealt much in interrogation on the part both 
of the teacher and the taught. The fact that 
He sat among them does not require that ex- 
planation ; for they might naturally wish to 
show this indulgence towards so extraordinary 
and highly-gifted a child. 

In answer to the gentle remonstance of His 
mother, who said, " Thy father and I have 
sought Thee sorrowing," Jesus answered, 
" How is it that ye sought me ? Wist ye not 
that I must be about my Father's business?" 
This was a hard saying, and was not under- 
stood by those that heard it ; but Mary, ever j 
mindful of His mysterious birth, kept this 
among the other hard sayings which she pon- 
dered in her loving heart. 

They then returned to their home in Naz- 
areth, where Jesus rendered that willing obe- 
dience which children owe to their parents. 
This obedience He rendered not only to Mary, 
but to Joseph, as His reputed father, to whom 
He owed His living, and who seems to have 
instructed Him in his own trade of a carpenter. 
Thus Jesus remained many years, " increasing 
in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God 
and man." 

There is no spot in the world equal in in- 
terest to Palestine. Sacred as the home of 
the Nazarene and the scene of His teachings 
and wonderful works, it is well fitted to in- 



spire such a beautiful apostrophe as we find in 
these rare lines of John Greenleaf Whittier: 

Blest land of Judea ! thrice hallowed of song, 
Where the holiest of memories pilgrim-like throng; 
In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea, 
On the hills of thy beauty, my heart is with thee. 

With the eye of a spirit 1 look on that shore, 
Where pilgrim and prophet have lingered before ; 
vVith the glide of a spirit I traverse the sod 
Made bright by the steps of the angels of God. 

Lo, Bethlehem's hillside before me is seen, 
With the mountains around and the valleys between ; 
There rested the shepherds of Judah, and there 
The song of the angels rose sweet on the air. 

Oh, here with His lock the sad wanderer came — 
These hills he toiled over in grief are the same — 
The founts where He drank by the wayside si ill flow, 
Ami the same airs are blowing which breathed on His brow! 

And what if my feet may not tread where He stood, 
Nor my ears hear the dashing of Galilee's flood, 
Nor my eyes see the cross which He bowed Him to bear, 
Nor my knees press Gethsemane's garden of prayer! 

Yet, Loved of the Father, Thy Spirit is near 
To the meek and the lowly, and penitent here ; 
And the voice of Thy love is the same even now 
As at Bethany's tomb, or on Olivet's brow. 

Oh, the outward hath gone ! — but, in glory and power, 
The Spirit survived! the things of an hour; 
Unchanged, undecaying, its Pentecost flame 
( >n the heart's secret altar is burning the same ! 




CHAPTER XXXI. 




JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



URSUING the concise 
and simple narrative 
of the Gospels, we 
come now to the pub- 
lic life and teachings 
of Jesus. John, the 
son of Zach arias and 
Elizabeth, afterwards 
surnamed the Baptist, 
was to be both in his birth and 
ministry the harbinger of Christ — 
the preparer of His way — and hence 
the evangelical record returns to 
him, as the time for the public ap- 
pearance of Jesus as the Messiah 
approached. 

As John grew up he became 
strong in spirit, and every day man- 
ifested in him the endowments needful for 
the high mission to which he had, even 
before his birth, been appointed. In his na- 
tive mountains, for he was of " the hill 
country of Judea," he gradually formed 
habits of life in accordance with his Heaven- 
imposed condition of a Nazarite, and suitable 
to the austere character of his destined min- 
istry. At length he assumed the camel's hair 
vesture, and withdrew into the rocky wilder- 
nesses near the Dead sea and the Jordan. 

The precise date at which his ministry com- 
menced is uncertain. The voice of God at 
length came to him in the wilderness, and he 
commenced his mission by proclaiming the 
baptism of repentance for the remission of 
sins. The appearance of the prophet of the 
wilderness, whose garb and manner reminded 
the people of Elias, in whose spirit and power 
he came, produced a strong sensation through- 
out the country. Multitudes of all classes and 
sects followed him, or resorted to him. 

He paused at Bethabara, one of the fords of 
(386) 



the Jordan, and there baptized in that venera- 
ble stream such of his hearers as were duly im- 
pressed by what they heard from him. Many 
flocked to his preaching at Bethabara, to whom 
he gave exhortations suited to their condition 
and their faith. Some of these have been pre- 
served by the evangelists, and convey to us 
a clear impression of the important matter and 
the pointed and forcible style of his instruc- 
tions. The burden of all his preaching was, 
" Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand ! " and he constantly declared that his 
was the foretold " voice in the wilderness " 
appointed to cry, " Prepare ye the way of the 
Lord, make His paths straight." 

Alarmed by the warnings and encouraged 
by the hopes which he held forth, the Jews 
were numerously baptized by him in the Jor- 
dan, confessing their sins. To the questions 
of the diverse classes of people who addressed 
him, the prophet replied by exhortations to 
charity and truth. The publicans, he warned 
against extortion ; the soldiers in the pay of 
Herod Antipas, he' warned against violence ; 
and the formalists, the scribes, and Pharisees, 
he attacked with a severity which showed him 
in this also a precursor of Christ. " O genera- 
tion of vipers," he cried, " who hath warned 
you to flee from the wrath to come ! Think 
not to say unto yourselves, we have Abraham 
for our lather (that is, relying on that as an 
all-sufficient merit) ; for verily I say unto you, 
that God is able even out of these stones to 
raise up children unto Abraham." This was a 
hard saying for them, especially from one who 
himself belonged to the priesthood. 

All these things, and this new style of dis- 
course, drew the most earnest attention to- 
wards the prophet. The ecclesiastical authori- 
ties at Jerusalem sent some of their own body 
to obtain clear information respecting his 



JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



387 



claims, and the character in which he appeared. 
They asked him if he was not himself the 
Christ so long expected ; but, faithful to his 
trust, and humble in his highest glory, he 
readily admitted that he was not. Receiving 
similar answers to various other conjectures, j 
they at length impatiently asked, " Who art 
thou? What sayest thou of thyself?" He 
gave his usual answer to such questions — " I 
am the voice of one crying in the wilderness." 
They then asked on 
what ground he bap- 
tized, if he were not 
the Christ. To which 
he answered, " I, in- 
deed, baptize with wa- 
ter unto repentance ; 
but One mightier than 
I cometh, whose shoes 
I am not worthy to 
"bear; He shall baptize 
you with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire." 

All this time that 
John was preaching 
the near approach of 
the Messiah, he re- 
mained in ignorance 
of His person. In all 
probability he was ac- 
-quainted with Jesus, 
who was his near re- 
lation, but he knew 
not, he could scarcely 
suspect,' that He was 
the Messiah : he, how- 
ever, knew that in due 
time the Christ of God 

would be pointed out to him in a manner not 
to be mistaken, and with this he was satisfied. 

At length, among those who came to be 
baptized at Bethabara was Jesus, who had 
hitherto lived and labored with Joseph and 
Mary at Nazareth. When He first came to 
the banks of the Jordan, the great forerunner, 
-according to his own emphatic and twice re- 
peated testimony, " knew Him not." And yet, 
though Jesus was not yet revealed as the Mes- 



siah to His great heiald-propnet, there was 
something in His look, something in the sin- 
less beauty of His ways, something in the 
solemn majesty of His aspect, which at once 
overawed and captivated the soul of John. To 
others he was the uncompromising prophet ; 
kings he could confront with rebuke; Phari- 
sees he could unmask with indignation; but 
before this Presence all his lofty bearing falls. 
As when some unknown dread checks the 




JESUS OF NAZARETH. 

flight of the eagle, and makes him settle with 
hushed scream and drooping plumage on the 
ground, so before " the royalty of inward hap- 
piness," before the purity of sinless life, the 
wild prophet of the desert becomes like a sub- 
missive and timid child. The battle-brunt 
which legionaries could not daunt — the lofty 
manhood before which hierarchs trembled and 
princes grew pale — resigns itself, submits, 
adores before a moral force which is weak in 



388 



BAPTISM OF JESUS. 



every external attribute, and armed only in 
an invisible mail. John bowed to the simple 
.stainless manhood before he had been inspired 
to recognize the Divine commission. He ear- 
nestly tried to forbid the purpose of Jesus. He 
who had received the confessions of all otliers 
now reverently and humbly makes his own. 
" I have need to be baptized of Thee, and 
comest Thou to me ? " 

Jesus received it as ratifying the mission of 
His great forerunner — the last and greatest 
child of the Old Dispensation, the earliest 
herald of the New ; and He also received it 
as the beautiful symbol of moral purification, 
and the humble inauguration of a ministry 
which came not to destroy the Law, but to 
fulfil. His own words obviate all possibility 
of misconception. He does not say, "I must," 
but, " Thus it becometh us." He does not say, 
" I have need to be baptized ; " nor does He 
say, " Thou hast no need to be baptized of 
me," but He says, " Suffer it to be so now." 

So, Jesus descended into the waters of Jor- 
dan, and there the awful sign was given that 
this was indeed " He that should come." From 
the cloven heaven streamed the Spirit of God 
in a dove-like radiance that seemed to hover 
over His head in lambent flame, and the voice 
which to the dull, unpurged ear was but an 
inarticulate thunder, spake to the ears of John 
— " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased." 

The Temptation. 

It was immediately after His baptism and 
public recognition as the Messiah that Jesus 
withdrew into the wilderness, where He re- 
mained for forty days without food. It was 
usual for those who entered upon the propheti- 
cal office to prepare themselves for its impor- 
tant duties by fasting and prayer — by prayer 
so earnest and long-continued that they some- 
times neglected to take food, and this seems 
to have been the case with Jesus. At the end 
of the forty days Satan was permitted to sub- 
ject His virtue and high purposes to »uch a 
trial of proof as might suitably introduce Him 
to His public ministry. The particulars of this 



temptation are recorded, with some slight vari- 
ations, in the fourth chapter of Matthew and 
the fourth of Luke. 

Jesus was hungry, and Satan tempted Him 
to obtain food by an unwarranted exercise of 
the miraculous powers which belonged to- 
Him. Failing in this, he placed Him in dan- 
ger on the highest point of the Temple, and 
urged Him to cast Himself down, in the as- 
surance that the angels would bear Him harm- 
less up, if He were indeed the Son of God. 
Foiled also in this, Satan transported Him to 
the top of a high mountain, and promised 
Him, in exchange for His homage, dominion- 
over the wide lands which he surveyed ; but 
receiving a signal and final rebuff, he departed,, 
leaving Jesus still in the mountainous wilder- 
ness beyond the Jordan. 

Returning thence towards Galilee, Jesus had 
to cross the Jordan at the ford of Bethabara r 
where John was still baptizing, and made some 
pause in the neighborhood. He was probably 
present at the interview already mentioned be- 
tween John and the commission from Jerusa- 
lem. It was the very day after that interview 
that John, seeing Jesus coming towards him, 
publicly pointed Him out as the Messiah to 
all who were then present in the emphatic 
words, " Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sin of the world. This is He of 
whom I said, After me cometh a man who is 
preferred before me." The next day John again 
pointed out Jesus as " the Lamb of God," when 
he observed Him walking by. 

Two of John's own disciples who heard 
this then went and followed Jesus. One of 
these was John and the other Andrew, both of 
them fishermen of the lake of Tiberias. Jesus,, 
observing that they were following His steps,, 
turned and asked : " What seek ye?" Which 
they answered by another question, indicative 
of their desire to attach themselves to Him, 
and to know Him better — " Master, where 
dwellest thou?" He courteously answered, 
" Come and see." They accordingly attended 
Him to the place where He lodged, and re- 
mained with Him the rest of that day, which, 
was then near its close. 



JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



389 



Andrew, after quitting Jesus for the day, 
rested not till he had found his brother Simon, 
to whom he had imparted the glad tidings — 
"" We have found the Messias ! " and the next 
day he took him to Jesus. On his approach, 
and before he had been announced, Jesus 
saluted him with, "Thou art Simon the son 



with Philip of Bethsaida, and said to him r 
" Follow me." Philip was of the same town 
as Andrew and Peter, and, having been prob- 
ably apprised by them that Jesus was the 
Messiah, he unhesitatingly obeyed the call. 
This was the first case in which Christ em- 
ployed this form of summon, which he used 




THE TEMPTATION ON THE MOUNTAIN. Matt. iv. I. 

n making; choice of those whom He intended 



of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas ! " This 
word means " a stone," and is accordingly 
rendered in Greek by " Peter," which has the 
same meaning. It was not unusual in those 
times for chiefs, masters, and teachers to im- 
pose new and significant names, after this 
manner, upon those who became their servants 
or disciples. 

The next day Jesus proceeded into Galilee 
on His return to Nazareth, and on the way met 



inseparably to follow Him as His disciples. 

Andrew and Peter, although they had in a 
certain sense attached themselves to Jesus, had 
not yet been called in that peculiar manner 
which required them to be in constant attend- 
ance upon his person : it is, therefore, to Philip 
that we may assign the honor of being the 
first " called " disciple of Christ. In this, as 
in the former case, the discovery of the Christ 



390 



PHILIP AND NATHANIEL. 



so long expected, and so earnestly desired, 
was a matter of too high interest and impor- 
tance, a secret too exciting, to be hidden by 
those to whom it was imparted. 

Accordingly, no sooner did Philip meet with 
an old acquaintance called Nathaniel than he 
cried out, "We have found Him of whom Moses 
in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus 
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nazareth, 
being a mean place, and the inhabitants of in- 
different character, was despised even among 
the Galileans, who were themselves contemned 
by the people of Judea. Knowing this, and 
being aware that die Christ was expected to 
come from Bethlehem, Nathaniel caught at the 
word Nazareth, and asked, " Can there any 
good thing come out of Nazareth ? " Philip 
gave the best possible answer, " Come and 
see." They accordingly went to Jesus, who 
no sooner saw Daniel approach than He said, 
" Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no 
guile!" Surprised beyond measure at this 
recognition, Nathaniel asked, " Whence know- 
est thou me ? " Jesus answered, " Before that 
Philip called thee, when thou wast under the 
fig-tree, I saw thee." , 

It was not unusual for educated men among 
the Jews to study the law under fig-trees, and 
sometimes, although more rarely, to pray there. 
This ma)' indicate the act which Jesus had in 
view. This answer implied our Lord's cog- 
nizance of the private conversation between 
Philip and himself, and also of acts performed 
by him in the secrecy of his own house or 
garden. Overcome by this, he at once burst 
out into the free and full confession — " Rabbi, 
Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of 
Israel !" This gave occasion for what may be 
regarded as the first prophecy of our Saviour, 
" Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under 
the fig-tree, believest thou? Thcu shalt see 
greater things than these. Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, 
and the angels of God ascending and descend- 
ing upon the Son of man." Many think from 
this that Nathaniel had been studying under 
the fig-tree Jacob's vision at Bethel, of the 
ladder reaching unto heaven, and the angels of 



God ascending and descending thereon ; and 
that Christ designed to strengthen his convic- 
tion by disclosing His knowledge of this fact, 
Jesus had scarcely arrived at Nazareth when 
He was called with His disciples to a marriage- 
feast at Cana, to which His mother had, it 
seems, already gone; we find Him there on 
the third day after leaving Bethabara. That 
Joseph was not also present has led to the 
notion that he was. already dead; and this is 
more than probable, as he is not once men- 
tioned as living, nor does he on any occasion 
appear throughout the period of Christ's min- 
istry. Cana was a small place about five miles 
to the north of Nazareth, and was called Cana 
of Galilee, to distinguish it from another place 
of the same name. 

The First Miracle. 

The persons then married are supposed by 
some to have been relations to Mary. It is 
shown to be probable that her sister, the wife of 
Cleophas, had lived at Cana, and had a grown- 
up family in which this marriage may have 
taken place ; and the somewhat prominent part 
taken by Mary in giving general orders to the 
attendants has been cited in support of this 
conjecture. Among the Jews a wedding-feast 
lasted seven days ; and it would seem that 
Christ and His disciples arrived in some of the 
latter days. The wine then began to run 
short, probably from the arrival of more guests 
than had been expected. The presence of 
Jesus, for instance, could not have been pro- 
vided for, as it could not be known that He 
would return in time to be present, or that He 
would return with several persons in His com- 
pany. 

At such feasts the guests were composed of 
two sorts of persons— those who came by 
special invitation, and those who went of their 
own accord, but were expected to make a 
present to the bridegroom and his bride. A 
lack of wine towards the end of a feast might 
therefore very naturally arise under the most 
careful provision ; and that this happened at 
the marriage in Cana by no means implies, as 
! usually stated, that the persons then married 




DRIVING THE 



MONEY-CHANGERS FROM THE TEMPLE. John il. 1 5. 



(391) 



392 



JESUS AT CANA. 



were in humble and destitute circumstances. 
The attention of Jesus was drawn to this 
want of wine by His mother. The intent with 
which she did this has been much disputed. 
That she expected that He would remove it by 
a miraculous supply is the general interpreta- 
tion, and is the one which seems to agree best 
with all the circumstances. Jesus, however, 
answered, " Woman, what have I to do with 
thee? Mine hour is not yet come." The 
form of this answer was, among the Jews, 
anything but disrespectful : but the sense im- 
plies a gentle reprehension of any dictation to 
Him in that capacity in which He was above 
all human control, adding that the time for 
this manifestation of His miraculous powers 
was not fully come. Gathering from this that 
the want would eventually be supplied in the 
way she expected, Mary instructed the attend- 
ants to pay exact attention to whatever in- 
structions they might receive from Him. 

The Marriage Feast. 

There were on the premises six of those 
large stone jars or water-pots in which the Jews 
in those parts kept their water for use, which 
had been brought in smaller vessels from the 
well or fountain. They were preferred because 
they kept the water cool in summer, and it is 
a remarkable fact that such jars of ancient 
date are at this day found in the neighborhood 
of Cana. These water-pots Jesus secretly in- 
structed the servants to fill with water; and 
they filled them to the very brim. 

It was usual among the Jews and other 
ancient nations, at all their larger entertain- 
ments, to appoint one person as master of the 
feast, to preserve order and to keep up a good 
and cheerful feeling. Among the Jews a priest 
was usually chosen for this purpose, as the 
influence of his character enabled him the 
more easily to keep the festivities within the 
bounds of sobriety and prudence, while his 
acquaintance with the law afforded some secu- 
rity against ceremonial transgression. There 
was accordingly a master to this marriage- 
feast at Cana. 

Jesus now directed the servants to fill their 



goblets from the jars which had been filled 
with water, and submit them to the governor 
of the feast. They did so, and he, unknowing 
whence the beverage came, pleasantly animad- 
verted upon the impropriety of which the 
bridegroom had been guilty in holding back 
the best wine till the end of the feast. It was 
the custom of the Jews to give the best wine 
at the beginning of a feast, and afterwards, 
when the taste became blunted, an inferior 
sort. " But thou," said the master of the feast 
to the bridegroom — " thou hast kept the good 
wine until now." 

This was the first miracle of Christ ; and it 
appears to have had a specific significance, in 
drawing attention at the outset to the differ- 
ence between the severities of John the Bap- 
tist's ministry and the milder features of His 
own. 

Not long after this the approach of the Pass- 
over rendered it necessary that Christ should 
go to Jerusalem, there to celebrate the feast, 
as the law required. The incidents of the 
journey are not related. But on His arrival, 
Jesus commenced His public ministry at Je- 
rusalem by expelling the money-changers, and 
the dealers, who at that season were wont to 
establish themselves in a certain part of the 
Temple's outer court. It was not a common 
market ; but was temporarily held for the use 
of those who resorted to the Temple in great 
numbers at this feast. 

Such animals were there sold as were re- 
quired for sacrifices — oxen, sheep, lambs, and 
also doves ; and there were tables, where the 
money-changers gave Jewish money for the 
current Roman coins, it being held unlawful 
to pay the Temple tribute of half a shekel with 
heathen money. This offended Jesus, who 
provided Himself with a scourge of small 
cords, and by the severity of His countenance 
and of His words, rather than of His action, 
He compelled all these traffickers to withdraw 
in confusion, as He exclaimed, "Take these 
things hence : Make not my Father's house 
a house of merchandise ! " 

This action of Christ is carefully to be dis- 
tinguished from the similar action which He 



JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



393 



performed towards the end of His ministry, 
and which is the only one related by the other 
evangelists. The second purification of the 
Temple took place during the last week of our 
Lord's life, after the death of John the Baptist, 
when it could not be said, as is said here, that 
afterwards Christ dwelt and baptized in Judea. 
Soon after Jesus quitted Jerusalem with his 
disciples ; but, instead of at once returning to 
Galilee, He remained some time in "the land 
of Judea "(as distinguished from Jerusalem, 
the metropolis), and began to baptize through 
His disciples. 

Jealousy of John's Disciples. 

As John the Baptist was at the same time 
baptizing at ALnon, near Salim, a place near the 
Jordan, not far from that where Christ had 
been baptized by him, some of his disciples 
took offence at this. In general the disciples 
of John had more than those of Jesus of the 
things which belonged to the strict character 
of Judaism ; they also fasted much. For this 
reason the Pharisees were displeased that Jesus 
was soon more followed and baptized more 
disciples than John, and by their representa- 
tions, probably, did much to foment in John's 
-disciples a discontent at the apparent rivalry 
of Jesus, and a jealousy of His superior claims. 

Some of John's disciples came and reported 
these matters to him, expecting, doubtless, that 
he would feel aggrieved at such proceedings 
of one who had received baptism from his 
hands. But the truly humble P5aptist, who 
felt satisfied with his own Divine calling as a 
harbinger, and was ever mindful of his true 
position, first directed their attention to the 
fact, that if any one was called to occupy so 
great a sphere of action, this certainly could 
not be done without the will of God. He there- 
fore would not obtrude himself, for this state 
of things was by no means unexpected by him, 
as he had announced from the beginning that 
he had himself only come to prepare the wa> 
of Christ. 

It was not long after this that the Baptist 
was put in prison by Herod Antipas, the 
tetrarch of Galilee. The occasion was this : 



Herod Antipas had at first married the daugh- 
ter of Aretas, king of Arabia. On a journey 
to Rome he visited his brother Herod, sur- 
named Philip ,whose wife was Herodias, daugh- 
ter of another brother, Aristobulus, and con- 
sequently niece both to her husband and to 
Herod Antipas. With this lady the tetrarch 
formed an attachment, and induced her to en- 
gage that on his return she would quit her own 
husband and live with him, on his undertaking 
to divorce the daughter of Aretas. 

She accordingly divorced herself from Philip, 
and was then married to Herod, whose own 
wife had retired to her father as soon as she 
heard of this atrocious engagement. This 
affair, of course, made a strong impression in 
the country. Few, however, ventured to say 
all they thought of the matter. But the Bap- 
tist, with the honesty and boldness which be- 
longed to his character, publicly condemned 
the conduct of the tetrarch, and plainly told 
him that it was not lawful for him to live with 
his brother's wife. For this Herod put him 
into prison, not, it would appear, with any view 
of further punishment, but to stop him from 
speaking in this manner to the people, with 
whom his voice had great influence, of a trans- 
action which would not bear the light. He- 
rodias herself, indeed, wished to have him put 
to death, but the fear of the people, who re- 
garded John as a prophet, hindered Herod 
from yielding to her barbarous desire at this 
time. It was not until John had been cast into, 
prison that Jesus returned from Judea to Gali- 
lee. In doing this He must needs go through 
the intermediate region of Samaria. 

Jacob 's Well. 

In the valley below the mountain on which 
their Temple stood lay the chief city of 
the Samaritans. It was the ancient Shechem; 
but at this time bore among the Jews the name 
of Sychar, which seems in its origin to have 
been a bye-name, imposed upon the city in 
disparagement. On the approach to the town 
was a well, which being on the spot of ground 
which was the private property of Jacob, and 
which he bestowed on his son Joseph, bore the 




THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. John IV. J. 



(394) 



JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



395 



name of Jacob's well. The present well, which 
passes under this name, and which is in all 
probability the same, is situated at the foot of 
Mount Gerizim, near the entrance of the valley 
towards Jerusalem. It is above a mile from 
the present town, which accounts for its being 
now deserted ; but it was probably nearer when 
the town was larger, and extended farther in 
this direction. It bears marks of high an- 
tiquity, and is dug in the solid rock. 

Jesus on His way to Galilee reached this well 
about noon, and being weary with the journey, 
rested here while His disciples went forward 
into the town to purchase victuals. By this it 
would seem that He intended, after rest and 
refreshment, to continue Plis journey without 
stopping in, or, perhaps, going through the 
Samaritan city. From the depth at which the 
water lay, Jesus, although thirsty, was unable 
to obtain drink from it ; when, therefore, a 
woman came from the town to draw water, 
He said to her, " Give me to drink." It was 
not usual for Jews to speak to women in public, 
and they avoided occasions of speaking to the 
Samaritan people, and of eating or drinking 
with them, or of using, in eating or drinking, 
the vessels which they employed. 

Therefore, both as a woman and a Samaritan, 
this woman was astonished, and asked, " How 
is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of 
me, who am a woman of Samaria?" Jesus 
answered, " If thou knowest the gift of God, 
and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to 
drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him and 
He would have given thee living water." 
Living water means water from a perennial 
spring ; and from the fact concerning the well 
which had just been pointed out, we are led 
to conclude that Jesus here intended an em- 
phatic allusion to the circumstance that the 
well to which she had then come was not (as 
usually has been supposed) of living water, or 
at least not from an unfailing spring. 

The woman understood Him literally, and 
answered accordingly : and when Jesus en- 
deavored to draw her attention to His deeper 
meaning, she still persisted in the literal un- 
derstanding, by saying, "Sir, give me this water, 



that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.' 
Perceiving that she did not yet comprehend 
Him, He changed the conversation, and, by 
intimating His knowledge of private circum- 
stances of her life, which were discreditable, 
so wrought upon her, that she acknowledged 
Him to be a prophet : but she hastened to 
change a topic so unpleasant to her, by revert- 
ing to the standing controversy between the 
Jews and Samaritans — the Temple at Gerizim, 
and whether that or the one at Jerusalem 
" were the place where men ought to worship." 
Much astonished was the woman to find a 
topic which never failed to rouse a Jew quietly 
set aside by the Divine Teacher with the re- 
mark, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh 
when ye shall neither at this mountain, nor yet 
at Jerusalem, worship the Father. God is a 
Spirit, and they that worship Him must wor- 
ship Him in spirit and in truth." 

The Woman's Astonishment. 

This was still a deep matter for the Samari- 
tan woman, and she answered only by referring, 
as was the custom of the time, to the expected 
Messiah, for the solution of this and all other 
difficult and obscure matters. " I know," she 
said, "that Messias cometh ; when He is come, 
He will tell us all things." Jesus answered, 
" I that speak unto thee am He ! " Aston- 
ished, silenced, convinced, by this announce- 
ment, which cast a sudden and strong light 
upon all -that she had not previously under- 
stood, the woman cared no more for her water- 
pot, but hastened away to the town, to rnake- 
the glad tidings known to her friends and 
neighbors, to whom she cried, " Come, see a 
man who told me all things that ever I did. 
Is not this the Christ ? " 

The disciples returned from the town before 
this conversation of Jesus with the woman of 
Samaria was quite concluded. For the reasons 
assigned, they were astonished to find Him 
talking with a woman and a Samaritan ; but 
they made no remark. They pressed Him to 
partake of the food which they had brought;, 
but He said, " I have meat to eat that ye know 
not of; " and finding they understood Hint 



396 



JESUS IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 



literally, He added, " My meat is to do the 
Avill of Him that sent me, and to finish His 
work." 

The intelligence of the woman brought a 
large number of the Samaritans from the town 
to the well. They pressed Him to make 
some stay with them. This a mere Jew would 
have refused ; but Jesus entered the town, and 
remained there two days, during which many 
of the Samaritans became believers in Him as 
the Messiah promised to the Hebrew fathers. 

Jesus then pursued His journey into Galilee, 
where He began to preach His Gospel. His 
proceedings at Jerusalem, and the undescribed 
miracles which He had there wrought, drew 
much attention to Him on His return to Gal- 
ilee; and the position of a public teacher, 
which He now assumed, soon spread His 
fame throughout that region, and He was for 
the time well received. 

A Son Restored to Health. 

On again reaching Cana of Galilee, where 
His first miracle had been performed, an offi- 
cer in the court of Herod Antipas, whose son 
was at the point of death, in Capernaum, came 
to implore Him to proceed to that place and 
restore his son to health. This application 
shows that the unspecified miracles of Christ 
at Jerusalem were of the same character as 
those which He afterwards performed. Jesus 
told him to return home and he would find his 
son well. Believing this, he returned, and on 
the way he was met by messengers who had 
been sent to inform him that his son w r as re- 
covered. Finding that the fever had left his 
son at the very time that Jesus had said to 
him, " Thy son liveth," he and his became be- 
lievers in Christ. 

Jesus then proceeded to His own town of 
Nazareth, where He attended the synagogue 
on the Sabbath-days. The synagogues were 
buildings in every town, in which the Jews 
assembled for public worship, and reading and 
expounding the Scriptures on the Sabbath- 
-days. In the time of Christ there was no town j 
in Judea which had not one or more of these j 
synagogues. Its affairs were managed by teq 



persons of property and influence, three of 
whom enjoyed a kind of superiority, and were 
called rulers of the synagogue. These formed 
a kind of magistracy for -the decision of dif- 
ferences between the members of the congre- 
gation, for the maintenance of discipline, and 
for the proper ordering of the public worship. 
Each synagogue had a minister, whose duty 
it was to offer public prayer, and to exhort, if 
no one else undertook the duty. The reading 
of the Scriptures formed no part of his ordinary 
duty: but every Sabbath he called out seven 
of the congregation in succession to perform 
that service. He of course called forth only 
such as he knew or supposed capable of reading 
correctly. If a priest were present, he was 
first called, then a Levite, afterwards any per- 
sons on whom the minister might fix. The 
person called upon went to the desk or raised 
platform in the middle of the synagogue, and 
unrolled the volume till he came to the section 
he was to read ; he read standing, and when he 
had finished, was at liberty to add any words 
of exhortation which he desired. 

Jewish Worship. 

There was but one synagogue in the little 
town of Nazareth, and probably it resembled, 
in all respects, except in its humbler aspect 
and materials, the synagogues of which we see 
the ruins at Tell Hum and Irbid. It was simply 
a rectangular hall, with a pillared portico of 
Grecian architecture, of which the further 
extremity (where the " sanctuary" was placed) 
usually pointed towards Jerusalem, which, 
since the time of Solomon, had always been 
the consecrated direction of a Jew's worship, as 
Mecca is of a Mohammedan's. In wealthier 
places it was built of white marble, and sculp- 
tured on the outside in alto-relievo, with rude 
ornaments of vine-leaves and grapes, or the 
budding rod and the pot of manna. On en- 
tering there were seats on the one side for the 
men ; on the other, behind a lattice, were 
seated the women, shrouded in their long veils. 

At one end was the ark of painted wood, 
which contained the sacred Scriptures; and at 
one side was the elevated seat for the reader 






JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



397 



or preacher. Clergy, properly speaking, there i minister of the synagogue. Inferior in rank 
were none, but in the chief seats were the ten | to these were the clerk, whose duty it was U 



vv— ( ^ 


Hf 


M 

mm 


^^^^ <r -^ 




HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. John IV. 47. 

or more "men of leisure," or leading elders; 1 keep the sacred books; the sacristan or verger; 
and pre-eminent among these the chief or [and the shepherds, who in some respects acted 



398 



EXCITEMENT AT NAZARETH. 



as deacons. Those were the various officials. 
The service of the synagogue was not unlike 
our own. After the prayers two lessons were 
always read, one from the Law, and one from 
the Prophets ; and as there were no ordained 
ministers to conduct the services — for the office 
of priests and Levites at Jerusalem was wholly 
different — these lessons might not only be 
read by any competent person who received 
permission from the chief, but he was even at 
liberty to add his own comment. 

The reading of the lesson from Moses was 
apparently over when Jesus ascended the steps 
of the elevated seat. Recognizing His claim 
to perform the honorable function of a reader, 
the clerk drew aside the silk curtain of the 
painted ark which contained the sacred manu- 
scripts, and handed Him the roll of the prophet 
Isaiah, which contained the lesson of the day. 
Jesus unrolled the volume, and found the well- 
known passage in Isaiah lxi. The whole con- 
gregation stood up to listen to Him. The 
length of the lesson might be from three to 
twenty-one verses, but Jesus only read the 
first and part of the second ; stopping short, 
in a spirit of tenderness, before the stern 
expression, "The day of vengeance of our 
God," so that the gracious words, " The accept- 
able year of the Lord," might rest last upon 
their ears and form the text of His discourse. 
He then handed back the roll to the clerk, 
and, as was customary among the Jews, sat 
<lown to deliver His sermon. 

A Remarkable Prophecy. 

The passage which he had read, whether 
part of the ordinary lesson for the day or 
chosen by I limself, was a very remarkable one, 
and it must have derived additional grandeur 
and solemnity from the lips of Him in whom 
it was fulfilled. It referred to works of mercy, 
the healing of the broken-hearted, and the 
deliverance of captives. Every eye in the 
synagogue was fixed upon Him with a gaze of 
intense earnestness, and we may imagine the 
thrill of awful expectation and excitement 
which passed through the hearts of the 
listeners, as, in a discourse of which the sub- 



] ject only is preserved for us by the evangelist, 
I He developed the theme that He was Himself 
the Messiah, of whom the great prophet had 
sung 700 years before. His words were full 
of a grace, an authority, a power which was at 
first irresistible and which commanded the in- 
voluntary astonishment of all. 

But as He proceeded He became conscious 
of a change. The spell of his wisdom and 
sweetness was broken, as these rude and violent 
Nazarenes began to realize the full meaning 
of His Divine claims. It was customary with 
the Jews in the worship of their synagogue to 
give full vent to their feelings, and it was not 
long before Jesus became sensible of indignant 
and rebellious murmurs. He saw that those 
eager, glittering eyes, which had been fixed 
upon Him in the first excitement of attention, 
were beginning to glow with the malignant 
light of jealousy and hatred. " Is not this the 
carpenter ? is he not the brother of workmen 
like himself — James and Joses and Simon 
and Judas — and of sisters who live among us? 
do not even his own family disbelieve in him ?" 
Such were the whispers which began to be 
buzzed about among the audience. This was 
no young and learned Rabbi from the schools 
of Gamaliel or Shammai, and yet he spoke 
with an authority which not even the greatest 
scribes assumed ! Even a Hillel, when his 
doctrines failed to persuade, could only se- 
cure conviction by appealing to the previous 
authority of great teachers. But this teacher 
appealed to no one — this teacher who had but 
been their village carpenter ! What business 
had he to teach ? Whence could he know 
letters, having neve* learned ? 

When He began by saying, " This day is 
this Scripture fulfilled in your ears," they were 
charmed with His words, expecting to see the 
same beneficial acts performed among them- 
selves, which were wonderful things for 
" Joseph's son " to do. This was not His in- 
tention ; and He proceeded to explain why 
this could not be. They looked upon Him as 
the son of Joseph the carpenter, the relative 
of persons well known to them, and were lit- 
tle disposed to recognize in such a one, whom 



JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. 



399 



they had seen daily in their streets, the illus-l no miracles among them, but would confer His 
trious personage of whom the prophets had I benefits on others, of whatsoever country, who 




DELIVERANCE FOR THE CAPTIVE 



spoken. Therefore, because they despised Him, 
because they would not see Him in the char- 
acter which He claimed — because in this, as 
in every other instance, " a prophet hath no 
honor in his own countrv," He would work 



insr to 



were desirous of His doctrine, and wil 
receive His instructions. 

Jesus did not leave unobserved the change 
which was passing over the feelings of His 
audience. He at once told them that He zvas 



400 



HOSTILITY EXCITED. 



the Jesus whom they described, and yet with 
no abatement of His Messianic grandeur. 
Their hardness and unbelief had already de- 
pressed His spirit before He had even entered 
the synagogue. The implied slur on the hu- 
mility of His previous life He passes by ; it 
was too essentially provincial and innately vul- 
gar to need correction, since any Nazarene of 
sufficient honesty might have reminded him- 
self of the yet humbler origin of the great 
herdsman Amos. 

Nor would He notice the base hatred which 
weak and bad men always contract for those 
who shame them by the silent superiority of 
noble lives. But He was aware of another 
feeling in their minds ; a demand upon Him 
for some stupendous vindication of His claims ; 
a jealousy that He should have performed 
miracles at Cana, and given an impression of 
His power at Capernaum, to say nothing of 
what He had done and taught at Jerusalem — 
and yet that He should have vouchsafed no 
special mark of His favor among them. He 
knew that the taunting and sceptical proverb, 
" Physician, heal thyself," was in their hearts, 
and all but on their lips. 

But to show them most clearly that He was 
something more than they — that He was no 
mere Nazarene like any other who might have 
lived among them for thirty years, and that 
He belonged not to them, but to the world — 
He reminds them that miracles are not to be 
limited by geographical lines — that Elijah had 
only saved the Phoenician widow of Sarepta, 
and Elisha only healed the hostile leper of 
Syria. 

What then ? were they in His estimation 
(and He but " the carpenter! ") no better than 
Gentiles and lepers ? This was the climax of 
all that was intolerable to them, as coming 
from a fellow-townsman whom they wished to 
rank among themselves ; and at these words 
their long-suppressed fury burst into a flame. 
The speaker was no longer interrupted by a 
murmur of disapprobation, but by a roar of 
wrath. With one of those bursts of sanguin- 
ary excitement which characterized that 
strange, violent, impassioned people — a people 



whose minds are swept by storms as sudden 
as those which in one moment lash into fury 
the mirror surface of their lake — they rose in 
a body, tore Him out of the city, and then 
dragged Him to the brow of the hill above. 

The little town of Nazareth nestles in the 
southern hollows of that hill ; many a mass 
of precipitous rock lies imbedded on its slopes, 
and it is probable that the hill-side may have 
been far more steep and precipitous two thou- 
sand years ago. To one of these rocky escarp- 
ments they dragged Him, in order to fling 
Him headlong down. 

Jesus Escapes from His Foes. 

But His hour was not yet come, and they 
were saved from the consummation of a crime 
which would have branded them with ever- 
lasting infamy. " He passed through the midst 
of them, and went on His way." There is no 
need to suppose an actual miracle; still less 
to imagine a secret and sudden escape into the 
narrow and tortuous lanes of the town. Per- 
haps His silence, perhaps the calm nobleness 
of His bearing, perhaps the dauntless inno- 
cence of His gaze overawed them. Apart 
from anything supernatural, there seems to 
have been in the presence of Jesus a spell of 
mystery and of majesty, which even His most 
ruthless and hardened enemies acknowledged, 
and before which they involuntarily bowed. 

It was to this that He owed His escape when 
the maddened Jews in the Temple took up 
stones to stone Him ; it was this that made 
the bold and bigoted officers of the Sanhedrim 
unable to arrest Him as He taught in public 
during the feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem ; 
it was this that made the armed band of His 
enemies, at His mere look, fall before Him to 
the ground in the garden of Gethsemane. 
Suddenly, quietly He asserted His freedom, 
waived aside His captors, and overawing them 
by His simple glance, passed through their 
midst unharmed. Similar events have occurred 
in history, and continue still to occur. There 
is something in defenceless and yet dauntless 
dignity that calms even the fury of a mob. 

And so He left them ; did any feelings of 




(401) 



402 



THE CITY OF CAPERNAUM. 



merely human regret weigh down His soul 
while He was wending His weary steps down 
the steep hill-slope towards Cana of Galilee ? 
Did any tear start in His eyes unbidden as 
He stood, perhaps for the last time, to gaze 
from thence on the rich plain of Esdraelon, 
and the purple heights of Carmel, and the 
white sands that fringe the blue waters of the 
Mediterranean ? Were there any from whom 
He grieved to be severed, in the green secluded 
valley, where His manhood had labored, and 
His childhood played? Did He cast one long- 
ing, lingering glance at the humble home in 
which for so many years He had toiled as the 
village carpenter? Did no companion of His 
innocent boyhood, no friend of His sinless 
youth, accompany Him with awe, and pity, 
and regret? Such questions are not, surely, 
unnatural ; not, surely, irreverent ; but they 
are not answered. Of all merely human emo- 



tions of His heart, except so far as they di- 
rectly affect His mission upon earth, the Gos- 
pels are silent. We know only that thence- 
forth other friends awaited Him away from 
boorish Nazareth, among the gentle and noble- 
hearted fishermen of Bethsaida ; and that 
thenceforth His home, so far as He had a home, 
was in the little city of Capernaum, beside the 
sunlit waters of the Galilean lake. There 
He found more congenial surroundings. 

On several occasions Jesus withdrew from 
His enemies, quietly departed from their 
jibes and insults to more welcome treatment, 
and in calm dignity pursued His lofty purpose 
and addressed Himself to His merciful mis- 
sion. Destined to suffering, He was resolved 
not to suffer before His time; doomed to 
martyrdom, He was not ready to meet His 
fate until He had preceded it with the eloquent, 
convincing testimony of His life. 




CHAPTER XXXII. 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 




NTIL His rejection by 
the people of Nazareth, 
Jesus considered this 
town as His home. He 
now proceeded to Ca- 
pernaum, where He 
henceforth usually re- 
sided when in Galilee. 
Often as this place is 
mentioned in the New Testament 
there yet occurs no specification of 
its local situation, except the some- 
what indefinite intimation that it lay 
upon the sea-coast, that is, the Sea 
of Tiberias, upon the borders of Za- 
bulon and Nephthalim. It must, 
therefore, have lain on the western 
shore of the lake, and some incidental notices 
in the Gospels enable us to determine that it 
lay on that part of the western shore known as 
the region of Gennesareth, which was a fer- 
tile plain down upon the shore, below the 
mountains which on that side form the basin 
of the lake. 

This small plain occurs in about the mid- 
distance between the town of Tiberias and the 
northern extremity of the lake, and is con- 
tained within a triangular expansion of the 
shore from the backward bending of the moun- 
tains. Capernaum was evidently a place of 
some importance in the time of Christ ; but all 
trace of it has long since disappeared, and the 
very site which it occupied has become uncer- 
tain. In this we may find a striking fulfilment 
of Christ's denunciation: "And thou, Caper- 
naum, which art exalted untohea ven, shalt 
be brought down to hell : for if the mighty 
works which have been done in thee had been 
done in Sodom, it would have remained unto 
this day." 

Here Jesus commonly resided when in this 



part of the country. Home, in the strict sense, 
He had none ; but the house of which He 
made ordinary use appears to have been that 
which belonged to His chief apostle. It is 
true that Simon and Andrew are said to have 
belonged to Bethsaida, but they may easily 
have engaged the use of a house at Capernaum, 
belonging to Peter's mother-in-law ; or, since 
Bethsaida is little more than a suburb or part 
of Capernaum, they may have actually moved 
for the convenience of their Master from the 
one place to the other. 

The first three evangelists have given us a 
detailed account of Christ's first Sabbath at 
Capernaum, and it has for us an intrinsic in- 
terest, because it gives us one remarkable 
specimen of the manner in which He spent the 
days of His active ministry. It is the best 
commentary on that finest of all encomiums 
that " He went about doing good." It is the 
point which the rarest and noblest of His fol- 
lowers have found it most difficult to imitate ; it 
is the point in which His life transcended most 
absolutely the attainment of His very greatest 
forerunners. Nothing is more glorious on the 
one hand, or more difficult on the other, than 
the unwearied toil of a self-renouncing love. 

The day began in the synagogue. If Caper- 
naum were indeed the town now called Tell 
Hum, then the white marble ruins which still 
stand on a little eminence above the lake, and 
still encumber the now waste and desolate site 
of the town with their fragments of elaborate 
sculpture, may possibly be the ruins of this 
very building. 

The synagogue, which is not very large, 
must have been densely crowded ; and to teach 
an earnest and expectant crowd — to teach as 
He taught — not in dull, dead, conventional 
phrase, but with " thoughts that breathed and 
words that burned" — to teach as they do who 

(403) 




(404) 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



405 



are swayed by the emotion of the hour, while 
heart speaks to heart — must have required no 
slight energy of life, must have involved no 
little exhaustion of the physical powers. But 
this was not all. While he was speaking, 
while the audience of simple-hearted yet faithful, 
intelligent, warlike people were listening to 
Him in mute astonishment, hanging on His 
lips with deep and reverential admiration — 
suddenly the deep silence was broken by the 
wild cries and obscene ravings of one of those 
unhappy wretches who were universally be- 
lieved to be under the influence of impure 
spirits, and who — in the absence of any retreat 
for such sufferers — had, perhaps, slipped in 
unobserved among the throng. 

Even the poor demoniac, in the depths of 
his perturbed and degraded nature, had felt 
the haunting spell of that pure presence, of 
that holy voice, of that Divine and illuminating 
message. But, distorted as his whole moral 
being was, he raved against it, as though by 
the voices of the evil demons who possessed 
him, and while he saluted " Jesus the Na- 
zarene " as the Holy One of God, yet, with 
agonies of terror and hatred, demanded to be 
let alone, and not to be destroyed. 

Casting - Out an Evil Spirit. 

Then followed a scene of thrilling excite- 
ment. Turning to the furious and raving 
sufferer, and addressing the devil which seemed 
to be forcing from him these terrified ejacula- 
tions, Jesus said, " Hold thy peace, and come 
out of him." The calm, the sweetness, the 
power of the Divine utterance were irresistible. 
The demoniac fell to the ground in a fearful 
paroxysm, screaming and convulsed. But it 
was soon over. The man rose cured ; his 
whole look and bearing showed that he was 
dispossessed of the overmastering influence, 
and was now in his right mind. A miracle so 
gracious and so commanding had never before 
been so strikingly manifested, and the wor- 
shippers separated with emotions of indescrib- 
able wonder. 

Rising from the seat in the synagogue, Christ 
retired into the house of Simon. Here again 



He was met by the strong appeal of sickness 
and suffering. Simon, whom He had already 
bound to Himself on the banks of the Jordan, 
by the first vague call to his future apostolate, 
was a married man, and his wife's mother lay 
stricken down by a violent fever. One request 
from the afflicted family was sufficient : there 
was no need, as in the case of the more worldly 
nobleman, for importunate entreaty. He stood 
over her ; He took her by the hand ; He 
raised her up; He rebuked the fever; His 
voice, stirring her whole being, dominated 
over the sources of disease, and, restored in- 
stantaneously to health, she rose and busied 
herself about the household duties. 

An Impressive Spectacle. 

Possibly the strictness of observance which 
marked the Jewish Sabbath secured for Jesus 
a brief interval for refreshment ; but no sooner 
did the sun begin to set than the eager mul- 
titude, barely waiting for the full close of the 
Sabbath hours, began to seek His aid. The 
whole city came densely thronging round the 
doors of the humble home, bringing with them 
their demoniacs and their diseased. 

What a strange scene ! There lay the lim- 
pid lake, reflecting in pale rose-color the last 
flush of sunset that gilded the western hills ; 
and here, amid the peace of nature, was ex- 
posed, in hideous variety, the sickness and 
misery of man, while the stillness of the Sab- 
bath twilight was broken by the shrieks of 
demoniacs who testified to the presence of the 
Son of God. 

" A lazar house it seemed, wherein were laid 
Numbers of all diseased ; all maladies 
Of ghastly spasm, and racking tortures, qualms 
Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, 
Demoniac phrenzy, moping melancholy 
And moonstruck madness ; " 

and amidst them all, not 

" Despair 
Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch, 
And over them triumphant Death his dart 
Shook," .... 

but far into the deepening dusk, the only per- 



406 



TENDER COMPASSION 



son there who was unexcited and unalarmed — 
hushing by His voice the delirium of madness 
and the screams of epilepsy, touching disease 
into health again by laying on each unhappy 
and tortured sufferer His pure and gentle 
hands — moved, in His love and tenderness, 
the young Prophet of Nazareth. 

Unalarmed indeed, and unexcited, but not 
free from sorrow and suffering. For sympathy 
is nothing else than a fellow-feeling with 
others ; a sensible participation in their joy or 



' farthest parts of Syria, and we might well have 
imagined that the wearied Saviour would have 
needed a long repose. But to Him the dearest 
and best repose was solitude and silence, where 
He might be alone and undisturbed with His 
heavenly Father. The little plain of Genne- 
sareth was still covered with the deep darkness 
which precedes the dawn, when, unobserved 

I by all, Jesus rose and went away to a desert 
place, and there refreshed His spirit with quiet 

I prayer. Although the work which He was 




JESUS TEACHING BY THE SEA-SIDE. — Lllk( 



woe. And Jesus was touched with a feeling 
of their infirmities. Those cries pierced to 
His inmost heart; the groans and sighs of all 
that collective misery filled His whole soul 
with pity : He bled for them ; He suffered with 
them; their agonies were His; so that the 
evangelist Matthew recalls and echoes in 
this place, with a slight difference of language, 
the words of Isaiah, " Surely He bore our 
griefs and carried our sorrows." 

The fame of that marvelous day rang 
through all Galilee and Peraea, and even to the 



sent to do obliged Him often to spend His 
days amid thronging and excited multitudes, 
He did not love the tumult, and avoided even 
the admiration and gratitude of those who felt 
in His presence a spring of life. 

But He was not suffered thus to remain,, 
even for a brief period, in rest and seclusion. 
The multitude sought Him persistently; Si- 
mon and his friends almost hunted for Him in 
their eager desire to see and to hear. They 
even wished to detain Him among them by 
gentle force. But He quietly resisted their 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



407 



importunity. It was not His object to become 
the centre of an admiring populace, or to 
spend His whole time in working miracles, 
which, though they were deeds of mercy, 
were mainly intended to open their hearts to 
His diviner teaching. His blessings were not 
to be confined to Capernaum. " Let us go," 
He said, " to the adjoining country towns to 
preach the kingdom of God there, also; for 
therefore am I sent." 

The Unsuccessful Fishermen. 

It is doubtful, however, whether Jesus put 
His intention into instant effect. It seems as 
if He so far yielded to the anxiety of the mul- 
titude as to give them one more address before 
He set forth to preach in that populous neigh- 
borhood. He bent His steps towards the 
shore, and probably to the spot where the lit- 
tle boats of His earliest disciples were an- 
chored, near the beach of hard white sand 
which lines the water-side at Bethsaida. At 
a little distance behind Him followed an ever- 
gathering concourse of people from all the 
neighborhood ; and while He stopped to speak 
to them, the two pairs of fisher-brethren, Si- 
mon and Andrew, and James and John, pur- 
sued the toils by which they earned their daily 
bread. 

While Jesus had retired to rest for a few 
short hours of the night, Simon and his com- 
panions, impelled by the necessities of a lot 
which they seem to have borne with noble- 
minded cheerfulness, had been engaged in 
fishing ; and, having been wholly unsuccess- 
ful, two of them, seated on the shore — proba- 
bly in that clear, still atmosphere, within hear- 
ing of His voice — were occupying their time 
in washing, and two, seated in their boat with 
their hired servants, and Zebedee, their father, 
were mending their nets. As Jesus spoke the 
multitude — some in their desire to catch every 
syllable that fell from the lips of Him who 
spake as never man spake, and some in their 
longing to touch Him, and so be healed of 
whatever plagues they had — thronged upon 
Him closer and closer, impeding His move- 
ments with dangerous and unseemly pressure. 



He therefore beckoned to Simon to get into 
his boat and push it ashore, so that He might 
step on board of it, and teach the people from 
thence. Seated in this pleasant pulpit, safe 
from the inconvenient contact with the multi- 
tude, He taught them from the little boat as it 
rocked on the blue ripples, sparkling in the 
morning sun. And when His sermon was 
over He thought not of Himself and of His 
own fatigue, but of His poor and disappointed 
disciples. He knew that they had toiled in 
vain ; He had observed that even while He 
spoke they had been preparing for some fu- 
ture and more prosperous - expedition ; and 
with a sympathy which never omitted an act 
of kindness, He ordered Peter to push out his 
boat into the deep, and all of them to cast out 
their nets once more. Peter was in a despond- 
ent mood ; but the mere word of One whom 
he so deeply reverenced, and whose power he 
had already witnessed, was sufficient. And 
his faith was rewarded. Instantly a vast haul 
of fishes crowded into the nets. 

A Multitude of Fish. 

A busy scene followed. The instinct of 
work first prevailed. Simon and Andrew beck- 
oned to Zebedee and his sons and servants to 
come in their boat and help to save the mirac- 
ulous draught and straining nets ; both boats 
were filled to the gunwale with the load. 

Peter's previous hesitation makes us the 
better appreciate the amazement with which 
he was filled by this event. A landsman 
might not so readily have apprehended the 
full force of all the bearings of this miracle ; 
and Peter himself had been less ^astonished to 
see Christ heal the sick — perhaps from a 
notion, common among the Jews, that the 
prayers of holy men accompanied by imposi- 
tion of hands might have power to heal dis- 
eases and to cast out evil spirits. But here 
was a miracle more distinctly addressed to his 
own perceptions, and which assured him that 
Jesus of Nazareth held dominion even over 
the sea and its inhabitants. He could not but 
conceive that there was some peculiar presence 
of God with a person who could perform a 




(408) 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



409 



miracle like this, and the consciousness of sin 
made him fear to appear in the presence of 
such a One, lest some infirmity or offence 
should expose him to more than ordinary pun- 
ishment. 

When, therefore, he perceived that the fish 
which had been taken at this draught filled 
both the boats to that degree that they began 
to sink, he fell down at the feet of Jesus, cry- 
ing, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 
O Lord." But the Lord encouraged him and 
Andrew, whose sentiments he expressed, by 
saying, '■ Come ye after me, and I will make 
you to become fishers of men." They under- 
stood this conventional formula of " Come 
after me," or " Follow me," as a summons to 
•exclusive attendance upon Him henceforth, 
and, accordingly, they had no sooner landed 
than they abandoned all their fishing concerns 
and followed Him. John and James appear 
to have hastened to the shore with their fish 
and nets in the other vessel, and had not 
heard this call, though they shared in the 
feelings which produced it. When, however, 
Christ had landed with Peter and Andrew, 
and proceeded a little way along the shore, he 
beheld them busily engaged with their father 
Zebedee in mending the broken nets. He 
called to them, " Follow me," and they imme- 
diately arose and followed Him, leaving their 
father in the boat with the hired servants. 

Jesus in the S synagogue. 

During his residence at Capernaum Jesus 
followed his usual practice, and taught in the 
synagogue on the Sabbath-day. It ma}- be re- 
marked that He was not now in His native place, | 
where He might be supposed to have had ' 
more facilities in this respect, according to the 
rules of the synagogues. But the fact is, that 
the Jews in their synagogues were always de- 
sirous of hearing any stranger who had taken 
the character of a public teacher, or who 
seemed to have any wish to address them, and 
hence when such persons happened to be 
present, they were usually called upon by the 
minister of the synagogue. Thus it was that 
-at Capernaum and other places, Jesus found 



frequent opportunities of " teaching in the 
synagogues." 

When Christ taught in the synagogue at 
Capernaum, the people were astonished at His 
doctrine, "for He taught them as one that had 
authority, and not as the scribes." By this 
we understand, that He taught not as a com- 
mentator on the law of Moses, and on the 
traditions of the fathers, but as a prophet 
greater than Moses, come with a new law and 
a new doctrine, and not bound by the literal 
obligations of a covenant completed and fin- 
ished by His own appearance on the earth. 
Well might they who regarded the law and 
the traditions as the eternal counsel of God, 
be " astonished " at the new doctrine which 
Jesus taught. 

The renown of His preaching and miracles 
had by this time spread throughout Syria, and 
multitudes followed Him, or gathered around 
Him wherever He went. Many persons came 
from the remotest parts of the land to hear 
and see Him — even from Jerusalem and Judea, 
and from the country beyond the Jordan. 
Those who know what throngs of diseased 
persons, at this day, in the East, gather around 
any stranger who is supposed or rumored to 
possess medicines, or to be gifted with unusual 
powers of healing, and with what urgent im- 
portunities and cries they appeal to him for 
relief, may form some notion of the crowds of 
diseased persons who would and did gather to 
One whose word, whose touch, whose look, 
had power to drive away every kind of sick- 
ness and disease. Then, and constantly dur- 
ing the sojourning of Christ upon earth, were 
accomplished the prophecies which one of the 
English poets has so beautifully embodied: 

The Saviour comes ! by ancient bards foretold : 
Hear Him, ye deaf; and all ye blind behold [ 
He from thick films shall clear the visual ray, 
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day. 
'Tis He the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, 
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear; 
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, 
And leap exulting like the bounding roe. 

Of all the miraculous cures which were ef- 
fected during this iournev, onlv one has been 



410 



THE LEPROSY. 



selected by the evangelist for particular notice: 
this was the cure of a leper. 

Leprosy was a skin disorder to which the 
ancient nations appear to have been much 
subject, and which was so common even in 
Europe during the middle ages, that numerous 
hospitals, or rather " lazar-houses," were es- 
tablished for reception. The disease, in at 
least one of its most usual forms, imparted an 
unearthly pallor to the complexion, whence, 
when Gehazi was punished with the leprosy 
of which Naaman had been cured, he is said 
to have gone forth from his master's presence 
" a leper as white as snow." 

A Loathsome Disease. 

The disease was deemed incurable by med- 
icine ; it was certainly contagious, and was 
even believed to be hereditary. Lepers were 
hence compelled to live in a state of separa- 
tion outside the towns by the laws of Moses, 
and so rigidly was this law enforced, without 
respect of persons, that the sister of Moses 
and Aaron, when smitten with leprosy, was 
put out of the camp, and king Uzziah, when 
visited with a similar affliction, was compelled 
to relinquish the government, and live secluded 
in a separate house. 

The dread of this disease and of the disa- 
bilities connected with it was so great, that 
still further precautions were judged necessary 
to prevent contamination by accidental or un- 
knowing contact with the leper. He was 
compelled to wear his dress in such a manner 
as sufficiently distinguished him even at a dis- 
tance. His outer garment was rent open in 
front, his head bare, and his lip was to be cov- 
ered either with his hand or the skirt of his 
garment. Nor was this all, for it was his 
bounden duty by cries of " Unclean ! Un- 
clean!" to give warning of his presence to 
those who might happen to be near him. 
These latter precautions were found so effec- 
tual, that, although lepers resided outside the 
towns, they were allowed to enter them in 
day-time, and to appear in the streets and 
public places. 

As this state of the leper was one into 



which no one would willingly enter, it may 
easily be supposed that persons were not 
brought into it without some kind of legal 
process or examination. When a person was 
suspected of being afflicted with leprosy, it 
became the interest of all his friends and 
neighbors to have the fact determined, as 
they might all be subjected to unpleasant 
consequences by continued intercourse widi 
him. He was, therefore, taken before the 
priest, whose business it was to be qualified, 
under certain rules laid down by the law, to 
distinguish true leprosy from any disease 
which might appear like it; and if it were 
a real leprosy, the priest pronounced the man 
unclean, and he went into separation. And 
from this condition no one could be relieved 
but by the same sanction. 

The Outcast Restored. 

If a leper believed himself healed, he was 
to go before the priest, who examined him, 
and pronounced whether he were really cured 
or not. If it were so, the man then under- 
went the ceremonies of purification, which 
are minutely described in Leviticus. These 
chiefly consisted in the slaughter of one of 
two birds which had been brought for the 
purpose, and the sprinkling of the person 
with its blood after the body had been burned. 
The other bird was set free, either to signify 
that the leprosy had departed, or, as others 
allege, to indicate the man's restoration to the 
free intercourse of society in life. This restor- 
ation did not, however, take place all at once. 
The man remained apart both from lepers and 
from clean persons for a week after the purifi- 
cation ; and he then again presented himself 
before the priest, when, if no symptom of lep- 
rosy had reappeared, he presented a sacrifice, 
and all restraint was withdrawn from him. 

Under these circumstances we can have no 
difficulty in understanding how fervently a 
(leper would desire to be relieved from his 
! miserable condition, and considering the usu- 
ally incurable nature of the disease we can 
the better appreciate the strength of faith man- 
ifested by the leper who fell down Defore Christ,.. 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



411 



and besought Him, saying, " Lord, if Thou 
wilt, Thou canst make me clean ! " The Saviour 
of men was touched with compassion. He 
put forth His hand and touched him, saying, 
"I will; be thou clean;" and immediately 
the man's leprosy departed from him. Jesus 
then charged him not to declare the manner 
of his cure, but to go and show himself to 
the priest in the usual course. This was in- 
deed necessary to restore the man to his 
civil privileges ; but in this case it had also 
the effect of rendering the inspection of the 
priest instrumental in authenticating the mira- 
cle. The man, however, was unable to con- 
trol the expression of his wonder and grati- 
tude. He published the matter wherever he 
went, and such was the effect that Christ was 
unable to enter any town openly on account 
of the crowds which beset his path. 

Jesus returned to Capernaum, where dis- 
eased persons continued to be brought to Him, 
and large numbers of people from different 
parts of the county attended His instructions. 
He was once teaching in a house so crowded 
with auditors, even to the door, that all means 
of access were cut off. Here a man entirely 
laid up with palsy was brought to be cured by 
Jesus ; and when his bearers found that they 
could not in any other way bring him before 
Christ, they took him to the top of the house, 
and lowered him down through the tiling, in 
his bed, to the feet of Jesus. This transaction 
appears somewhat difficult, owing to the great 
difference between the construction of eastern 
houses and of our own. 

A little explanation will make it clear. The 
houses have flat roofs, protected by a rail or 
parapet, and forming a fine terrace, to which 
the people resort for air and exercise, and 
where they sleep during the nights of summer. 
There is usually a flight of steps near the 
door, and another in the interior part of the 
house communicating with the roof. If the 
bearers of the palsied man could not get ac- 
cess to the door, they doubtless carried him to 
the roof of a neighboring house, and then 
passed him over the separating parapet to the 
roof of that house in which Christ was. 



The buildings of an eastern house form one- 
or more sides of an interior court or quad- 
rangle. The ground floor is usually occupied 
by offices ; the first floor is fronted by a cov- 
ered gallery, into which all the principal apart- 
ments of the house open. If there be a sec- 
ond story, there is a similar gallery to it. Now 
the nature of the operation performed by the 
persons in charge of the paralytic depends en- 
tirely upon the position which Christ at that 
time occupied. He was not in the court 
preaching to the people there, because in that 
case it would not have been needful to remove 
any tiling in order to let the sick man down to 
Him. Neither was He in a room, as is usually 
interpreted, for that would have necessitated 
the removal or opening of the roof; and this, 
from the materials of which the roofs are com- 
posed, and from the manner of their construc- 
tion, would not only have been a work of 
much time and labor, but would have filled the 
room below with dust and rubbish. 

Difficulties Overcome. 

It only, therefore, remains to conclude that 
Christ was in the gallery. This was not only 
the position likely to be taken by any person 
desirous of being heard by the largest number 
of persons, but the one which best agrees 
with all the circumstances of the case. The 
bearers of the paralytic man had, then, only 
to remove the covering or pent-house of the 
gallery, which is usually formed of materials- 
easily removed, and to let the sick man down. 

The faith implied in the trouble taken and 
the means employed in gaining access to His 
presence, was that which first and most 
strongly engaged the attention of Christ when 
this poor creature was lowered down to His 
feet. Therefore, He bestowed upon him a 
greater boon than he came to seek, in the 
words, " Man, thy sins are forgiven thee ! " 
This saying utterly confounded all the learned 
and high-notioned persons — the scribes and 
Pharisees — who happened to be present. They 
knew that, although a man honored by the Al- 
mighty might work marvels, as the prophets 
of old had done, the forgiveness of sin was a- 



412 



THE RECEIPT OF CUSTOM. 



•peculiar and special attribute of God, and hence 
they thought among themselves, " Who is this 
that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive 
sins but God alone ? " Although they did not 
speak this out, but only thought it, Christ per- 
ceived their feeling in this matter, and, turning 
to them, asked, " What reason ye in your 
heart? Whether is it easier to say, 'Thy sins 
be forgiven thee,' or to say, ' Rise up and 
Avalk?' " These were surprising questions. 

The Paralytic Cured. 

And then, using His power to say the latter 
as an argument of His right to say the former, 
He added : " But that ye may know that the 
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive 
sins " (and here He turned to the palsied man) 
" I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, 
and go unto thine house! " And immediately 
the man felt his miserable limbs loosened 
from their long bondage, he felt them gather 
strength and substance, he felt them roused to 
vital action ; and he sprung upon his feet, he 
took up the couch on which he had the mo- 
ment before lain helpless and impotent, and he 
hastened therewith to hisown house, glorifying 
God. The astonished crowd also dispersed; 
and men said to one another, " We have seen 
strange things to-day ! " 

If there were any people whom the Jews 
detested more than even the Samaritans, more 
than even the very heathen, it was the pub- 
licans. This constantly appears in the Gospels, 
where the proud Pharisees make it a frequent 
matter of reproach to Christ that he associated 
with " publicans and sinners." The publicans 
were tax-gatherers — a body of men not much 
liked in any country, but absolutely loathed in 
Palestine. This requires some explanation. 

The government taxes under the Romans 
were usually sublet by persons of family and 
consideration, and although they were called 
publicans by the Romans, they are not to be 
confounded with the publicans of the New Tes- 
tament. Even this office, however, had con- 
siderably declined from its ancient reputation, 
as the traffickers in the revenue began to let 
it appear that they cared considerably more 



for their own profits than for the revenues of 
the state, or for the well-being of those by 
whom the taxes were paid. These personages 
of course employed large numbers of persons 
to collect the taxes and customs, who were 
mostly natives of the country in which the 
taxes were collected. 

These were also called publicans, and were 
in general discredit — first, for their rapacious- 
ness in the endeavor to make a purse for 
themselves by extortionate exactions upon 
their own countrymen, and that too in the 
payment of tributes odious in themselves; and, 
then, on account of their connection with and 
dependence upon the conquering people. In 
a conquered na f ion we always find those per- 
sons odious who enter into the service of the 
conquering people, and much more when the 
service in which they engage is one which 
would be odious under any circumstances. 
Now, if this were the case generally, we may 
judge with what intensity these feelings would 
operate among such a people as the Jews, who 
abhorred the Roman yoke, who regarded as 
almost impious the payment of tribute to the 
heathen, and who deemed that intercourse 
with the heathen, which the office of the pub- 
lican involved, as amounting to an absolute 
defilement. 

Matthew Called. 

This disrepute of the office naturally oper- 
ated in throwing it into the hands of low and 
unprincipled persons, whose conduct aggra- 
vated and in some degree justified the odium 
in which the employment was held. This was 
so strong that the publicans formed, as it were, 
a caste by themselves, with whom few would 
sit down to meat, and into whose houses few 
would enter. No doubt there were some ex- 
ceptions to the character thus given to them ; 
no doubt there were among them respectable 
and fair-dealing men ; but this was their 
general character, and there were probably 
fewer persons who thought well of the pub- 
licans than there were publicans who deserved 
to be well thought of. 

One day when Jesus went forth from the 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



413 



town of Capernaum to the border of the lake, 
attended by a crowd as usual, He observed a 
publican named Matthew " sitting at the receipt 



foot of bridges, at the mouth of rivers, and by 
the sea-shore. They received tolls from those 
who crossed the water, and delivered a ticket 




HEALING THE PALSIED. Mark ii. 4. 



of custom." Some think that he sat in the 
maritime gate of the town, but it appears that 
the publicans had booths or toll-houses ac the 



from 



further 



which exempted the person 
payment on the other side. 

In the present case Matthew probably re- 



414 



REMARKABLE WATERS. 



ceived the tolls of those who crossed the Lake 
of Gennesareth at this point, trafficking in fish 
and other goods. Jesus called to this person, 
"Follow me;" and immediately "he left all, 
rose up, and followed Him." This readiness 
to follow Him who had not where to lay His 
head is the more praiseworthy when we reflect 
that Matthew was a man of some substance, 
as indeed most of the publicans were, even the 
fair gains of the occupation being very con- 
siderable. That Matthew was such appears 
from the great feast which he gave to Jesus 
and His disciples that same evening, at which 
so many publicans were present as gave occa- 
sion for the first murmur against Jesus as one 
who kept company with publicans and sinners. 
The time of the Passover again came round, 
and Jesus proceeded to Jerusalem with his dis- 
ciples. 

The Pool of Bethesda. 

The gate by which sheep, especially those 
destined for the service of the Temple, were 
brought into the city, was called the Sheep- 
gate. Not far from this gate was a bath or 
pool, called the Pool of Bethesda. Under the 
north wall of the Temple there is still a deep 
reservoir which travellers identify with this 
pool. This reservoir measures three hundred 
and sixty feet in length, one hundred and 
thirty in breadth, and seventy- five feet in depth 
to the bottom, besides the rubbish which has 
been accumulating in it for ages. It has ob- 
viously been used as a reservoir, for the sides 
have been cased internally with small stones, 
and these again covered with plaster; but 
there are some signs that this is a compara- 
tively recent appropriation ; and Dr. Robin- 
son is strongly persuaded that it anciently 
formed part of the trench or ditch which on 
this side bounded the Temple. This matter 
requires and will doubtless receive further in- 
vestigation, and meanwhile we must be con- 
tent to remain in some doubt whether any 
traces of the Pool of Bethesda now exist. 

This pool was a kind of bath with some 
healing property in its waters, which occa- 
sioned it to be the resort of diseased persons, 



for whose accommodation the place was pro- 
vided with five porches. The account given 
of this bath by the evangelist is: " An angel 
1 went down at a certain season into the pool 
! and troubled the water : whosoever then first 
after the troubling of the water stepped in, was 
macje whole of whatsoever disease he had." 

In the porches of the bath at this time lay a 
| large number of diseased persons, the blind, 
the halt, the withered, waiting the opportunity 
: of going into the water as soon as the commo- 
! tion should be observed. As Jesus passed this 
I way His attention was directed to a man who 
had been in a helpless condition for thirty- 
eight years. To him Christ put the thrilling 
question — " Wilt thou be made whole? " But 
the man, not apprehending the full drift of the 
question, replied by explaining that hitherto 
he had been unable to step into the water at 
the time of cure ; for others, when the com- 
motion was observed, went in before him and 
reaped the benefit. Then Jesus said to him, 
" Rise, take up thy bed, and walk ! " And He 
was instantly obeyed ; the man arose perfectly 
whole, and departed to his home bearing the 
bed on which he had a moment before lain in 
cureless paralysis. 

Sabbath Observance. 

It happened to be the Sabbath-day, on which 
it was deemed unlawful to carry any burden. 
The man was reminded of this by the persons 
whom he passed. He pleaded the order of 
the person who had made him whole, but who 
was unknown to him. He afterwards, how- 
ever, saw Christ, and was spoken to by Him 
in the Temple, and then he went and reported 
who it was that had made him whole. 

Now the man probably did this with good 
intentions, but it furnished the Jews with a 
ground of reproach against Him, not as one 
who had directed another to break the Sab- 
bath, but as one who had broken it Himself 
by performing this cure on the Sabbath-day. 
J It was only in cases of urgent and extreme 
; necessity that the sick received the usual at- 
I tention on the Sabbath-day, the rule being not 
!to do anything for them which could be qost- 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



415 



poned to the next day without danger, and, I the next day, and not performed on the Sab- 
therefore, in this case, they would argue that I bath. We are not to suppose that Christ had 




HEALING THE IMPOTENT MAN AT THE POOL. — John V. 8. 

seeing the man had lain so long in this state, i any intention to slight the Sabbath. The no- 
the act of cure should have been delayed till | tions to which his practice was opposed were 



416 



THE LORD OF THE SABBATH. 



not sanctioned by the law of Moses, but were 
the preposterous refinements of a later age. 
But even if they had been required by the 
law of Moses, He — with His equal, His far 
higher commission — was not bound by its re- 
strictions : for He came with a greater law of 
His own, and was " Lord even of the Sabbath- 
day." 

It is remarkable how many circumstances 
are reported by the evangelists to have taken 
place on the Sabbath-day. From this we must 
infer that Christ purposely wrought His more 
signal miracles on that day, for the reasons al- 
ready indicated, or the evangelists select these 
on account of the discussions to which they 
gave rise. The latter seems the more proba- 
ble conclusion. The next case on which this 
discussion was raised was, however, an inci- 
dent involving no display of Divine power. 

Plucking the Ears of Corn. 

On the Sabbath following that on which the 
paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda was cured, 
Christ and His disciples were passing through 
the corn-fields, when some of the latter, being 
hungry, plucked some of the ears, and ate the 
grain after rubbing it out between their hands. 
Some Pharisees who were present seized hold 
of this incident and asked, " Why do ye that 
which it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath- 
day ? " The reader conversant with the law 
of Moses will marvel at this question, for there 
is certainly no law in the books of Moses for- 
bidding eating on the Sabbath-day, or forbid- 
ding the plucking of the ears of corn, or rub- 
bing them in the hands. It arose from one 
of those preposterous refinements upon the 
law to which the Jews of that age were prone. 

Every simple prohibition of the law was 
traced out to its remotest associations, which 
were all deemed unlawful by the Pharisees, 
which is another name for persons strongly 
given to such refinements, and who deemed 
the observance of them essential matters of 
the law. The act of the disciples they would 
consider as forbidden by the command : " Thou 
shalt do no manner of work on the Sabbath- 
day." Now plucking the corn they regarded 



as a manner of work, a sort of reaping or of 
plucking up corn — which is a mode in which 
it was gathered among them ; nor was this all,, 
for the rubbing with the hands they held to be 
also a manner of work of the same nature and 
equivalent to the threshing of corn. 

The remark made to the disciples was an- 
swered by Jesus Himself, with one of His usual 
arguments, namely, that even assuming that 
such acts were contrary to the law, He had a 
power above the law, and was not bound by 
the restrictions which it imposed. In this 
case He alluded to David, who, without blame, 
ate, when hungry, of the shew-bread, which it 
was most decidedly unlawful for any but the 
priests to eat. He also pointed out that, ac- 
cording to their view, the very priests, in the 
sacrificial acts of their sacred service, con- 
stantly profaned the Sabbath-day, and yet were 
blameless. If they enjoyed such exemption, 
how much more He, who was greater than 
even the Temple by which their priestly acts 
were consecrated. 

In conclusion Jesus added: " The Sabbath 
was made for man, and not man for the Sab- 
bath : therefore, the Son of man is Lord also 
of the Sabbath." All this is more precisely 
levelled at particular Jewish notions than we 
can find room to explain. But it must be un- 
derstood that the last expression amounted 
to an explicit claim to be regarded as the Mes- 
siah ; for it was believed by the Jews them- 
selves that the Messiah was Lord of the Sab- 
bath, and that in His day all that was burden- 
some in its observance would be removed. 
The gist of the argument, therefore, is, " I am 
the Messiah ; and I claim the privileges which 
you admit to belong to that character." 

The Man with a Withered Hand. 

Jesus the same day, apparently, attended at 
one of the synagogues in Jerusalem. There 
was conspicuously present a man whose hand 
was withered, and the Pharisees present, now 
fully alive to His views in a matter which they 
deemed so essential, watched Him closely to 
observe His course of action, in order that 
they might, if possible, find some ground of 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



417 



accusation against Him in the Sanhedrim. 
Perceiving this, Jesus told the man to stand 
forward ; on which the Pharisees, unable to 
contain themselves, asked, " Is it lawful to heal 
on the Sabbath-day ? " This seems a most pre- 



shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit 
on the Sabbath-day, will he not lay hold on it 
and lift it out? how much then is'a man bet- 
ter than a sheep ? " They could not answer 
this ; and Jesus, after looking around upon 




CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES IN THE CORN-FIELDS. Luke vi. I. 

them with righteous indignation, bade the man 
stretch forth his shrunk-up hand. That hand, 
powerless so long, no longer refused to obey 
his will ; he stretched it forth sound and per- 
fect as the other. 



posterous question, and such it was ; but we 
have already explained the view on which it 
was founded.. Christ answered by referring to 
a case which the law itself declared to be legal : 
"What man shall there be among you, that 
27 



418 



HEROD ANTIPAS. 



On this the Pharisees left the place in high 
exasperation ; this act having been the first 
which was performed contrary to and in defi- 
ance of their previous remonstrances. They 
then first began to consult with the Herodians 
how they might destroy Him. These Hero- 
dians seem to have been a political party, 
anxious to secure for Herod Antipas, the 
tetrarch of Galilee, the regal titles and powers 
which had been enjoyed by Herod the Great, 
and who, therefore, had just the same grounds 
for resisting the claim of Jesus to be re- 
garded as the Messiah, which had at a former 
time induced the elder Herod to seek the 
destruction of the heaven-born " King of the 
Jews." 

A Malicious Plot. 

The sole object of the scribes, Pharisees, 
and Herodians was to watch what He would 
do, and found upon it a public charge before 
the Sanhedrim, or if not, at least to brand Him 
thenceforth with the open stigma of a Sab- 
bath-breaker. Therefore, they met the ques- 
tion, " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day?" 
by stolid and impotent silence. But He 
would not allow them to escape the verdict 
of their own better judgment, and therefore 
He justified Himself by their own distinct 
practice, no less than by their inability to 
answer. " Is there one of you," He asked, 
" who, if but a single sheep be fallen into a 
water-pit, will not get hold of it, and pull it 
out ? How much then is a man better than 
a sheep ? " The argument was unanswerable, 
and their own conduct in the matter was 
undeniable; but still their fierce silence re- 
mained unbroken. He looked round on them 
with anger; a holy indignation burned in 
His heart, glowed on His countenance, ani- 
mated His gesture, rang in His voice, as 
slowly He swept each hard upturned face 
with the glance that upbraided them for their 
malignity and meanness, for their ignorance 
and pride ; and then suppressing that bitter 
and strong emotion as He turned to do His 
deed of mercy. 

Thus in every way were His enemies foiled 



— foiled in argument, shamed into silence, 
thwarted even in their attempt to find some 
ground for a criminal accusation. For even 
in healing the man, Christ had done abso- 
lutely nothing which their worst hostility 
could misconstrue into a breach of the Sab- 
bath law. He had not touched the man ; He 
had not questioned him ; He had not bid him 
exercise his recovered power; He had but 
spoken a word, and not even a Pharisee could 
say that to speak a word was an infraction 
of the Sabbath, even if the word were followed 
by miraculous blessing ! 

They must have felt how utterly they were 
defeated, but it only kindled their rage the 
more. They were filled with madness and 
communed one with another what they might 
do \o Jesus. Hitherto they had been enemies 
of the Herodians. They regarded them as 
half-apostate Jews, who accepted the Roman 
domination, imitated heathen practices, adopted 
Sadducean opinions, and had gone so far in 
their flattery to the reigning house that they 
had blasphemously tried to represent Herod 
the Great as the promised Messiah. But now 
their old enmities were reconciled in their 
mad rage against a common foe. Something 
— perhaps the fear felt by Antipas, perhaps 
political suspicion, perhaps the mere natural 
hatred of worldlings and renegades against 
the sweet and noble doctrines which shamed 
their lives — had recently added these Hero- 
dians to the number of the Saviour's perse- 
cutors. As Galilee was the chief centre of 
Christ's activity, the Jerusalem Pharisees 
were glad to avail themselves of any aid from 
the Galilean tetrarch and his followers. They 
took common counsel how they might de- 
stroy by violence the prophet whom they could 
neither refute by reasoning nor circumvent 
by law. 

This enmity of the leaders had not yet es- 
tranged from Christ the minds of the multitude. 
It made it desirable, however, for Him to move 
to another place, because he would " neither 
strive nor cry, neither should any man hear 
His voice in the streets," and the hour was not 
yet come when He should "send forth judg- 




(419) 



420 



A SHARP REPLY. 



ment to victory." But before His departure 
there occurred scenes yet more violent, and 
outbreaks of fury against Him yet more marked 
and dangerous. Every day it became more 
and more necessary to show that the rift be- 
tween Himself and the religious leaders of His 
nation was deep and final ; every day it became 
more and more necessary to expose the hypo- 
critical formalism which pervaded their ,doc- 
trines, and which was but the efflorescence of 
a fatal and deeply-seated plague. 

Ceremonial Cleansings. 

His first denunciation of the principles that 
lay at the very basis of the Pharisaic system 
was caused by another combined attempt of 
the Jerusalem scribes to damage the position 
of His disciples. On some occasion they had 
observed that the disciples had sat down to a 
meal without previous ablutions. Now these 
ablutions were insisted upon with special sol- 
emnity by the oral tradition. The Jews of 
later times related with intense admiration how 
the Rabbi Akiba, when imprisoned and fur- 
nished with only sufficient water to maintain 
life, preferred to die of starvation rather than 
eat without the proper washings. The Phari- 
sees, therefore, coming up to Jesus as usual in 
a body, ask Him, with a swelling sense of self- 
importance at the justice of their reproach, 
" Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition 
of the elders ? for they wash not their hands 
when they eat bread." 

The traditional ablutions observed by the 
Pharisees and all the leading Jews were ex- 
tremely elaborate and numerous. Before every 
meal, and at every return from market, they 
washed " with the fist," and if no water was at 
handf a man was obliged to go at least four 
miles to search for it. Besides this there were 
precise rules for the washing of all cups, ban- 
quet-couches, and brazen vessels. A compen- 
dium of Rabbinical usages drawn up by Josef 
Karo in 1567, contains no less than twenty- 
six prayers by which these washings were 
accompanied. To neglect them involved a for- 
feiture of eternal life. And yet the disciples 
dared to eat with unwashen hands ! 



As usual, Jesus at once made common cause 
with His disciples, and did not leave them, in 
their simplicity and ignorance, to be overawed 
by the attack of these stately and sancti- 
monious critics. He answered their question 
by a far graver one. "Why," he said, " do 
you too violate the commandment of God by 
this 'tradition' of yours ? For God's com- 
mand was, ' Honor thy father and thy mother ; ' 
but your gloss is, instead of giving to father 
and mother, a man may simply give the sum 
intended for their support to the sacred 
treasury, and say he is exempt from any fur- 
ther burden in their support ! And many such 
things ye do. Ye hypocrites!" — it was the 
first time that Jesus had thus sternly rebuked 
them — " finely do ye abolish and obliterate the 
commandment of God by your traditions ; and 
well did Isaiah prophesy of you, ' This people 
honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is 
far from me; in vain do they worship me, 
teaching for doctrines the commandment of 
men.' " 

The Traditional Law. 

This was not only a defence of the disciples 
— because it showed that they merely neg- 
lected a body of regulations which were in 
themselves so opposed to the very letter of the 
sacred law as, in many cases, to be more 
honored in the breach than the observance — 
but it was the open rebuke of One who as- 
sumed a superior and fearless authority, and 
a distinct reprobation of a system which more 
reverenced than the books of Moses. The 
Jews distinguished between the written law 
and the traditional law, or " law upon the 
lip ; " and the latter was asserted, by its more 
extravagant votaries, to have been orally de- 
livered by God to Moses, and orally trans- 
mitted by him through a succession of elders. 
So extravagant did the reverence for the tradi- 
tional law become, that it was said to read the 
Scriptures was a matter of indifference, but to 
read the traditions was meritorious and re- 
ceived the richest recompense. 

And it was this foolish system of revered 
commentary and pious custom which Jesus 
now so completely discountenanced, as not 



JESUS IN "GALILEE. 



421 



only to defend the neglect of it, but even 
openly to condemn and repudiate its most 
established principles. He thus consigned 
to oblivion and indifference the entire mass of 
" legends " and " rules," which, though up to 
that period they had not been committed to 
writing, were yet devoutly cherished in the 
memory of the learned, and constituted the 
wisdom of the Rabbis, or learned teachers. 

The Pharisees Offended. 

Turning away from them as though they 
were hopeless, He summoned the multitude, 
whom they had trained to look up to them as 
little gods, and spoke these short and weighty 
words : " Hear me, all of you, and under- 
stand ! Not that which goeth into the mouth 
defileth the man ; but that which cometh out 
of the mouth, that defileth a man." 

The Pharisees were bitterly offended by 
this saying, as well indeed they might be. 
Condemnatory as it was of the common in- 
fatuation for all that is merely ceremonial, 
that utterance of Jesus was the final death- 
knell of ceremonialism. His disciples were 
not slow to inform Him of the indignation 
which His words had caused, for they prob- 
ably retained a large share of the popular 
awe for the leading sect. But the reply of 
Jesus was an expression of calm indifference 
to earthly judgment, a reference of all worth 
to the sole judgment of God as shown in the 
slow ripening of events. " Every plant which 
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be 
rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind 
leaders of the blind; and if the blind lead the 
blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch ? " 

A little later, when they were in-doors and 
alone, Peter ventured to ask for an explana- 
tion of the words which He had uttered so 
emphatically to the multitude. Jesus gently 
blamed the want of comprehension among 
His apostles, but showed them, in teaching of 
deep significance, that man's food does but 
affect his material structure, and does not 
enter into his heart, or touch his real being ; 
but that " from within, out of the heart of 
men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, forni- 



cations, murders, theft, covetousness, wicked- 
ness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blas- 
phemy, pride, foolishness." Evil thoughts 
— like one tiny rill of evil, and then the burst 
of all that black overwhelming torrent! 
" These are the things which defile a man; but 
to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." 
The time for Jesus to suffer death had not 
yet come ; His mission on earth was not yet 
accomplished ; and therefore He left Judea, 
attended by His disciples, and returned to the 
borders of the Lake of Gennesareth. In this 
journey He was followed by crowds of people, 
anxious to hear Him and to see His mighty 
works — not only from Jerusalem and Judea, 
and from the remote parts of Galilee, but from 
Idumaea, the region beyond the river Jordan, 
and even from Phoenicia. 

Jesus in the Throng-. 

Besides the thronging of this mixed mul- 
titude around the Saviour whenever He ap- 
peared in public, those who were afflicted with 
diseases pressed close around Him, in the 
hope that, if they might but touch Him, the 
virtue which transpired from His sacred per- 
son would suffice to accomplish their cure. 
The inconvenience of this became at length 
so urgent, that it was arranged with the disci- 
ples, who had been fishermen at this place, 
that a boat should be in attendance on the 
shore to receive Him when incommoded by 
the crowd. 

Jesus had now returned to Capernaum, 
which has been indicated as His usual place 
of residence when in Galilee. The crowds by 
which He was followed from day to day, 
wherever he appeared, made more dear to 
Him the solitude, meet for prayer and medi- 
tation, which He could only secure by with- 
drawing secretly from the town, and remain- 
ing all night in the neighboring mountains 
and wildernesses. Often in those days — 

" Cold mountains and the midnight air 
Witnessed the fervor of His prayer." 

We are told of one night in which He thus 
withdrew to a mountain, and " continued all 



422 

rht 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN, 
in prayer to God." This was prepara-iby many important considerations 



the chief 



nismt in prayer to uou. mis wa=> p^«'« -/ / r - 

tory to the nomination of the twelve apostles. | of which seems to have been that they, being 




JESUS HEALING THE MULTITUDE 

The selection of twelve from among his 
more constant followers, to be always with 
Him, and to act in His name, was dictated 



-Luke vi. 19. 



ever about him, hearing all He said and see- 
ing all He did, might, after His decease, 
become competent witnesses of His whole 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



423 



•course of life and action ; and be so well in- 
structed in the things of God, as to carry on 
the work which it was His commission only 
to commence. The persons chosen included 
the six who had been already called to follow 
Christ, namely, the brothers Peter and An- 
drew ; the brothers John and James ; Philip 
and Matthew ; and six whose names have not 
before occurred — Bartholomew (supposed to 
be the same with Nathaniel) ; James and 
Jude, sons of Alphaeus and first cousins of 
Christ, on which account they are sometimes 
called His "brethren." Their mother appears 
to have been a sister of the virgin Mary. The 
others were Thomas, surnamed Didymus, or 
the " twin ; " Simon, surnamed Zelotes ; and 
Judas, surnamed Iscariot. 

A Memorable Discourse. 

A great multitude, composed as usual, and 
brought together by the usual motives, had by 
this time gathered to Jesus in the open coun- 
try. Perceiving this, he ascended an eminence, 
and there delivered the famous sermon on the 
mount. 

That which is supposed to be the mount 
from which this sermon was delivered is now 
called by Christians the Mount of Beatitudes. 
The evangelists specify no particular moun- 
tain, and there are near the lake perhaps a 
•dozen mountains which would answer to the; 
circumstances of the history. 

But the sermon itself: — who can speak of 
these Divine words according to their claims 
upon our admiration and respect? How dif- 
ferent from all that the philosophers and 
poets of the heathen taught ! — and how differ- 
ent even from the teaching of the ancient 
Hebrew prophets ! — and, above all, how dif- 
ferent in spirit and essential matter from the 
mean talk and petty questions with which the 
great Jewish doctors of that age amused their 
disciples ! No wonder that this new style of 
teaching attracted such multitudes to hear 
Jesus, and drew from them, on more than 
one occasion, the acknowledgment that never 
man spake like Him. 

The scope of this discourse is to correct the 



false notions which the Jews entertained con- 
cerning the Messiah's kingdom, and to teach 
what kind of happiness was to be expected 
from it, and to describe the dispositions which 
were necessary to its attainment. Of the 
multitude which Jesus addressed, a great part 
were men of mean station and humble circum- 
stances, held in contempt by the rulers, the 
priests, and the Pharisees. Many of them, 
perhaps all of them, expected from the Mes- 
siah — and, in acknowledging Christ to be the 
Messiah, expected from Him — at least the 
blessings promised by Moses, affluence, pros- 
perity, and whatever is thought promotive of 
worldly well-being. But of that there seemed 
little hope from Jesus, as those who had hith- 
erto followed Him were not, in that respect, in 
any very enviable condition. Jesus therefore 
teaches them what was to be expected and 
aimed at by those who should submit them- 
selves to His direction. 

In order, too, that He might render His 
hearers the more attentive, and that they 
might the better remember his utterances, He, 
conformably to eastern custom, propounds 
His doctrine by certain paradoxes, which 
seem at first sight false, but on examination 
turn out to be true. In this discourse also 
He advances in a very marked manner His 
claim to be considered as a legislator, not 
only equal to Moses, but superior to him. 
The Jews allowed that the Messiah would be 
greater than Moses, and, therefore, in advanc- 
ing this claim, Jesus declares Himself the 
Messiah, and was so understood. 

It is often supposed that Christ here comes 
forward to explain what the law of Moses 
really meant — thus making Himself in fact a 
commentator on that law : but it may rather 
appear that He refers to the law of Moses in 
order to illustrate by particular examples the 
superiority of the new doctrine which He 
came to teach — of the new law which He 
came to promulgate. So when He says, 
" Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'An 
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' but / 
say unto you that ye resist not evil," He 
surely does not mean to develop any inner 







THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Matt. V. I. 



(424) 







JESUS IN GALILEE. 



425 



meaning of the old law which He cites, but 
to produce a new and better law of His own. 

It seems very certain that in delivering this 
discourse Jesus had in view the city of Sapheth, 
which is seated upon the summit of a tall and 
very steep mountain, where it seems perched 
high in air, and scarcely accessible to mortal 
foot. In fact this mountain and city must 
have been visible from almost any point of the 
locality in which the sermon was delivered. 
This fact gives much force to some of the 
allusions in the sermon, as, "A city that is 
set on a hill cannot be hid ; " and above all 
to the magnificent conclusion of the discourse : 
— " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise 
man who built his house upon a rock ; and 
the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; 
and it fell not; for it was founded upon a 
rock. And every one that heareth these 
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be 
likened to a foolish man who built his house 
upon the sand : and the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew, and 
beat upon that house ; and it fell ; and great 
was the fall of it." 

A Roman Soldier. 

Jesus then returned to Capernaum, where 
an incident awaited Him different in character 
from any which had yet occurred. It seems 
that there was a garrison of Roman soldiers 
stationed in or near this place, one of whose 
officers — perhaps the officer in command — 
was a centurion (captain of a hundred men), 
who entertained towards the Jews a kind feel- 
ing, and for their religion a respect, by no 
means common among the Roman legions. 
He had even built for the people at Caper- 
naum the synagogue in which they wor- 
shipped, and in which they had heard the 
words of Christ and seen His miracles. 

This centurion had a favorite slave, who had 
fallen dangerously ill, and for whom he ex- 
perienced great concern. Having heard — for 
who had not heard ? — of the wonderful cures 
performed by Christ, hope for his beloved ser- 



vant arose within him. He was filled with a 
far more exalted idea of the person and char- 
acter of Jesus than the Jews themselves enter- 
tained ; and, diffident of obtaining attention 
from Him, he persuaded the chief Jews of the 
place to apply on his behalf, and to say that 
for him which he could not say for himself. 
They did so, saying that he was worthy for 
whom He should do this, " for he loveth our 
nation and hath built us a synagogue." 

Healing' the Centurion's Servant. 

Then Jesus went with them to the cen- 
turion's house: but before they reached it, 
came a message from the centurion, saying, 
"Give not Thyself this trouble; I am not 
worthy that Thou shouldest come under my 
roof; nor did I deem myself worthy to come 
in person to Thee : but speak one word only r 
and my servant will be well." Jesus was much 
struck by this. The Jews admitted His power 
to heal, but deemed it needful that He should 
be personally present and touch the diseased 
person ,with His hand. But here was a for- 
eigner, a heathen, who had the faith — who be- 
lieved that a word from Christ, spoken in the 
absence of the diseased person, would suffice 
to effect the cure. 

Christ therefore turned round to the people 
who followed Him, and said, " I have not 
found such great faith — no, not in Israel ; " and 
He added, " Many shall come from the east 
and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast 
out into outer darkness." This is to us a very 
intelligible allusion to the calling of the Gen- 
tiles and the rejection of the Jews ; but to the 
people it was obscure ; and as they probably 
interpreted it to mean that many such heathen 
would become proselytes to Judaism, it did not 
give the offence with which some of the later 
and plainer declarations on this point were re- 
ceived. 

The friends who had brought to Jesus the 
message of the centurion returned to the house r 
and found that he had received the reward of 
his faith in the perfect recovery of his servant. 



426 



JESUS AT NAIN. 



The day after this Jesus proceeded to Nain, I some consequence, but has now dwindled to a 
thirteen miles to the south of the place where I small hamlet under the name of Nein. On 




THE WIDOW'S SON RESTORED TO LIFE. Luke vii. 14. 

che sermon on the mount is supposed to have l approaching the gate of this town the crowd 
been delivered. This was then a place of I which attended Him was met by another. 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 



427 



-probably as numerous, issuing from the city. 
It was the becoming custom of the Jews to 
bury their dead outside of the towns : nor was 
this peculiar to them, but common to all the 
nations of the East and West, until the present 
custom of burying in or near churches, first 
introduced in honor of the martyrs, was ex- 
tended into general use. 

The crowd which issued from the gate of 
Nain was in attendance upon the funeral of a 
young man, the only son of a poor woman, 
and her only stay — for she was a widow. The 
attendance was so great on account of the 
number of persons who were anxious to testify 
their sympathy and respect. 

This scene was well calculated to move the 
compassion of Him "who went about doing 
good ; " and to lead Him to do a greater work 
than any which He had yet performed. Full 
of Divine tenderness, He cheered the desolate 
mother, and said unto her, " Weep not ; " and 
the bearers of the corpse He directed to lay 
down their melancholy burden. Among the 
Jews the dead were carried to the grave upon 
open biers, and not in closed coffins, the use 
•of which was, in the time of Christ, confined 
to the higher classes. Turning to the bier, 
Jesus said, " Young man, I say unto thee, 
Arise ! " The " dull, cold ear of death " heard 
His voice; the youth rose up, and gave the 
most satisfactory proof of his restoration to 
consciousness and life by speaking to the per- 
sons around him. Jesus then consigned him 
to his mother. Who can tell the mysteries 
of human feeling with which that mother re- 
ceived her son from the dead, and held him 
once more in her embrace ? Then indeed did 
the "widow's heart sing for joy" — a joy so 
great that in her case all wonder was doubtless 
absorbed in it. 

Now it was not so with the people present. 
To heal the sick and to cast out unclean spirits 
were indeed acts of wonder to all who saw 
them ; but to restore defunct nature, and snatch 
from the grave its prey, was a prodigy so great 
as filled the beholders not only with amaze- 
ment, but fear. They glorified God for visit- 
ing His people by sending a great prophet 



among them ; for although this act taken alone 
did not evince that Jesus was the very Christ, 
the greatness of the deed satisfied them of the 
Divine power with which He was invested. 
They could not but see in Jesus one greater 
than even Elisha, inasmuch as without the use 
of prayer, or stretching himself upon the body, 
but by a simple order, He had in a manner ut- 
terly unexampled restored the dead to life. 

John's Disciples Visit Jesus. 

This great miracle gave a new impulse to 
the general discussion respecting the prophet 
of Nazareth. It attracted the attention of 
John the Baptist in his prison, and decided 
him to require of Jesus an explicit declaration 
as to whether He was or was not the promised 
Messiah. He therefore sent two of his disci- 
ples to Christ to ask the question, " Art thou 
He that should come? or look we for another ?" 
Jesus, at the time the messengers came, was 
engaged in healing the diseased, casting out 
evil spirits, and restoring sight to the blind. 
Instead of returning a direct answer, He de- 
sired the disciples to tell their master the 
things they had seen performed : — " Go and 
tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; 
how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers 
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are 
raised, to the poor the gospel is preached." 

When John's disciples had departed, Jesus 
began to speak to those around him of John 
and his character and mission. He passed a 
high encomium upon the austerity and holi- 
ness of his person, the greatness of his func- 
tion, and the Divine character of his mission. 
He affirmed that John was greater than any 
preceding prophet, indeed, the greatest of men 
born of woman ; for besides his wonderful 
birth, and being himself the subject of ancient 
prophecies, he had seen and known the Mes- 
siah and had been His precursor. He was a 
burning and a shining light, the second Elias 
of the prophets — and yet, added Christ, with 
startling abruptness, " He that is least in the 
kingdom of heaven is greater than he ; " mean- 
ing that, as belonging to the old system about 
to be done away, or at most occupying an 



428 



WARNING AGAINST UNBELIEF. 



intermediate place between the old and the 
new, any Christian teacher , instructed in the 
things pertaining to Christ's spiritual kingdom, 
had points of superiority over even John the 
Baptist. 

Jesus concluded with a striking illustration 
of the perversity of the nation, by reference to 
the reception which He and the Baptist equally 
met with, notwithstanding the difference in 
their course of conduct and procedure. The 
Baptist, who came neither eating nor drink- 
ing, that by his austere and mortified deport- 
ment he might gain the reverence of the people, 
could not obtain acceptance ; neither could 
Jesus, who, on the contrary, came eating and 
drinking — that, by a moderate and affable life, 
framed after the common use and habits of 
men, He might make to Himself a place in 
their sympathies and affections. The austeri- 
ties of the one they ascribed to insanity ; and 
the sociality of the other to a conviviality of 
disposition unseemly in a teacher and a prophet. 
This gave Him occasion more especially to 
reprehend the towns which had witnessed 
His greatest works, Capernaum, Chorazin, 
Bethsaida, in that their hardness and unbelief 
had remained unmoved. For this a doom 



harder than that of Sodom was declared to be 
in store for them ; for even Sodom had sinned 
against less light than had been shed upon 
them. 

Jesus concluded His admirable discourse by 
calling upon His auditors to exchange the 
heavy burden of the Levitical law for the 
ease, rest, and peace offered by the new reve- 
lation of the Divine will, which He came to 
promulgate. This invitation, equally applica- 
ble to all the weary and heavy laden, from 
every cause, in every age, was couched in the 
emphatic and ever-memorable words — " Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me ; for I am meek and 
lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto 
your souls. For my yoke is easy and my 
burden is light." 

This strain sounds through all of His 
teachings. His. words had" in them healing 
for human hearts, even as His touch had 
health and life in it for the sick and dying. 
With warm breathings of sympathy He moved 
among the multitudes who were as sheep 
without a shepherd. His look was compas- 
sion, and His word was mercy. 
















CHAPTER XXXIII. 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 




HE foregoing dis- 
course seems to have 
made considerable im- 
pression upon some 
even of the Pharisees 
who were present, and 
one of them, named 
Simon, invited Jesus 
to dine at his house. It must 
be understood that the Roman 
custom of reclining on couches 
at meal-time was at this pe- 
riod in common use among 
persons of the higher and 
e&lfW? W°ri m ^dle classes in Judsea. It is 
^ v \iot, indeed, necessary to sup- 
pose that the Jews borrowed 
it from the Romans. It was 
a Babylonian and Persian 
custom, which found its way to the west of 
the Euphrates, and which the Hebrews proba- 
bly acquired during their subjection to the 
kings of the East. 

Three benches were placed so as to form 
three sides of a hollow square which contained 
the table. The guests reclined upon the 
benches or couches, with their feet turned out 
behind and their faces toward the table, resting 
their bodies in a half-raised position upon 
cushions or upon the left arm. This explains 
several passages of the New Testament, espe- 
cially those which describe Lazarus as lying 
in Abraham's bosom and John as leaning on 
the bosom of Christ at the last supper ; the 
person so described as lying on the bosom of 
another was of course the one who reclined 
next below that other, and whose head neces- 
sarily approached to the bosom of the one 
who lay above him. Tljere was usually a 
good space between the walls of the guest- 
chamber and the back of the couches. 



It was quite easy for any persons, at an 
entertainment such as that to which Simon 
invited Christ, to gain access to the public 
guest-chamber, and to remain unmolested so 
long as they did not interfere with the opera- 
tions of the servants, which they were in little 
danger of doing while they remained in the 
side space between the walls and the back of 
the couches, seeing that the business of the 
servants was almost confined to the open side 
of the square which the triclinium formed. 

While they were at meat, a woman of the 
place came and planted herself behind the 
couch where Jesus "eclined. She is described 
as one " who had been a sinner," by which 
it is understood that she had led an impure 
life, and we see no reason to disturb this con- 
clusion. We must only remember that this 
woman, described distinctively as " a sinner," 
is not to be confounded with Mary Magda- 
lene, nor with Mary, the sister of Lazarus, of 
Bethany, of whom transactions nearly similar 
are recorded. Much confusion has arisen 
from regarding as one, three distinct persons 
and transactions. 

This woman, as Jeremy Taylor finely ex- 
presses it, " came to Jesus into the Pharisee's 
house, not — as did the staring multitude — to 
glut their eyes with the sight of a miraculous 
and glorious person ; nor — as did the centu- 
rion, or the Syro-Phcenician, or the ruler of 
the synagogue — for the cure of sickness, or in 
behalf of friend, or child, or servant; but — 
the only example of so coming — she came in 
remorse and regret for her sins, she came to 
Jesus to lay her burden at His feet, to present 
Him with a broken heart, a weeping eye, and 
great affection." She came trembling, and 
wept bitterly for her sins at His feet. Simon 
had neglected to order his servants to wash 
the feet of Jesus, although this was an act of 

(429) 



430 



THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 



civility and attention then frequently observed 
in Palestine, although less so than it had been 
in more ancient times. 

Perceiving this, the weeping sinner let fall 
her tears upon them, and, having bathed them 
with that tribute of her grief, wiped them with 
the hair of her head. This in itself might have 
been misunderstood, but as a preparation for 
the act which followed, it becomes very intel- 
ligible. She came to anoint his feet with 
costly ointment. It was necessary they should 
first be washed, and finding that this had been 
neglected by the host, her fast-flowing tears 
suggested the means to which she resorted. 

Having thus bathed His feet, the woman 
drew forth the vessel of precious nard, and 
breaking off the stopple, the place was filled 
with the rich odor of the perfume she cast 
upon her Saviour's feet. 

This anointing of the feet was by no means 
a common act, and the anointing them with 
this kind of ointment was accounted a lux- 
urious extravagance even in kings. It must 
have been worth fifty dollars of our money, or 
probably more in comparative value, when the 
great difference in the general cost of com- 
modities is considered. 

The Woman Forgiven. 

The fragrance of the ointment drew the 
general attention of the guests to this act of 
the woman. They formed their different opin- 
ions upon it, and narrowly watched the effect 
which it would have upon Jesus Himself, and 
the manner in which it would be noticed by 
Him. The thought which arose in the mind 
of the host himself was eminently character- 
istic of the Pharisee. We are told that " he 
spake within himself, saying, This man, if he 
were a prophet, would have known who and 
what manner of woman this is that toucheth 
him : for she is a sinner." It was this unut- 
tered thought of the Pharisee which Jesus saw 
fit to mark out for His most pointed notice. 

"Simon," He said, "there was a certain 
creditor who had two debtors : the one owed 
five hundred pence and the other fifty. And 
when they had nothing to pay, he frankly for- 



gave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of 
them ■will love him most?" Simon could not 
but answer, " I suppose the one to whom he 
forgave most." Jesus answered, "Thou hast 
rightly judged;" and then turning towards 
the woman, He added — " Seest thou this wo- 
man ? I entered into thine house : thou gavest 
me no water for my feet ; but she hath washed 
my feet with tears, and wiped them with the 
hair of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss ; 
but this woman, since the time I came in, hath 
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil 
thou didst not anoint ; but this woman hath 
anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore, 
I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are 
forgiven, for she loved much ; but to whom 
little is forgiven, the same loveth little." 

He then said more formally to the woman 
herself, those great words which man or woman 
never heard from mortal lips before: "Thy 
sins are forgiven." This created a deep sen- 
sation among those who heard it; for they 
knew it was not for man to forgive sins ; and 
yet they were by no means prepared to recog- 
nize Jesus as more than man. While they 
were murmuring among themselves, " Who is 
this that forgiveth sins also?" Christ, again 
turning round to the woman, dismissed her 
with — " Thy faith hath saved thee : go in 
peace !" 

The touching words of an English poet may 
serve as the best comment on this beautiful 
incident : 

" She sat and wept beside His feet ; the weight 
Of sin oppressed her heart; for all the blame, 
And the poor malice of the worldly shame, 
To her were past, extinct, and out of date ; 
Only the sin remained — the leprous state, 
She would be melted by the heat of love, 
By fires far fiercer than are blown to prove 
And purge the silver ore adulterate. 
She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair, 
Still wiped the feet she was so blessed to touch ; 
And He wiped off the soiling of despair 
From her sweet soul, because she loved so much." 

After this Jesus set forth upon another tour 
in Galilee, performing His usual works of 
mercy, and seizing all suitable occasions of 
pouring forth those persuasive utterances on 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 



431 



which the people generally hung with admira- 
tion and delight, while those who were wise in 
their own conceits, the bigots of a system, 
found in all He said matter for cavil and re- 
proach. In this excursion He was attended 
by the twelve apostles, and also by some 
women of property and consideration, who out 
of their abundance felt it their duty to provide 
food and such other necessaries as the party 
required. 

Among these women we find particular 
mention of Mary Magdalene, so called from 
Magdala, near Capernaum, her native place ; 
she was probably a widow, and is not to be 
confounded with " the woman who was a sin- 
ner," who has just been under our notice. She 
owed a debt of deep gratitude to Christ, who 
on some former occasion had dispossessed her 
of " seven devils." Another of these women 
was the wife, or. more probably widow, of 
Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas ; and 
another is only known by her name of Su- 
sanna. This incidental statement by Luke is 
corroborated, also very incidentally, by Mark, 
who, speaking of the women who were present 
at the crucifixion of Christ, says that when 
Jesus was in Galilee, " they followed Him and 
ministered unto Him of their substance." 

We thus obtain information respecting the 
mode in which Jesus and his apostles were 
principally supported during those constant 
movements which precluded them from earn- 
ing their own subsistence. Most of them had 
lived by their labor ; and the few who may be 
supposed to have had some property could 
not long have supported the expenses of so 
large a body, but through the assistance ob- 
tained from these and other pious women, who 
appear for the most part to have received from 
Jesus — in the cure of painful diseases — benefits 
which they estimated beyond all price. 

The travelling of men and women in par- 
ties from all parts of the country to Jerusalem, 
at the great festivals, familiarized the mind to 
such travel, and relieves all that seeming im- 
propriety which the absence of any such cir- 
cumstance in our own social habits might 
induce us to connect with it. 



Jesus did nothing more in this town which 
is recorded, and at length again returned to 
Capernaum. On His arrival He went with 
His followers to the house which He com- 
monly frequented, which was speedily so beset 
by people anxious to see and hear Him that 
the inmates were unable to take their usual 
meals. Heedless of this, Christ, although just 
arrived from a journey, and needing refresh- 
ment, went forth and spoke to the multitude; 
but when His friends within knew this, they 
declared that He was carried by His zeal 
away beyond Himself; and they went forth 
and constrained Him to come in and obtain 
refreshment and rest. 

Jesus Cures a Demoniac. 

The next recorded act of Christ, probably 
on the following day, was the relief of a poor 
creature who was brought to Him, " pos- 
sessed with a devil, deaf and dumb." At His 
word, the man's tongue was loosened, and his 
cars unstopped, and he who had long been 
mute to all the world, and all the many-voiced 
world mute to him, both spake and saw. A 
man in his plight is usually well known in any 
place which he inhabits. This miracle, there- 
fore, made a strong impression upon the 
people, and led them to throng after Jesus 
with a fresh ardor wherever He appeared. 

The Pharisees, and others of their mode of 
thinking, were much troubled at this; and 
seeing that they could not deny so plain a 
miracle, they proceeded to account for it after 
a peculiar fashion of their own. " This fellow," 
said they, " doth not cast out devils but 
through Beelzebub, the prince of devils ; " that 
is, he expels the weaker demons by the aid of 
the stronger. 

Christ was not slow in exposing the ab- 
surdity of this reasoning. Citing a well- 
known proverb, He said : — " Every kingdom 
divided against itself is brought to desolation ;. 
and every city or house divided against itself 
shall not stand ; " and by Way of applying 
this, He continued, " If Satan cast out Satan, 
he is divided against himself; how shall then 
his kingdom stand ?" And then He added — 



432 



THE FOWLS AND LILIES. 



"' If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom 
do your children cast them out ? " This ques- 
tion supposes, what indeed appears from other 
passages of Scripture, that besides Jesus and 
His apostles, several at this time went about 
pretending to cast out demons, both by exor- 
cisms and medical treatment. It is probable 
that these exorcisms were sometimes effectual 
by means of the accompanying medicaments. 
This superstition continued for some time after 
the apostles, and even led in part to the use of 
■exorcisms in the early Christian Church. 

Most of those whom Jesus addressed were 
in such humble circumstances of life, as to be 
in less danger from setting their hearts upon 
•earthly treasures, than from the cares of the 
passing day and overmuch solicitude about the 
necessary supplies of life. Against this He 
therefore proceeded to caution them, and en- 
couraged them to ease of mind in all these re- 
spects, by the consideration that Divine Provi- 
dence would not fail to make adequate provis- 
ion for the real wants of all those who made 
the kingdom of God and His righteousness 
the first objects of their solicitude. This He 
enforced, as usual, by lively illustrations drawn 
from actual circumstances. 

Divine Providence. 

Observing a flight of " ravens," or rather 
" crows," He said, " Consider the ravens ; for 
they neither sow nor reap, neither have store- 
house nor barn ; and God feedeth them. How 
much more are ye better than the fowls?" 
There is the more force in this, when we bear in 
mind how specially observable, in the opinion 
of the ancients, was the good providence of 
God with respect to this kind of bird. Several 
of them remark that young crows are driven 
away from the nest as soon as they are able to 
fly, and are afterwards supported, we scarce 
know how, by a remarkable providence of 
God. Philo, a learned Jew of those times, also 
remarks that many are naturally forgetful, and 
often fail to return to their nests; yet, by 
the wise and merciful providence of God, they 
instinctively heap together in their nests 
whatever may breed worms, by which their 



abandoned young are nourished and preserved. 
Some of these notions concerning crows are now 
known to be incorrect ; and we mention them 
merely to show the emphasis which their ex- 
istence in the popular mind must have afforded 
to the beautiful allusion which Jesus makes to 
these birds. 

Again, lilies are abundant in Palestine — and 
at the time of the foregoing discourse they 
were probably in bloom. Referring to these 
Jesus said, pursuing His illustration, " Con- 
sider the lilies of the field " — not of the gar- 
den, cultivated with care — " how they grow. 
They toil not " — as men in their laborious 
employments — "neither do they spin " — like 
women in their more sedentary occupations; 
" and yet I say unto you, that Solomon, in all 
his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." 
And then came the forcible application : 
" Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the 
field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast 
into the oven, how much more will He clothe 
you, O ye of little faith ! " 

This will be the better understood when it 
is remarked that, after the moisture of spring 
has been absorbed, all wild herbage and de- 
cayed plants become rapidly dry in Palestine 
under the fervent heat of summer and are, 
with all other decayed and dried vegetable prod- 
ucts, collected for fuel. Then* was, and is, 
much scarcity of fuel in Palestine ; but except 
in the depth of winter, there was little need 
of it but for cooking and baking bread. This 
is the reason that fuel is usually described as 
being "cast into the oven." And this phrase 
may be better understood if we remember 
that the oven was usually a pit in the floor, 
the fire in which served both for fuel and, in 
winter, for warmth. These dry stalks and 
twigs were particularly suitable for the baking 
of bread, and were therefore preferred for the 
oven when bread was to be baked. 

Fall of the Siloam Tower. 

.When Jesus had concluded His discourse, 
some of the persons present began to speak 
of a matter which excited much attention at 
that time. A demagogue named Judas of 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 



433 



Gaulonitis went about asserting that God was i many followers, chiefly in Galilee, who gave 
the only Sovereign of the Hebrew nation, and much trouble to the Roman government 
that consequently it was utterly unlawful to ' Lately Pilnte had slain a body of these men, 




SOWING THE GOOD SEED, 



acknowledge any- human sovereignty, much 
less to pay tribute and yield obedience to a 
Jieathen people like the Romans. He obtained 
28 



when they had gone to Jerusalem at one of 
the phblic feasts, so that, in effect, " their blood 
was mingled with (that of) their sacrifices." 



434 



A MULTITUDE OF HEARERS. 



Now the Jews firmly believed that grievous 
disorders or heavy calamities were sent by 
God in punishment for sin. Perceiving that 
the case was mentioned by those present with 
this feeling, Jesus took occasion to give this 
notion His authoritative contradiction ; affirm- 
ing that those who heard Him were equally 
sinners before God, and should also perish 
unless they repented. With the same view 
He also referred to an accident which formed 
the talk of the day — the fall of the tower of 
Siloam, in Jerusalem, whereby eighteen per- 
sons had been killed ; asserting that these 
persons were not necessarily sinners above 
others for having been thus destroyed ; al- 
though this was the undoubted persuasion of 
all his auditors. Mohammedanism, which 
borrowed much from the Gospels, has pro- 
duced a change of opinion in this respect in 
western Asia, so that anyone who now dies 
by such an accident as the fall of a tower, or 
of a wall, is regarded as a martyr. 

The same day Jesus left the town, and went 
out by the sea-shore ; and, being still attended 
by a great multitude of people, He went into 
a boat, and addressed them from thence. His 
discourse was still chiefly in parables. Speak- 
ing of this Jeremy Taylor remarks : " He 
taught them by parables, under which were 
hid mysterious senses." Being taken from 
the culture of the soil, these were suggested 
by the agricultural operations then actually 
in progress before the eyes of the audience 
upon the sides of the surrounding hills. 

Parable of the Sower. 

The first was the significant parable of the 
sower, in which the different reception which 
the truth finds in different hearts is compared 
to the different soils in which the seed, broad- 
cast by the sower, falls. The imagery of it 
was derived, as usual, from the objects im- 
mediately before his eyes — the sown fields of 
Gennesarath ; the springing corn in them ; the 
hard-trodden paths which ran through them, 
on which no corn could grow ; the innumera- 
ble birds which fluttered over them ready to 
feed upon the grain ; the weak and withering 



struggle for life on the stony places ; the 
tangling growth of luxuriaiv thistles in neg- 
lected corners ; the deep loam of the general 
soil, on which already the golden ears stood 
thick and strong, giving promise of a sixty 
and hundred-fold return as they rippled under 
the balmy wind, 

To us, who from infancy have read the 
parable side by side with Christ's own inter- 
pretation of it, the meaning is singularly clear 
and plain, and we see in it the liveliest images 
of the danger incurred by the cold and in- 
different, by the impulsive and shallow, by the 
worldly and ambitious, by the preoccupied 
and the luxurious, as they listen to the truth. 
But it was not so easy to those who heard it. 
Even the disciples failed to catch its full signifi- 
cance, although they reserved their request 
for an explanation till they and their Master 
should be alone. It is clear that parables 
like this, so luminous to us, but so difficult to 
these simple listeners, suggested thoughts 
which to them were wholly unfamiliar. 

Parable of the Tares. 

Then followed the parable of the tares sown 
maliciously among good corn. These the 
indiscreet zeal of the husbandmen would have 
rooted up as soon as they appeared ; but was 
prevented by the sage discretion of the master, 
who feared that the tares could not be pulled 
up without damage to the young wheat: " Let 
both grow together unto the harvest," he said : 
" and in the time of harvest I will say to the 
reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, 
and bind them into bundles to burn them ; 
but gather the wheat into my barn." 

The three following parables, that of the 
insensible growth of corn, certain and timely, 
while man goes about the daily business of 
life and heeds not of it ; that of the smallest 
of seeds becoming .a large tree, in whose 
branches the birds of the air find shelter ; 
and that of the small piece of leaven which, 
left in three measures of meal, leavened the 
whole mass ; all have seemingly the same 
reference to the gradual but sure spread of the 
gospel under the preaching of the apostles; 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 



435 



while, without doubt, there is in them a 
secondary reference to the rise and progress 
of the new kingdom in the soul. 



expounded to them some of the parables 
which He had delivered to the people. To 
them He then added some other short parables 




sowing tares. — Matt. xiii. 25. 

After this Jesus returned to the town ; and 1 designed yet further to illustrate the character 
when He was alone with His disciples He I and objects of the Divine kingdom. First, he 



436 



A BEAUTIFUL JEWEL. 



compared it to a treasure hid in a field, which, 
when a man had discovered, lie joyfully 
hastened to sell all he possessed to buy that 
field. This, like most of the other parables, 
had a foundation in local impressions which 
arc not at once apparent to a western reader. 
But in the East, where in times of trouble 
large amounts of property are concealed, the 
owners of which are slain, or go away and 
never return to reclaim what they hid, every 
one is more or less a treasure-seeker, and 
lives in the hope of being some day or other 
enriched by the discovery of hidden treasure. 
The same feeling was in England a growth 
from the civil wars and troubles of former 
ages, till at length " treasure-finding" became 
a distinct branch of the accult sciences: and 
at this day there are perhaps not many vil- 
lages in the rural districts which do not possess 
some tradition referring the enrichment of 
some principal family in the neighborhood to 
the discovery of a crock of gold. 

Parable of the Goodly Pearl. 

The next parable, of a merchant — that is, 
a travelling dealer in jewels — seeking goodly 
pearls,, and selling all that he had to buy one 
pearl of great price which he had found, 
describes a circumstance which at present 
occurs often to the highly intelligent and 
most respectable class of men who follow that 
vocation, and who not seldom spend the best 
years of their lives in travelling to and from 
distant lands in seach of" goodly pearls " and 
other precious stones. There is perhaps not 
one of them who has not at times met with a 
jewel of such great beauty and high price, 
that he has been obliged to sell all his inferior 
jewels and every valuable article he possessed 
in order to obtain it. 

The next parable compared the kingdom 
of heaven to " a net that was cast into the sea 
and gathered of every kind ; and when it was 
full they drew to shore, and gathered the 
good into vessels, but cast the bad away." 
This is of course done more or less by all 
fishermen, but it has perhaps not occurred to 
many readers that this selection was a nice 



and important matter among the Hebrews, 
who were forbidden to eat fish devoid of fins 
or scales, and among whom, therefore, the fish 
described as " bad " must have been more 
numerous than among other people. 

Afterwards Christ, perceiving that the crowd 
of persons assembled in the neighborhood 
began to increase very rapidly by arrivals 
from the surrounding districts, thought it ex- 
pedient to pass' over to the other side of the 
lake. But before He departed, He found 
occasion to deliver some emphatic and pointed 
answers to the declarations of two or three 
persons. 

The first was one of the scribes, who being 
about to depart, said, " Master, I will follow 
'Thee whithersoever thou goest." Jesus neither 
declined nor permitted this attendance, but 
said what probably was enough to deter a 
man in his condition — " The foxes have holes, 
and the birds of the air have nests ; but the 
Soil of man hath not where to lay His head " 
— meaning that He had no certain dwelling- 
place, no home, for anyone who followed 
Him ; which may satisfy us that even in 
Capernaum, which seems to have been His 
most usual residence, He either occupied a 
hired residence Or lived in the house of a 
disciple. 

Another expressed the same intention, but 
said : — " Lord, suffer me first to go and bury 
my father." It might certainly have been ex- 
pected, in the first view, that Jesus, full of 
k'ind affections, would have complied with this, 
when even Elijah, severe as was his character, 
allowed Elisha to bid adieu to his parents. But 
Jesus answered in a kind of paradox, turning 
upon the meaning of the word " dead." " Let 
the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach 
the gospel" Of two duties the lesser must 
yield to the greater; and the duty of following 
Christ and preaching His gospel was more 
urgent and quite as sacred as that which pre- 
vented the high-priest among the Jews from 
approaching the dead of his house, or show- 
ing any signs of mourning for them. 

When another said, " Lord, I will follow 
Thee, but let me first go and bid them farewell 



A CLUSTER 01< PARABLES. 



437 



that are at home in my house;" the reply of I from the peculiar necessity which the plougher 
Jesus was in an agricultural metaphor — " No i is under of keeping his attention fixed upon 
man having put his hand to the plough and | the furrows and not allowing them to deviate; 




FINDING HIDDEN TREASURE. Matt. xiii. 44. 

looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." I and this necessity was peculiarly imperative in 
This interdiction, " to cast one longing, linger- eastern countries, as the extreme shallowness 
ing look behind," is beautifully appropriate, I of the furrow, where the plough does little 



438 



JESUS ON THE SEA. 



more than scratch the surface of the soil, 
renders a deviation the inevitable effect of the 
slightest inattention. It is indeed from this 
circumstance that the proverb — for it is one — 
originated, and has come into general use. 

Peace, Be Still. 

Jesus then entered the vessel that was to 
bear Him to the other side of the lake. While 
the) r were on the passage they encountered one 
of those sudden and furious storms which not 
unusually arise in lakes surrounded by moun- 
tains. The waves broke over the frail bark, 
and the danger was very great. And where 
was Jesus ? He was quietly asleep in the 
hinder part of the vessel, and slept on undis- 
turbed by the noise and uproar the tempest 
occasioned. At length, the disciples, who, 
although familiar with the lake, were alarmed 
at this danger, went and awoke Him, with the 
words, " Master, carest thou not that we 
perish?" Christ immediately arose, and re- 
buked the wind, and said to the raging sea, 
" Peace, be still ! " — and in an instant the storm 
went down. It did not merely abate, but 
ceased altogether, for " immediately there was 
a great calm " — not only a calm, but a great 
calm. In one instant the storm was raging at 
the highest pitch, in the next scarcely a ripple 
was upon the surface. Jesus then turned to 
the disciples and said : " Why are ye so 
fearful ? How is it that ye have no faith ? " 
thus gently rebuking them for not having ex- 
pected to be saved by Him asleep as well as 
awake. We must certainly deem them to 
have been somewhat excusable in not having 
expected this, even from Him. They were 
filled with astonishment, and said one to 
another, " What manner of man is this that 
even the wind and sea obey Him ? " They had 
seen Him heal the sick, which was no more 
than physicians professed to do ; but now they 
see the winds and the sea submissive to Him, 
and in this they recognize a superhuman 
power. 

Jesus then passed to the other side of the 
lake, and came into the country of the Gada- 
renes, of which Gadara was the chief town, 



and also the capital of Petraea. This country 
was inhabited by a mixed population of Jews, 
proselytes, and Syrians, who were looked down 
upon by the less mixed Jews of Judaea. They 
were placed by them much on the same level 
with the Galileans, and deemed but one degree 
better than Samaritans. 

Near the place where Jesus came to shore 
there were many tombs, which were either 
excavations in the living rock or such roomy 
constructions as we still find in the East. 
These then, as now, often furnished places of 
shelter to those destitute of or expelled from 
human habitations; and at the present day 
such sepulchres are deemed the suitable abode 
of ghouls and unclean spirits. From these 
tombs came forth a man to meet Jesus as He 
came up the road. This man was one of those 
demoniacs of whom we so often read in the 
New Testament. He was one of a very pecu- 
liar and terrible sort. He " had devils a long 
time, and wore no clothes, who had his dwell- 
ing among the tombs ; and no man could 
bind him, no, not with chains ; because he had 
been often bound with fetters and chains, and 
the chains had been plucked asunder by him, 
and the fetters broken in pieces ; neither could 
any man tame him. And always, day and 
night, he was in the mountains, and in the 
tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones." 

Casting- Out Demons. 

This man, seeing Jesus afar off, ran and 
worshipped Him, and cried with a loud voice, 
acknowledging Him as the Son of the most 
high God, and imploring Him not to inflict 
torments upon him. This supplication is sup- 
posed to have been dictated by a vivid recol- 
lection in such unfortunate persons of the 
whips and chains with which they had been 
constrained, the severe operations to which 
they had been subjected, and the nauseous 
medicines which had been forced upon them. 
The like of this the}' would naturally dread 
from one in whom they recognized the power 
to cast out devils. The man said, in the name 
of his indwelling demons, that their name was 
Legion, "for we are many;" and, perceiving 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 



439 



that Christ would effect a cure, he in their I notion that, next to the sepulchres, the swine 
name besought leave to enter into a herd of I formed the most suitable habitation for them. 




THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. Matt. Xlll. 45. 

swine which was feeding hard by upon the) Jesus granted this request, "and the un- 
rnountains. This was done seemingly under the I clean spirits went out and entered into the 



440 



CEREMONIAL POLLUTION. 



swine; and the herd ran violently down a 
steep place into the sea (there were about two 
thousand), and were choked in the sea." 
. It has been remarked that this and the 
cursing of the barren fig-tree are the only 
examples of severity recorded of Christ. The 
present case is usually explained by supposing 
that the owners were Jews, whom the Levitical 
law prohibited from eating or keeping swine. 
It is certain that they might not eat them, or 
touch their dead carcasses, but it would be 
difficult to find any order against feeding and 
taking care of them. The prohibition of touch- 
ing the dead carcass implies that the living 
carcass might be touched ; and it has been 
suspected that when Moses ordered the com- 
mutation of a shekel and a half in lieu of the 
first-born of unclean animals, he had chiefly 
swine in view. 

There is, in fact, no ground for the notion 
that the Jews might not keep swine, except 
that there seems a want of sufficient reason for 
keeping them when they were not used for 
food. But they might rear them for sale to the 
heathen, among whom they were in great de- 
mand. And t appears that they did so till 
about seventy years before Christ, when the 
ceremonial pollution occasioned by the intro- 
duction of a hog into the Temple led to the 
issue of an order against keeping hogs. And 
the terms of this order led to the conclusion 
that the Jews then not only reared hogs for 
sale, but used their skins, and employed the 
fat for tallow and ointment. This order seems, 
however, not to have been very strictly ob- 
served ; but its existence sufficed to justify 
Christ in public opinion for permitting this 
catastrophe. 

The owners, however, and the people of the 
neighborhood, who seem to have had more 
of these herds, were by no means satisfied 
with this view of the matter. The swineherds 
ran away and spread the news around. This 
brought many people to meet Jesus, and that 
apparently with no very friendly intention ; but 
when they saw the late furious maniac sitting 
quietly at the feet of Jesus, " clothed and in 
his right mind," they were afraid to act offen- 



sively, and were content to beseech Christ that 
he would depart from them. 

Jesus complied and returned to the ship. 
The man who had been healed implored leave 
to go with Him. He probably feared that he 
should again fall under the power of the 
devils, if separated from his deliverer. But 
Jesus would not allow this, but told him, " Go 
home to thy friends, and tell them how great 
things the Lord hath done for thee, and how 
he hath had compassion upon thee," The 
man more than obeyed, for he went far and 
wide through Decapolis, proclaiming the great 
deed which had been wrought on his behalf. 

Dwellers in Tombs. 

The circumstances of this remarkable trans- 
action are worthy of the most careful observa- 
tion. Amid ah the boasted civilization of an- 
tiquity, there existed no hospitals, no peniten- 
tiaries, no asylums; and unfortunates of this 
class, being too dangerous and desperate for 
human intercourse, could only be driven forth 
from among their fellow-men, and restrained 
from mischief by measures at once inadequate 
and cruel. Under such circumstances they 
could, if irreclaimable, only take refuge in 
those holes along the rocky hill-sides which 
abound in Palestine, and which were used by 
the Jews as tombs. 

It is clear that the foul and polluted nature 
of such dwelling-places, with all their associa- 
tions of ghastliness and terror, would tend to 
aggravate the nature of the malady; and this 
man, who had long been afflicted, was beyond 
even the possibility of control. Attempts had 
been made to bind him, but in the paroxysms 
of his mania he had exerted that apparently 
supernatural strength which is often noticed in 
such forms of mental excitement, and had al- 
ways succeeded in rending off his fetters and 
twisting away or shattering his chains; and 
now he had been abandoned to the lonely hills 
and unclean solitudes, which, night and day r 
rang with his yells as he wandered among 
them, dangerous to himself and to others, rav- 
ing, and gashing himself with stones, a terror 
to all beholders. 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 



441 



It was the frightful figure of this naked and 
homicidal maniac that burst upon our Lord 
almost as soon as He had landed at early 
dawn ; and perhaps another demoniac, who 
was not a Gadarene, and who was less griev- 
ously afflicted, may have hovered about at no 
great distance, although, beyond this allusion 
to his presence, he plays no part in the narra- 
tive. The presence, the look, the voice of 
Christ, even before He addressed these suf- 
ferers, seems always to have calmed and over- 
awed them, and this demoniac of Gergesa was 
no exception. Instead of falling upon the dis- 
ciples, he ran to Jesus from a distance, and fell 
down before Him' in an attitude of worship. 
Mingling his own perturbed individuality with 
that of the multitude of unclean spirits which 
he believed to be in possession of his soul, he 
entreated the Lord, in loud and terrified ac- 
cents, not to torment him before the time. 

Astonished Swineherds. 

That the whole scene was violent and start- 
ling appears in the fact that the keepers of the 
swine " fled and told it in the city and in the 
country." The people of Gergesa, and the 
Gadarenes and Gerasenes of all the neighbor- 
ing district, flocked out to see the Mighty 
Stranger who had thus visited their coasts. 
What livelier or more decisive proof of His 
power and His beneficence could they have 
had than the sight which met their eyes? The 
filthy and frantic demoniac, who had been the 
terror of the country, so that none could pass 
that way — the wild-eyed dweller in the tombs 
who had been accustomed to gash himself 
with cries of rage, and whose untamed fierce- 
ness broke away all fetters — was now calm as 
a child. Some charitable hand had flung an 
outer robe over his naked figure, and he was 
sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus. 

"And they were afraid" — more afraid of 
that Holy Presence than of the previous furies 
of the possessed. The man indeed was saved; 
but what of that, considering that some of 
their two thousand unclean beasts had per- 
ished ! Their precious swine were evidently 
in danger; the greed and gluttony of every 



apostate Jew and low-bred Gentile in the place 
were clearly imperilled by receiving such a 
one as they saw that Jesus was. With dis- 
graceful and urgent unanimity they entreated 
and implored Him to leave their coasts. Both 
heathens and Jews had recognized already the 
great truth that God sometimes answers bad 
prayers in His deepest anger. Shakespeare 
aptly says : 

We, ignorant of ourselves, 

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 

Deny us for our good. 

The converse is stated in these striking 
words by Mrs. Browning: 

God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers, 
And flings the thing we have asked for in our face; 
A gauntlet with a gift in 't. 

Jesus Himself had taught His disciples not 
to give that which was holy to the dogs,, 
neither to cast their pearls before swine, " lest 
they trample them under their feet, and turn 
again and rend you." He had gone across 
the lake for quiet and rest, desiring, though 
among lesser multitudes, to extend to these 
semi-heathens also the blessings of the king- 
dom of God. But they loved their sins and 
their swine, and with a perfect energy of de- 
liberate preference for all that was base and 
mean, rejected such blessings, and entreated' 
Him to go away. Sadly, but at once, He 
turned and left them. Gergesa was no place 
for Him; better the lonely hill-tops to the 
north of it ; better the crowded strand on the 
other side. 

And yet He did not leave them in anger. 
One deed of mercy had been done there ; one 
sinner had been saved; from one soul the un- 
clean spirits had been cast cut. And just as 
the united multitudes of the Gadarenes had' 
entreated for His absence, so the poor saved 
demoniac entreated henceforth to be with Him. 
But Jesus would fain leave one more, one last 
opportunity for those who had rejected Him. 
On others for whose sake miracles had been 
performed He had enjoined silence ; on this 
man — since He was now leaving the place — 
He enjoined publicity. " Go home," He said, 




(442) 



A CLUSTER OF PARABLES. 



443 



"' to thy friends, and tell them how great things 
the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had 
compassion on thee." And so the demoniac 
of Gergesa became the first great missionary 
to the region of Decapolis, bearing in his own 
person the confirmation of his words ; and 
Jesus, as His little vessel left the inhospitable 
shore, might still hope that the day might not 
be far distant — might come, at any rate, before 
over that ill-fated district burst the storm of 
sword and fire — when 

" E'en the witless Gadarene, 
Preferring Christ to swine, would feel 
That life is sweetest when 'tis clean." 

On the return of Jesus to Capernaum, the 
apostle Matthew made a great feast for his 
Master and fellow-disciples in his own house. 
The other persons who were present at this 
feast were chiefly " publicans and sinners," as 
might be supposed from the position which 
Matthew had filled, and the connections which 
that position had led him to form. The Phar- 
isees failed not, as usual, to take malicious no- 
tice of this ; and some of them said to the 
disciples, " Why eateth your Master with pub- 
licans and sinners?" This was probably at 
the end of the feast, when they were leaving 
the house, for it was not likely that Pharisees 
would enter the house of a publican. Jesus 
heard this and He answered, " They that be 
whole need not a physician, but they that are 
.sick. I am not come to call the righteous, 
but sinners to repentance." 

On the same occasion Jesus had to meet 



the implied objections of some of the disciples 
of John. " Why," they asked, " do we and 
the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples 
fast not ? " This, doubtless, refers to private 
fasts; such, probably, as John's disciples kept 
on account of the imprisonment of their 
master, and such as the Pharisees observed 
in obedience to the rules of their great doc- 
tors. Jesus beautifully answered : " Can the 
children of the bride-chamber (the attendants 
on the bridegroom) fast while they have the 
bridegroom with them ? As long as they 
have the bridegroom with them they cannot 
fast. But the days will come when the bride- 
groom shall be taken away from them, and 
then shall they fast in those days." This, 
while it justified the disciples of John for 
fasting, seeing that their bridegroom had 
been taken from them, excused His own dis- 
ciples for not fasting, seeing that their bride- 
groom was still with them. 

Jesus added several short parables, probably 
suggested by their present circumstances. 
One of them was — " No man putteth new 
wine into old bottles, else the new wine will 
burst the bottle and be spilled, and the bottle 
shall perish; but new wine must be put into 
new bottles, and both are preserved." And 
this is only intelligible with reference to the 
skin bottles, or bags made of the skins of kids, 
goats, and even oxen, such as are still in use 
throughout the East, and even in some parts 
of Europe, such as Spain, Hungary and Tur- 
key. 




CHAPTER XXXIV. 

WONDERFUL WORKS. 




'HILE Jesus was still 
at the house of Matthew, 
'•engaged in the kindly 
teaching which arose 
out of the question of 
John's disciples, anoth- 
er event occurred 
which led in succession 
to three of the greatest 
miracles of His earthly 
life. A ruler of the 
synagogue — or chief elder of 
the congregation, to whom the 
Jews looked with great respect 
— came to Jesus in extreme agi- 
tation. It is not improbable 
that this ruler of the synagogue 
had been one of the very deputation who had 
pleaded with Jesus for the centurion by whom 
it had been built. If so, he knew by experi- 
ence the power of Him to whom he now ap- 
pealed. 

Flinging himself at His feet with broken 
words — which in the original still sound as 
though they were interrupted and rendered 
incoherent by bursts of grief — he tells Him 
that his little daughter, his only daughter, is 
dying, is dead ; but still, if He will but come 
and lay His hand upon her, she shall live. 
With the tenderness which could not be deaf 
to a mourner's cry, Jesus rose at once from 
the table, and went with him, followed not 
only by His disciples, but also by a dense ex- 
pectant multitude, which had been witness 
of the scene. And as He went the people 
in their eagerness pressed upon Him and 
thronged Him. 

But among this throng — containing doubt- 
less some of the Pharisees and of John's dis- 
ciples with whom he had been discoursing, as 
well as some of the publicans and sinners with 
(444) 



whom He had been seated at the feast — there 
was one who had not been attracted by curi- 
osity to witness what would be done for the 
ruler of the synagogue. It was a woman who 
for twelve years had suffered from a distressing 
malady, which unfitted her for all the relation- 
ships of life, and which was peculiarly afflict- 
ing because in the popular mind it was re- 
garded as a direct consequence of sinful hab- 
its. In vain had she wasted her substance 
and done fresh injury to her health in the 
effort to procure relief from many different 
physicians, and now, as a last desperate re- 
source, she would try what could be gained 
without money and without price from the 
Great Physician. 

Perhaps, in her ignorance, it was because 
she had no longer any reward to offer; per- 
haps because she was ashamed in her feminine 
modesty to reveal the malady from which she 
was suffering; but from whatever cause, she 
determined, as it were, to steal from Him, un- 
known, the blessing for which she longed. 
And so, with the strength and pertinacity of 
despair, she struggled in that dense throng 
until she was near enough to touch Him ; and 
then, perhaps all the more violently from her 
extreme nervousness, she grasped the white 
fringe of his robe. By the law of Moses every 
Jew was to wear fringes or tassels, bound by 
a thread of symbolic blue, to remind him that 
he was holy to God. 

Two of these fringes usually hung down at 
the bottom of the robe; two hung over the 
shoulders where the robe was folded round 
the person. It was probably one of these 
that she touched with secret and trembling 
haste, and then, feeling instantly that she had 
gained her desire and was healed, she shrunk 
back unnoticed into the throng. Unnoticed 
by others, but not by Christ. Perceiving that 




(445) 



146 



THE TOUCH OF FAITH. 



healing power had gone out of Him, recog- 
nizing the one magnetic touch of timid faith 
even amid the pressure of the crowd, He 
stopped and asked, " Who touched my 
clothes?" There was something almost im- 
patient in the reply of Peter, as though in 
such a throng he thought it absurd to ask, 
"Who touched me?" But Jesus, His eyes 
still wandering over the many faces, told him 
that there was a difference between the crowd- 
ing of curiosity and the touch of faith, and as 
at last His glance fell on the poor woman, 
she, perceiving that she had erred in trying to 
filch the blessing which He would have gra- 
ciously bestowed, came forward fearing and 
trembling, and, flinging herself at His feet, 
told Him all the truth. All her feminine 
shame and fear were forgotten in her desire to 
atone for her fault. 

The Daughter's Death. 

Doubtless she dreaded His anger, for the 
law expressly ordained that the touch of one 
afflicted as she was caused ceremonial un- 
cleanness till the evening. But His touch had 
cleansed her, not hers polluted Him. So 
far from being indignant, He said to her, 
" Daughter " — and at once the sound of that 
gracious word sealed her pardon — " go in 
peace : thy faith hath saved thee ; be healed 
from thy disease." Jesus addressed no other 
woman by the title " Daughter." Legend has 
assigned to this woman Veronica as a name, 
and Paneas (Csesarea Philippi) as a residence. 
An ancient statue of bronze at this place was 
believed to represent her in the act of touch- 
ing the fringe of Christ's .robe ; and Eusebius 
and Sozomen both mention this statue, which 
is believed to be a curious testimony to the 
reality of Christ's -miracle. 

The incident must have caused a brief 
delay, and, as we have seen, to the anguish 
of Jairus every instant was critical. But he 
was not the only sufferer who had a claim on 
the Saviour's mercy ; and, as he uttered no 
complaint, it is clear that sorrow had not 
made him selfish. But at this moment a 
messenger reached him with the brief mes- 



sage — " Thy daughter is dead ; " and then, 
apparently with a touch of dislike and irony,, 
he added, " Worry not the Rabbi." 

The message had not been addressed to> 
Jesus, but He overheard it, and with a com- 
passionate desire to spare the poor father from 
needless agony, He said to him those memo- 
rable words, " Fear not, only believe." They 
soon arrived at his house, and found it occu- 
pied by the hired mourners and flute-players,, 
who, as they beat their breasts, with mercenary- 
clamor, insulted the dumbness of sincere sor- 
row and the patient majesty of death. 

Probably this simulated wailing would be 
very repulsive to the soul of Christ; and first 
stopping at the door to forbid any of the mul- 
titude to follow Him, He entered the house 
with three only of the inmost circle of His 
apostles — Peter, and James, and John. On 
entering, His first care was to still the idle 
noise ; but when His kind declaration — " The 
little maid is not dead, but sleepeth " — was 
only received with coarse ridicule, He indig- 
nantly ejected the paid mourners. When 
calm was restored, He took with Him the 
father and the mother and His three apostles, 
and entered with quiet reverence the chamber 
hallowed by the silence and awfulness of death. 

Then, taking the little cold dead hand, He 
uttered these two thrilling words, " TalitJia 
cumi" — "Little maid, arise ! " and her spirit 
returned, and the child arose and walked. 
An awful amazement seized the parents ; but 
Jesus calmly bade them give the child some 
food. And if He added His customary warn- 
ing that they should not speak of what had 
happened, it was not evidently in the intention 
that the entire fact should remain unknown — 
for that would have been impossible, when all 
the circumstances had been witnessed by so- 
many — but because those who have received 
from God's hand unbounded mercy are more 
likely to reverence that mercy with adoring 
gratitude if it be kept like a hidden treasure 
in the inmost heart. 

No one can fail to admire the ease and 
unostentatious simplicity which reigns through- 
out this transaction, as well as in the raising of 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



447 



the widow's son at Nain. The Divine tran- 
quillity, the simple words, " I say unto thee, 
Arise," speak the presence of One who is the 
conscious master of all things — even of death. 
The silence which Jesus imposed on the pa- 
rents of the maiden was obviously founded upon 
the dangers which this news, inconsiderately 
spread, might bring upon His person and 



The time was coming when these miracles 
might be referred to by competent witnesses 
in proof of His divine mission, and then the 
benefit which the cause of the Gospel must 
derive from them would be realized. There 
was, however, nothing contradictory in His ap- 
pealing to His works in proof of His mission, 
as when He says — " If I do not the works ot 




CHRIST RAISING THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS. Mark V. 41. 



doctrine. His hour, as He repeatedly de- 
clared, was not yet come. The renown of 
this great miracle, after He had so recently 
raised the son of the widow of Nain, would be 
sure to bring upon Him in tenfold activity the 
hate of His enemies, and lead them to plot 
against Him, as actually happened afterwards, 
when He raised Lazarus from the dead. 



my Father, believe me not. But if I do r 
though ye believe not Me, believe the works : 
that ye may know, and believe, that the 
Father is in Me, and I in Him." For he had 
only under particular circumstances enjoined 
this silence ; and when it had been enjoined, 
silence had rarely been observed as He 
desired and directed that it should be. 



448 



THE CRY OF TWO BLIND MEN. 



On His return from the .house of Jairus, 
two blind men, hearing who passed by, fol- 
lowed after Him, crying, " Thou son of David, 
have mercy on us! " This calling Him "the 
son of David " was a recognition of Him as 
the expected Messiah ; and it is not a little 
remarkable that this, in gospel narratives, 
comes from blind men almost exclusively. Is 
it that the celestial light " shines inward," in 
proportion to the privation of the outward 
sense ? Is it that the inner vision is " purged 
with euphrasy and rue," till it is enabled to 
behold " things invisible to mortal sight ? " 

Be this as it may, the blind were, in 
Christ's own time, ever the foremost to 
acknowledge Him in His true character: and 
the blind of that age, one would almost sup- 
pose, had left the heritage of their faith to the 
blind of latter ages; as among them we still 
find unusual intensity of love towards the 
person and character of Jesus Christ, unusual 
reliance of all the affections on Him, and 
unusual strength of hope in His salvation and 
glory. 

"Let There Be Ld^ht." 

Jesus did not appear to notice them till He 
reached the house to which He was going. 
He then said to them, " Believe you that I am 
able to do this ? " They answered " Yea, 
Lord ; " on which He touched their eyes, and 
said, " According to your faith be it unto 
you." And they had much faith, for their 
eyes were opened. The light of day shone 
in upon them, and the visible glories of this 
beautiful world were no longer mysteries. 

Already Christ had begun to check, as it 
were, the spontaneity of His miracles. He 
had performed more than sufficient to attest 
His power and mission, and it was important 
that men should pay more heed to His Divine 
eternal teaching than to His temporal healings. 
Nor would He as yet sanction the premature, 
and perhaps ill-considered, use of the Messi- 
anic title, "Son of David" — a title which, had 
He publicly accepted it, might have thwarted 
His sacred purposes, by leading to an instan- 
taneous revolt in His favor against the Roman 
power. Without noticing the men or their 



cry, He went to the house in Capernaum 
where he abode; nor was it until they had 
persistently followed Him into the house that 
He tested their faith. 

Like so many whom He healed, they neg- 
lected His stern command not to reveal it. 
There are some who have admired their diso- 
bedience, and have attributed it to the enthu- 
siasm of gratitude and admiration ; but was it 
not rather the enthusiasm of a blatant wonder, 
the vulgarity of a chattering boast? How 
many of these multitudes who had been healed 
by Him became His true disciples? Did not 
the holy fire of devotion which a hallowed 
silence must have kept alive upon the altar of 
their hearts die away in the mere blaze of 
empty rumor? Did not He know best? Would 
not obedience have been better than sacrifice, 
and to hearken than the fat of rams ? Yes. 
It is possible to deceive ourselves ; it is possi- 
ble to offer to Christ a seeming service which 
disobeys His inmost precepts — to grieve Him, 
under the guise of honoring Him, by vain 
repetitions, and the hollow semblance of a 
dead devotion. 

Better, far better, to serve Him by doing the 
things He said than by a seeming zeal, often 
false in exact proportion to its obtrusiveness, 
for the glory of His name. These disobedi- 
ent babblers, who talked so much of Him, did 
but offer Him the dishonoring service of a 
double heart ; their violation of His command- 
ment served only to hinder His usefulness, to 
trouble His spirit, and to precipitate His 
death. 

Soon after this Jesus once more visited Ca- 
pernaum, being attended by His disciples. On 
the first Sabbath after His arrival He taught 
in the synagogue. But the men of Nazareth 
were not now better prepared than formerly 
to respect His character and office. Their 
minds dwelt upon " all the disadvantages of 
His youth, and kindred, and trade, and poverty: 
still retaining in their minds the infirmities and 
humilities of His first years, and keeping the 
same apprehensions of Him as a man and a 
glorious prophet which they had to Him as a 
child in the shop of a carpenter." 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



449 



Jesus himself indicated the principle of their 
conduct to Him by quoting the well-known 
proverb — " A prophet hath nowhere less 
honor than in his own country ; " a proverb 
still constantly verified by the daily experience 
of many who, after having gathered renown 
and honor among strangers, find that in their 
native town the circumstances out of which 
they have risen are far better remembered and 
more thought of than those to which they 
have attained, so that at home they are greater 
strangers than in remote cities and lands. 

Failure to Perform Miracles. 

The influence of this feeling prevented the 
Nazarenes from seeing Christ in His true great- 
ness ; for it is emphatically remarked that 
41 He could do no mighty works there because 
of their unbelief; " and this in two ways — for, 
first, their knowledge of His humble birth 
effectually prevented that implicit reliance 
upon His power which He invariably exacted, 
and which could alone render them worthy of 
His protection and help ; and then from the 
influence of the same feeling, they would not 
think it worth their while sedulously to bring 
their sick to Jesus, and humbly to seek aid. 

It was not long after this that Jesus conferred 
upon the twelve apostles power to accomplish 
such miracles as He had Himself wrought, 
even to the extent of raising the dead ; and 
they were then sent forth, two and two, to 
preach the gospel throughout the country. 

Before sending them He naturally gave 
them the instructions which were to guide 
their conduct. At present they were to con- 
fine their mission to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel, and not extend it to Samaritans 
or Gentiles. The topic of their' preaching 
was to be the nearness of the kingdom of 
heaven, and it was to be freely supported by 
works of power and beneficence. They were 
to take nothing with them ; no scrip for food; 
no purse for money; no change of raiment; 
no travelling shoes in place of their ordinary 
palm-bark sandals ; they were not even to 
procure a staff for the journey if they did not 
happen already to possess one; their mission 



— like all the greatest and most effective 
missions which the world has ever known — 
was to be simple and self-supporting. 

The open hospitality of the East, so often 
used as the basis for a dissemination of new 
thoughts, would be ample for their mainte- 
nance. 

Renan notices the modern analogy. " When 
travelling in the East no one need ever scruple 
to go into the best house of any Arab village 
to which he comes, and he will always be 
received with profuse and gratuitous hospi- 
tality. From the moment we entered any 
house, it was regarded as our own. There is 
not an Arab you meet who will not empty 
for you the last drop in his water-skin, or 
share with you his last piece of black bread. 
The Rabbis said that Paradise was the re- 
ward of willing hospitality." 

The Blessing of Peace. 

On entering a town the disciples were to 
go to any house in it where they had reason 
to hope that they would be welcome, and to 
salute it with the immemorial and much- 
valued blessing, " Peace be to you," and if the 
children of peace were there the blessing 
would be effective ; if not, it would return on 
their own heads. If rejected, they were to 
shake off the dust of their feet in witness that 
they had spoken faithfully, and that they thus 
symbolically cleared themselves of all respon- 
sibility for that judgment which should fall 
more heavily on wilful and final haters of the 
light than on the darkest places of a heathen- 
dom in which the light had never, or but 
feebly, shone. 

So far their Lord had pointed out to them 
the duties of trustful faith, of gentle courtesy, 
of self-denying simplicity as the first essentials 
of missionary success. He proceeded to for- 
tify them against the inevitable trials and 
persecutions of their missionary work. 

They needed and were to exercise the 
wisdom of serpents no less than the harmless- 
ness of doves ; for He was sending them forth 
as sheep among wolves. 

Doubtless these discourses were not always 



450 



SELF-SACRIFICE. 



delivered in the continuous form in which 
they have -naturally come down to us. Jesus 
seems at all times to have graciously encour- 
aged the questions of humble and earnest 
listeners ; and at this point we are told by an 
ancient tradition, that Peter — ever, we may be 
sure, a most eager and active-minded listener 
— interrupted his Master with the not un- 
natural question, " But how then if the wolves 
should tear the lambs?" And Jesus an- 
swered, smiling perhaps at the naive and 
literal intellect of His chief apostle, " Let not 
the lambs fear the wolves when the lambs are 
once dead, and do you fear not those who 
can kill you and do nothing to you, but fear 
Him who after you are dead hath power over 
soul and body to cast them into hell." 

Patient Endurance. 

And then, continuing the thread of His dis- 
course, He warned them plainly how, both at 
this time and again long afterwards, they 
might be brought before councils, and 
scourged in synagogues, and stand at the 
judgment-bar of kings, and yet, without any 
anxious premeditation, the Spirit should teach 
them what to say. The doctrine of peace 
should be changed by the evil passions of 
men into a war-cry of fury and hate, and they 
might be driven to fly before the face of enemies 
from city to city. Still let them endure to 
the end, for before they had gone through the 
cities of Israel, the Son of man should have 
come. 

Then lastly, He at once warned and com- 
forted them by reminding them of what He 
Himself had suffered, and how He had been 
opposed. Let them not fear. The God who 
cared even for the little birds when they fell 
to the ground — the God by whom the very 
hairs of their head were numbered — the God 
who held in His hand the issues of life and 
death, and who was therefore more to be 
feared than the wolves of earth — He was with 
them ; He would acknowledge those whom 
His Son acknowledged, and deny those 
whom He denied. They were being sent 
forth into a world of strife, which would seem 



I even the more deadly because of the peace 
which it rejected, but they were wrapped in 
; impenetrable armor, and shielded by the Di- 
vine presence. 

Even their nearest and dearest might side 
with the world against them. But they who- 
would be His true followers must for His 
sake give up all ; must even take up their 
cross and follow Him. And then, for their 
comfort, He told them that they should be as 
He was in the world ; that they who received 
them should receive Him ; that to lose their 
lives for His sake would be to more than find 
them ; that a cup of cold water given to the 
youngest and humblest of His little ones 
should not miss of its reward. 

That the whole of this discourse was not 
delivered on this occasion, that there are ref- 
erences in it to later periods, that parts of it 
are only applicable to other apostolic missions 
which as yet lay far in the future, seems 
clear; but we may, nevertheless, be grateful 
that Matthew, guided as usual by unity of 
subject, collected into one focus the scattered 
rays of instruction delivered, perhaps, on 
several subsequent occasions — as, for instance, 
befere the sending of the seventy, and even at 
the parting utterances of the risen Christ. It 
was a wise and merciful provision that He 
sent the disciples out two and two ; it enabled 
them to hold sweet converse together, and 
mutually to correct each other's faults. 
Doubtless the friends and the brothers went 
in pairs ; the fiery Peter with the more contem- 
plative Andrew ; the sons of thunder — one 
influential and commanding, the other emo- 
tional and eloquent; the kindred faith and 
guilelessness of Philip and Bartholomew ; 
the slow but faithful Thomas with the thought- 
ful and devoted Matthew; James with his 
brother Jude ; the zealot Simon to fire with 
his zeal the dark, flagging, despairing spirit 
of the traitor Judas. 

During their absence Jesus continued His 
work alone, perhaps as He slowly made His 
way towards Jerusalem ; for if we can speak 
of probability at all amid the deep uncertainties 
of the chronology of His ministry, it seems 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



451 



extremely probable that it is to this point that 
the verse belongs — " After this there was a 
feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jeru- 
salem." There are ample reasons, as far as the 
text is concerned, and as far as the time re- 
quired by the narrative is concerned, for be- 
lieving that this nameless feast was in all prob- 
ability the feast of Purim. 

The Purim Festival. 

But how came Jesus to go up to Jerusalem 
for such a feast as this ? a feast which was the 
saturnalia of Judaism ; a feast which was with- 
out Divine authority, and had its roots in the 
most intensely exclusive, not to say vindic- 
tive feelings of the nation ; a feast of merri- 
ment and masquerade' which was purely social 
and often discreditably convivial ; a feast which 
was unconnected with religious services, and 
was observed, not in the Temple, not even 
necessarily in the synagogues, but mainly in 
the private houses of the Jews ? 

The answer seems to be that, although 
Jesus was in Jerusalem at this feast, and went 
up about the time that it was held, the words 
of John do not necessarily imply that He went 
up for the express purpose of being present at 
this particular festival. The Passover took 
place only a month afterwards, and He may 
well have gone up mainly with the intention 
of being present at the Passover, although He 
gladly availed Himself of an opportunity for 
being in Judaea and Jerusalem a month before 
it, both that He might once more preach in 
those neighborhoods, and that He might avoid 
the publicity and dangerous excitement in- 
volved in His joining the caravan of the Pass- 
over pilgrims from Galilee. 

Such an opportunity may naturally have 
arisen from the absence of the apostles on their 
missionary tour. Jesus had friends and well- 
wishers at Jerusalem and in its vicinity. He 
must doubtless have paid visits to those regions 
which are not recorded. Perhaps it was among 
those friends that He awaited the return of 
His immediate followers. We know the deep 
affection which He entertained for the members 
of one household in Bethany, and it is not un- 



natural to suppose that He was now living in 
the peaceful seclusion of that pious household 
as a solitary and honored guest. 

But even if John intends us to believe that 
the occurrence of this feast was the imme- 
diate cause of this visit to Jerusalem, we must 
bear in mind that there is no proof whatever 
of its having been in the time of Christ the fan- 
tastic and disorderly commemoration and free 
carousal which it subsequently became. The 
nobler-minded Jews doubtless observed it in a 
calm and grateful manner ; and as one part of 
the festival consisted in showing acts of kind- 
ness to the poor, it may have offered an at- 
traction to Jesus both on this ground, and be- 
cause it enabled Him to show that there was 
nothing unnational or unpatriotic in the uni- 
j versal character of His message, or the all- 
embracing infinitude of the charity which He 
both practised and enjoined. 

Vengeance of Herodias. 

Just about this time the birthday of Herod 
the tetrarch was celebrated with great festivity 
in the court of Galilee. On this occasion 
Herod was so much charmed with the dancing 
of young Salome (so Josephus calls her), the 
daughter, by her former husband, of that 
Herodias whom Herod had taken away from 
his brother Philip, that he promised with an 
oath to give her whatever she should ask. 

From the effect which this dancing produced 
upon the tetrarch, it would appear that it was 
not that comparatively rude and unformed 
style of dancing which was anciently used by 
the Jewish maidens at public rejoicings ; but 
that lascivious and pantomimic sort which, 
by the movements of the hands and other 
members of the body, expressed human man- 
ners and affections, and which had then lately 
been introduced from neighboring nations into 
the Jewish court. 

The damsel was old enough to know the 
value of the promise thus given, and, instead 
of giving utterance to any girlish wish, went to 
ask her mother concerning the suit which she 
should prefer. Herodias hated John the Bap- 
tist on account of the protest he had uttered 




CHRIST FEEDING THE MULTITUDE. — Matt. xiv. I9. 



(452) 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



4.53 



against her connection with Herod, but had 
never been able to prevail upon the tetrarch to 
bring him to any further punishment than im- 
prisonment, and she seized with avidity the oc- 
casion now offered, by instructing her daughter 
to demand the head of the Baptist — " in a 
charger " (salver), a barbarously-minute addi- 
tion, strikingly characteristic of a peculiarity 
often noticed in a woman's vengeance. Most 
men would have been content simply to de- 
mand the head of the Baptist; but she phrased 
it — " Give me here the head of John the Bap- 
tist in a charger" — " here " and " in a charger ! " 
Herod was sorry that such a demand should 
have been made, for he had a sort of awe for 
the Baptist, and justly dreaded the effect which 
so barbarous an act might produce upon the 
people, by whom the prophet was held in 
high veneration. But as his oath had been 
taken in the presence of so many witnesses, 
he fancied that he could not draw back. The 
word was given ; John was beheaded in the 
prison where he had so long been confined, 
and his head was brought in a charger to 
Salome, who carried it to her mother. All the 
circumstances of this transaction are exceed- 
ingly revolting, and give a lively idea of an 
age in which blood was poured out like water, 
and when even " tender and delicate women " 
were familiar with all kinds of violence and 
with every ghastly form of death. 

Herod Perplexed. 

The people were greatly disgusted and pro- 
voked at the slaughter of John, and although 
they did not rise in sedition, as perhaps Herod 
had apprehended, Josephus informs us that 
they failed not to ascribe to this enormity the 
destruction of his fine army by Aretas, king 
of Arabia (the father of the tetrarch's former 
wife), which soon afterwards took place. 

It was not long after this that the doings of 
Christ first came under the notice of Herod, 
and perplexed him greatly: "John," he said, 
" have I beheaded ; but who is this of whom 
I hear such things ? " This implies doubt, 
and it would seem that he was at length led 
to conclude that Jesus was no other than the 



Baptist raised from the dead, and became very 
desirous to see him. Jesus probably heard of 
this; and, if so, we may conclude that it was 
from the desire to avoid the court of Herod 
and the snares of the tyrant, that He took 
ship and withdrew into the more solitary 
regions bordering the Lake of Tiberias. 

The apprehension that the people, enraged 
at the murder of John, and always prone to 
sedition, might rise into actual rebellion, and 
He incur the blame, may also have been one 
of the reasons for this step. The need of rest 
and refreshment after the season of excessive 
fatigue to which He and His apostles, who 
had by this time rejoined Him, had been ex- 
posed, is also mentioned as a further reason 
for this retirement. 

Feeding- the Multitude. 

The desert place to which He withdrew 
was not far from the town of Bethsaida. The 
solitude which He sought was not, however, 
allowed Him there. The people followed 
Him, so that even in this solitary place He 
was soon surrounded by a great multitude. 
When Jesus beheld this large body of people, 
so far away from their homes in the wilder- 
ness, He was moved with compassion towards 
them, "because they were as sheep not having 
a shepherd ; " and He ascended an eminence 
with His disciples, and He taught them many 
things. Then perceiving that the day was far 
spent, and that the people were exhausted 
with walking and want of food, while the 
places were so distant where food might be 
procured, Jesus said to Philip, " Whence shall 
we buy bread, that these may eat ? " This, 
we are told, He said to prove him, His own 
intentions having been already formed. 

The feeding of the five thousand is one of 
the few miracles during the ministry of Christ 
which are narrated to us by all four of the 
evangelists. 

The novel journeyings of the apostles, the 
agitation of His own recent conflicts, the con- 
stant pressure of a fluctuating multitude which 
absorbed the whole of their time, once more 
rendered it necessary that the little company 



454 



THE SHORE OF GALILEE. 



should recover the tone and bloom of their 
spirits by a brief period of rest and solitude. 
" Come ye yourselves," He said, " apart into 
a desert place, and rest a while." 

At the north-eastern corner of the lake, a 
little beyond the point where the Jordan enters 
it, was a second Bethsaida, or " Fish-house," 
once, like its western namesake, a small vil- 
lage, but recently enlarged and beautified by 
Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea, and called, for the 
sake of distinction, Bethsaida Julias. The 
second name had been given it in honor of 
Julia, the beautiful but infamous daughter of 
the emperor Augustus. These half-heathen 
Herodian cities, with their imitative Greek 
architecture and adulatory Roman names, 
seem to have repelled rather than attracted 
the feet of Christ ; and though much of His 
work was accomplished in the neighborhood 
of considerable cities, we know of no city 
except Jerusalem in which He ever taught. 

But to the south of Bethsaida Julias was 
the green and narrow plain of El Batihah, 
which, like the hills that closed it round, was 
uninhabited then as now. Hitherward the 
little vessel steered its course, with its freight 
of weary and saddened hearts which sought 
repose. But private as the departure had 
been, it had not passed unobserved, and did 
not remain unknown. It is but six miles by 
sea from Capernaum to the retired and deso- 
late, shore which was their destination. 

The Waiting Throng-. 

The little vessel, evidently retarded by un- 
favorable winds, made its way slowly at no 
great distance from the shore, and by the time 
it reached its destination, the object which 
their Master's kindness had desired for His 
apostles was completely frustrated. Some 
of the multitude had already outrun the ves- 
sel, and were crowding about the landing- 
place when the prow touched the pebbly 
shore ; while in the distance were seen the 
thronging groups of Passover pilgrims, who 
were attracted out of their course by the in- 
creasing celebrity of this unknown prophet. 
Jesus was touched with compassion for them, 



because they were as sheep not having a 
shepherd. We may conjecture from John 
that on reaching the land He and His dis- 
ciples climbed the hill-side, and there waited a 
short time till the whole multitude had as- 
sembled. Then descending among them He 
taught them many things, preaching to them 
of the kingdom of heaven, and healing their 
sick. 

The day wore on ; already the sun was 
sinking towards the western hills, yet still 
the multitude lingered, charmed by that heal- 
ing voice and by those holy words. The 
evening would soon come, and after the brief 
oriental twilight, the wandering crowd, who 
in their excitement had neglected even the 
necessities of life, would find themselves in 
the darkness, hungry, and afar from every 
human habitation. The disciples began to 
be anxious lest the day should end in some 
unhappy catastrophe, which would give a 
fresh handle to the already embittered ene- 
mies of Christ. But His compassion had 
already forestalled their considerate anxiety, 
and had suggested the difficulty to the mind 
of Philip, who was especially thoughtful. 

Barley Loaves and Fishes. 

A little consultation took place. To buy 
even a mouthful apiece for such a multitude 
would require at least two hundred denarii 
(more than thirty-five dollars) ; and even sup- 
posing that they possessed such a sum in their 
common purse, there was now neither time 
nor opportunity to make the necessary pur- 
chases. Andrew hereupon mentioned that 
there was a little boy there who had five barley- 
loaves and two small fishes, but he only said 
it in a despairing way, and, as it were, to show 
the utter helplessness of the only suggestion 
which occurred to him. 

" Make the men sit down," was the brief 
reply. 

Wondering and expectant, the apostles bade 
the multitude recline, as for a meal, on the 
rich green grass which in that pleasant spring- 
time clothed the hill-sides. They arranged 
them in companies of fifty and a hundred, and 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



455 



as they sat in these orderly groups upon the 
grass, the gay red and blue and yellow colors 
of the clothing which the poorest Orientals 
wear, called up in the imagination of Peter a 
multitude of flower-beds in some well-culti- 
vated garden. 

And then, standing in the midst of His 
guests — glad-hearted at the work of mercy 
which He intended to perform — Jesus raised 
His eyes to heaven, gave thanks, blessed the 
loaves, broke them into pieces, and began to 
distribute them to His disciples, and they to 
the multitude ; and the two fishes He divided 
among them all. It was an humble but a suf- 
ficient and to hungry wayfarers a delicious 
meal. 

And when all were abundantly satisfied, 
Jesus, not only to show His disciples the extent 
and reality of what had been done, but also to 
teach them the memorable lesson that waste- 
fulness, even of miraculous power, is wholly 
alien to the Divine economy, bade them gather 
up the fragments that remained, that nothing 
might be lost. The symmetrical arrangement 
of the multitude showed that about five thou- 
sand men, besides women and children, had 
been fed, and yet twelve baskets were filled 
with what was over and above that which 
had been eaten. 

Each of the twelve apostles may be sup- 
posed to have filled a basket, and probably 
carried down to the boat the basket he had 
filled. The supply was more than enough. 

An Impressive Miracle. 

This was in many respects the most con- 
vincing, if not in itself the greatest, miracle 
which Christ had yet performed. It accord- 
ingly had a corresponding effect upon the 
multitude, who said, " This is, of a truth, that 
Prophet that should come into the world." 
Believing Him to be the Messiah, they were 
•disposed to constrain Him to take the temporal 
•sovereignty, which they conceived to belong to 
that character, and which He was manifestly 
reluctant to assume. Many have attained to 
thrones in this world with a less promising 
beginning than the adhesion of five thousand 



men ; and if Christ had any objects of worldly 
ambition, an opportunity which few would 
have neglected was here offered to Him. But 
far different were the objects of His coming, 
far different the mission to the world with 
which He was charged. 

The miracle produced a profound impression. 
It was exactly in accordance with the current 
expectation, and the multitude began to whis- 
per to each other that this must undoubtedly 
be " that Prophet which should come into the 
world ; " the Shiloh of Jacob's blessing ; the 
Star and the Sceptre of Balaam's vision ; the 
Prophet like unto Moses to whom they were to 
hearken ; perhaps the Elijah promised by the 
dying breath of ancient prophecy ; perhaps the 
Jeremiah of their tradition, come back to re- 
veal the hiding-place of the Ark, and the 
Urim, and the sacred fire. Jesus marked their 
undisguised admiration, and the danger that 
their enthusiasm might break out by force, 
and precipitate His death by open rebellion 
against the Roman government in the attempt 
to make Him a king. He saw too that His 
disciples seemed to share this worldly and 
perilous excitement. 

The time was come, therefore, for instant 
action. By the exercise of direct authority, 
He compelled His disciples to embark in 
their boat, and cross the lake before Him in 
the direction of Capernaum or the western 
Bethsaida. A little gentle constraint was 
necessary, for they were naturally unwilling to 
leave Him among the excited multitude on 
that lonely shore, and if anything great was 
going to happen to Him they felt a right to 
be present. On the other hand, it was more 
easy for Him to dismiss the multitude when 
they had seen that His own immediate friends 
and disciples had been sent away. 

So in the gathering dusk He gradually and 
gently succeeded in persuading the multitude 
to leave Him, and when all but the most en- 
thusiastic had streamed away to their homes 
or caravans, He suddenly left the rest, and 
fled from them to the hill-top alone to pray. 
He was conscious that a solemn and awful 
crisis of His day on earth was come, and by 



456 



ELEMENTS AT WAR. 



communing with His Heavenly Father, He 
would nerve His soul for the stern work of 
the morrow, and the bitter conflict of many- 
coming weeks. Once before He had spent 
in the mountain solitudes a night of lonely 
prayer, but then it was before the choice of 
His beloved apostles, and the glad tidings of 
His earliest and happiest ministry. Far differ- 
ent were the feelings with which the great 
High-priest now climbed the rocky stairs of 
that great mountain altar which in His temple 
of the night seemed to lift Him nearer to the 
stars of God. The murder of His beloved 
forerunner brought home to His soul more 
nearly the thought of death ; nor was He de- 
ceived by this brief blaze of a falsely-founded 
popularity, which on the next day He meant 
to quench as something worthless. 

The Boat in the Tempest. 

The storm which now began to sweep over 
the barren hills; the winds that rushed howl- 
ing down the ravines ; the lake before Him 
buffeted into tempestuous foam ; the little boat 
which — as the moonlight struggled through 
the rifted clouds — He saw tossing beneath 
Him on the laboring waves, were all too sure 
an emblem of the altered aspects of His 
earthly life. But there on the desolate hill- 
top, in that night of storm, He could gain 
strength and peace and happiness unspeak- 
able ; for there He was alone with God. And 
so over that figure, bowed in lonely prayer 
upon the hills, and over those toilers upon 
the troubled lake, the darkness fell and the 
great winds blew. 

Hour after hour passed by. It was now 
the fourth watch of the night ; the ship had 
traversed but half of its destined course ; it 
was dark, and the wind was contrary, and the 
waves boisterous, and they were distressed 
with toiling at the oar, and above all there 
was no one with them now to calm and save, 
for Jesus was alone upon the land. 

Alone upon the land, and they were tossing 
on the perilous sea ; but all the while He saw 
and pitied them, and at last, in their worst 
extremity, they saw a gleam in the darkness, 



and an awful figure, and a fluttering robe, and? 
One drew near them, treading upon the ridges 
of the sea, but seemed as if He meant to pass 
them by ; and they cried out in terror at the 
sight, thinking that it was a- phantom that 
walked upon the waves. 

A Voice in the Storm. 

And through the storm and darkness to 
them — as so often to us, when, amid the dark- 
nesses of life, the ocean seems so great, and 
our little boats so small — there thrilled that 
Voice of peace, which said, " It is I : be not 
afraid." 

That voice stilled their terrors, and at once 
they were eager to receive Him into the ship ; 
but Peter's impetuous love — the strong yearn- 
ing of him who, in his despairing self-con- 
sciousness, had cried out, " Depart from me ! " 
— now cannot even await His approach, and 
he passionately exclaims — 

" Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto 
Thee on the water." 

" Come," exclaimed the voice, that even the 
winds obeyed. 

And over the vessel's side into the troubled 
waves he sprang, and while his eye was fixed 
on Christ, the wind might toss his hair, and 
the spray might drench his robes, but all was 
well ; but when, with wavering faith, he glanced 
from Him to the furious waves, and to the 
gulfy blackness underneath, then he began to 
sink, and in an accent of despair — how unlike 
his former confidence! — he faintly cried, "Lord, 
save me ! " 

Nor did Jesus fail. Instantly, with a smile 
of pity, He stretched out His hand, and 
grasped the hand of His drowning disciple, 
with the gentle rebuke, " O thou of little 
faith, why didst thou doubt?" And so, his 
love satisfied, but his over-confidence rebuked, 
they climb — Jesus and His abashed apostle — 
into the boat ; and the wind lulled, and amid 
the ripple of waves upon a moonlit shore, 
they were at the haven where they would be ; 
and all — the crew as well as His disciples — 
were filled with deeper and deeper amazement, 
and some of them, addressing Him by a title 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



457 



which Nathanael alone had applied to Him 
before, exclaimed, " Truly Thou art the Son 
of God." This was their bold confession. 



was situated. It was then morning, and 
Christ being immediately recognized, He was 
soon attended by the usual crowd. Wherever 








PETER SAVED BY JESUS. Matt. xiv. 3 1. 

They came to shore in the " Land of Gen- 1 He went, the news of His coming went before 
nesaret," in which the town of Capernaum I Him, and all the sick were brought out has- 



458 



LOYALTY OF THE DISCIPLES. 



tily in their beds and laid in the streets through 
which He was to pass ; and they who were so 
happy as but to touch the hem of His garment : 
as He went by, were immediately cured of the 
diseases with which they were afflicted. 

The morning after Christ had recrossed the 
lake, the people who had partaken of the 
loaves and fishes, still continuing their search 
for Him, concluded, from the absence of the 
vessel in which He had arrived, that He had 
taken His departure. 

On this, so many of them as could find 
boats to convey them over hastened across 
the lake after Him. When they had found 
Him at Capernaum, they asked, " Rabbi, 
when earnest thou hither?" which He an- 
swered by reprehending them, as now seeking 
Him, only because they had been, through 
Him, satiated with food for the body, and 
were now in hopes that He would exhibit new 
miracles for their external benefit. Then, 
taking advantage of the state of consciousness 
which this accusation had produced, He pro- 
ceeded to urge upon them the obligation of 
seeking that spiritual nourishment, " the bread 
of life," which He only could bestow. 

The important discourse in which this view 
was enforced is continued in the sixth chapter 
•of John's Gospel ; and it is remarkable, be- 
yond many other parts of the sacred narrative, 
for the marked effect produced on the hearers, 
who frequently interposed their objections 
and remarks, and who were so much offended 
at some of Christ's sayings on this occasion, 
that many, even of the disciples, who had 
hitherto followed Jesus, left Him and departed 
to their own homes. The chosen twelve, 
however, remained steady. When Christ 
pointedly asked them, " Will ye also go 
away ? " Peter in the name of the rest an- 
swered, " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou 
hast the words of eternal life, and we believe 
and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God." 

It was now the time of the Passover, being 
the third Passover since the baptism of Jesus. 
But this year He did not go up to Jerusalem, 
knowing that the jews of Judaea only sought 



an occasion to put Him to death. He, there- 
fore, remained in Galilee with His disciples. 
He was not, however, allowed to carry on 
His proceedings unquestioned in Galilee, for 
certain adepts in the law came to Him from 
Jerusalem after the Passover, hoping to con- 
found Him with their objections ; but they 
were only confounded by the attempt. 

Visiting' the Gentiles. 

" Then Jesus went thence, arid departed into 
the regions of Tyre and Sidon." 

Such is the brief notice which prefaces the 
few and scanty records of a period of His life 
and work of which, had it been vouchsafed to 
us, we should have been deeply interested to 
learn something more. But only a single in- 
cident of this visit to heathendom has been 
recorded. It might have seemed that in that 
distant region there would be a certainty, not 
of safety only, but even of repose ; but such 
was not the case. We have already seen 
traces that the fame of His miracles had pene- 
trated even to the old Phoenician cities, and 
no sooner had He reached their neighborhood 
than it became evident that He could not be 
hid. 

A woman sought for Him, and followed the 
little company of wayfarers with passionate 
entreaties — " Have mercy on me, O Lord, 
thou son of David : ' my daughter is grievously 
vexed with a devil." 

We might have imagined that Christ would 
answer such a prayer with immediate and 
tender approbation, and all the more because, 
in granting her petition, He would symboli- 
cally have been representing the extension of 
His kingdom to the three greatest branches 
of the pagan world. For this woman was by 
birth a Canaanite, and a Syro-Phcenician ; by 
position a Roman subject ; by culture and 
language a Greek; and her appeal for mercy 
to the Messiah of the chosen people might 
well look like the first-fruits of that harvest in 
which the good seed should spring up here- 
after in Tyre and Sidon, and Carthage, and 
Greece, and Rome. But "Jesus answered her 
not a word." 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



459 



In no other single instance are we told of a I themselves : He may have desired to test the 
similar apparent coldness on the part of Christ; I feelings of His disciples, who, in the narrow 




THE SYRO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN, 



nor are we here informed of the causes which I spirit of Judaic exclusiveness, might be un- 
influenced His actions. Two alone suggest I prepared to see Him grant His blessings, not 



460 



COASTS OF TYRE AND S1DON. 



only to a Gentile, but a Canaanite, and de- 
scendant of the accursed race. It was true that 
He had healed the servant of the centurion, 
but he was perhaps a Roman, certainly a 
benefactor to the Jews, and in all probability 
a proselyte of the gate. But it is more likely 
that, knowing what would follow, He may 
have desired to test yet further the woman's 
faith, both that He might crown it with a more 
complete and glorious reward, and that she 
might learn something deeper respecting Him 
than the mere Jewish title that she may have 
accidentally picked up. And further than this, 
since every miracle is also rich in moral sig- 
nificance, He may have wished for all time to 
encourage us in our prayers and hopes, and 
teach us to persevere, even when it might 
seem that His face is dark to us, or that His 
ear is turned away. 

An Agonizing Petition. 

Weary with the importunity of her cries, the 
disciples begged Him to send her away. But, 
as if even their intercession would be unavail- 
ing, He said, " I am not sent but unto the 
lost sheep of the house of Israel." 

Then she came and fell at His feet, and 
began to worship Him, saying, " Lord, help 
me." Could He indeed remain untouched by 
that sorrow? Could He reject that appeal? 
and would He leave her to return to the life- 
long agony of watching the paroxysms of her 
demoniac child? Calmly and coldly came 
from those lips, that never yet had answered 
with anything but mercy to a suppliant's 
prayer — " It is not meet to take the children's 
bread and to cast it to dogs." 

Such an answer might well have struck a 
chill into her soul ; and had He not foreseen 
that hers was the rare trust which can see 
mercy and acceptance even in apparent rejec- 
tion, He would not so have answered her. 
But not all the snows of her native Lebanon 
could quench the fire of love which was burn- 
ing on the altar of her heart, and prompt as 
an echo came forth the glorious and immortal 
answer : 

" Truth, Lord ; then let me share the con- 



dition, not of the children, but of the dogs, for 
even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall 
from their masters' table." 

The Victory of Faith. 

She had triumphed, and more than tri- 
umphed. Not one moment longer did Jesus 
prolong the agony of her suspense. "O 
woman," He exclaimed, " great is thy faith : 
be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And with 
his usual beautiful and graphic simplicity 
Mark ends the narrative with the touching 
words, "And when she was come to her 
house she found the devil gone out, and her 
daughter laid upon the bed." 

How long our Lord remained in these 
regions, and at what spot He stayed, we do 
not know. Probably His departure was hast- 
ened by the publicity which attended His 
movements even there, and which — in a region 
where it had been His object quietly to train 
His own nearest and most beloved followers, 
and not either to preach or to work deeds of 
mercy — would only impede His work. He 
therefore left that interesting land. ' On Tyre, 
with its commercial magnificence, its ancient 
traditions, its gorgeous and impure idolatries, 
its connection with the history and prophecies 
of His native land — on Sarepta, with its mem- 
ories of Elijah's flight and Elijah's miracles — 
on Sidon, with its fisheries of the purple 
murex, its tombs of once-famous and long- 
forgotten kings, its minarets rising out of their 
groves of palm and citron, beside the blue his- 
toric sea — on the white wings of the countless 
vessels, sailing to the isles of the Gentiles, and 
to all the sunny and famous regions of Greece 
and Italy and Spain — He would doubtless 
look with a feeling of mingled sorrow and 
interest. 

But His work did not lie here, and leaving 
behind Him those Phoenician shrines of Mel- 
karth and Asherah, of Baalim and Ashtaroth, 
He turned eastward — probably through the 
deep and beautiful gorge of the rushing 
Leontes — and so reaching the sources of the 
Jordan, travelled southward on its further 
bank into the regions of Decapolis. 




JESUS LEADS THE BLIND. — Mark Vlil. 22. 



(461) 



462 



THE DUMB SPEAK. 



Decapolis was the name given to a district 
east of the Jordan, extending as far north ! 
(apparently) as Damascus, and as far south 
as the river Jabbok, which formed the northern 
limit of Persa. It was a confederacy of ten , 
free cities, in a district which, on their return 
from exile, the Jews had never been able to ; 
recover, and which was, therefore, mainly oc- 
cupied by Gentiles, who formed a separate | 
section of the Roman province. The recep- 
tion of Jesus in this semi-pagan district seems 
to have been favorable. 

Hearing Restored. 

Wherever He went He was unable to ab- 
stain from exercising His miraculous powers 
in favor of the sufferers for whom His aid 
was sought ; and in one of these cities He 
was entreated to heal a man who was deaf, 
and could scarcely speak. He might have 
healed him by a word, but there were evi- 
dently circumstances in his case which ren- 
dered it desirable to make the cure gradual, 
and to effect it by visible signs. He took the 
man aside, put His fingers in his ears, and 
spat, and touched his tongue ; and then St. 
Mark preserves for us the sigh, and the up- 
lifted glance, as He spoke the one word, 
"Ephphatha!" "Be opened!" At that word 
the string which had so long held the tongue 
in bondage was severed, and the ears, dead so 
long, became at once sensible of each joyful 
sound. He heard distinctly and spoke plainly. 
And the Lord then returned him to his rejoic- 
ing friends, who, although enjoined to silence, 
could not control their gladness, but proclaimed 
the matter everywhere, saying, " He hath done 
all things well ; he maketh the deaf to hear 
and the dumb to speak." 

Some commentators remark that in the pre- 
vious miracle Jesus, by curing an idolatrous 
woman, and in this by curing one who, as 
being deaf and dumb, was an atheist, knowing 
nothing of any religion, showed He was the j 
Saviour of the whole human race : this as- 
sumes that the youth had been born deaf and 
dumb ; and, even so, this may be a mistake, 
for do we not thus limit the truth, which can 



find entrance to the soul of man when all the 
ordinary avenues of human intercourse are 
shut up in silence or in darkness ? 

A lady who was travelling in Palestine was 
attended by a deaf and dumb guide; and on- 
occasion of an accident which befell her 
daughter, and might have been attended 
with dangerous consequences, his manner 
touched the lady much. " He looked ear- 
nestly at me and then pointed towards heaven r 
as if to direct my gratitude thither. As Syria 
is not likely to have produced a saint, this 
poor man's sense of religion must have been 
innate, and its impression was the more pure 
and remarkable. I had observed it on an- 
other occasion ; on dividing some bread with 
him, he first kissed it, and then looked up- 
ward most devoutly." 

The people who had gathered around Jesus 
at this time were so drawn on by their wonder 
at the miracles of mercy which they were 
constantly witnessing, thaj they followed 
about for three successive days. They be- 
came so much exhausted that the benevolent 
Saviour was unwilling to dismiss them to 
their homes without food, " lest they should 
faint by the way." The recent miracle was,, 
therefore, repeated. The whole multitude, 
numbering four thousand persons, was fed 
from seven loaves and a few small fishes, the 
gathered fragments of which filled seven 
baskets. 

Immediately after this Christ and his dis- 
ciples took ship upon the Lake of Tiberias, to 
the coasts of Magdala and Dalmanatha. On 
the passage the disciples were much con- 
cerned at discovering that they had neglected 
to bring with them a supply of bread. Christ 
at the same time began to caution them to 
beware of the "leaven of the scribes and 
Pharisees." This was levelled at the hypo- 
critical professions and self-exalting doctrines 
of these classes. But the disciples, with their 
minds preoccupied with the want of bread, 
fancied that this discourse was aimed at their 
neglect. Jesus discerned this, and reproved 
them for their anxiety in this matter by re- 
minding them of the recent miracles. 



WONDERFUL WORKS. 



463 



At Bethsaida Julias, probably on the follow- 
ing morning, a blind man was brought to 
Him for healing. The cure was wrought in a 
manner very similar to that of the deaf and 
dumb man in Decapolis. It has none of the 
ready freedom, the radiant spontaneity of the 
earlier and happier miracles. In one respect 
it differs from every other recorded miracle, 
for it was, as it were, tentative. Jesus took 
the man by the hand, led him out of the vil- 
lage, spat upon his eyes, and then, laying His 
hands upon them, asked if he saw. The man 
looked at the figures in the distance, and, but 
imperfectly cured as yet, said, " I see men as 
trees walking." Not until Jesus had laid His 
hands a second time upon his eyes did he see 
clearly. And then Jesus bade him go to 
his house, which was not at Bethsaida ; for, 
with an emphatic repetition of the word, he is 
forbidden to either enter into the town, or to 
tell it to anyone in the town. 



We cannot explain the causes of the method 
which Christ here adopted. The impossibility 
of understanding what guided His actions- 
arises from the brevity of the narrative, in 
which — as is so often the case with writers- 
conversant with their subject — the evangelist 
passes over many particulars, which, because 
they were so familiar to himself, will, he sup- 
poses, be self-explaining to those who read his 
words. All that we can dimly see is Christ's 
dislike and avoidance of these heathenish 
Herodian towns, with their spurious Greek no- 
tions, their tampering with idolatry, and even 
their very names commemorating, as was the 
case with Bethsaida Julias, some of the most 
contemptible of the human race. We see from 
the Gospels themselves that the richness and 
power displayed in the miracles was correla- 
tive to the faith of the recipients ; in places- 
where faith was scanty it was but too natural- 
that miracles should be gradual and few. 




CHAPTER XXXV. 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 




UR attention is next di- 
rected by the New Testa- 
ment narrative to a re- 
markable conversation 
between Jesus and the 
disciples. He began to 
question them respecting 
the opinions which they had 
heard of Him. He was answered 
that some supposed He was John 
the Baptist ; some Elias ; others Jeremiah, or 
one of the prophets. " But whom," asked 
Jesus, " say ye that I am ? " Peter, as usual, 
speaking for the rest, answered this important 
question by repeating the declaration which 
he had made on a former occasion : " Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
This called forth from Jesus the memorable 
words — " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jona 
[son of Jona] ; for flesh and blood hath not re- 
vealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in 
heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art 
Peter [a 'rock,' in Hebrew 'Cephas'], and 
upon this rock I will build my Church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatso- 
ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed 
in heaven." 

From that time Jesus began to speak openly 
of the mode in and by which the great objects 
of His coming were to be accomplished, 
namely, by His death on the cross, to be fol- 
lowed by His resurrection from the dead. 
Much had already occurred to prepare the dis- 
ciples for this; but having as yet no clear no- 
tion of Christ's spiritual kingdom upon earth, 
they were much distressed at this declaration. 
Peter, in his ardent attachment "to his 
Master, was more especially moved, and he 
(464) 



began to reprehend notions so unworthy the 
glory of the Messiah, saying : " Be it far from 
thee, Lord ; this shall not be unto thee." This 
interference drew from the mild Jesus one of 
the severest reprehensions he ever uttered, 
and which is the more signal in connection 
with the high encomium which the faith of 
this apostle had lately drawn from the same 
lips which now reproved him. 

About eight days after this, Jesus, accom- 
panied by His three most favored apostles, 
Peter, James, and John, withdrew into the 
solitude of a mountain, supposed to be Mount 
Tabor, to pray. While they were there, the 
apostles were favored with a glimpse of that 
heavenly glory in their Divine Master which 
belonged to His higher nature. " He was 
transfigured before them ; and His face did 
shine as the sun, and His raiment was white 
as the light." Suddenly there also appeared 
with Him Moses and Elias, who appeared in 
glory, and were heard by the apostles to speak 
with Him of the death He was soon to suffer 
in Jerusalem. 

There was a significance in this, which may 
escape a reader who is not informed that there 
was a general notion among the Jews that 
Moses and Elias were to appear on earth in 
the time of the Messiah. Peter, absorbed in the 
splendor of this appearance, and forgetful of life's 
cares and troubles, cried out in a rapture, " Mas- 
ter, it is good to be here : — and let us make three 
tabernacles — one for Thee, one for Moses, and 
one for Elias." By " tabernacles " he meant 
booths formed of branches of trees, such as 
travellers construct when they meet with a 
pleasant spot, unmindful of time and business. 

The words had scarce been finished, when 
a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice 
was heard from out of the cloud, saying: — 
" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



465 



pleased ; hear ye Him." Overpowered by the 
radiant light, and awed by that voice, the men 
fell to the ground as if struck by lightning ; 
and they stirred not until Jesus Himself touched 
them and told them to arise. When then they 
looked up, they saw that no one but their Master 
was present, and He had resumed His usual ap- 
pearance. He charged them to relate this glo- 
rious vision to no one, till the Son of man 
.should have arisen from the dead ; and they 
promised compliance, although they could not 
but question one another as to what His " ris- 
ing from the dead " might mean. 

On rejoining the other apostles below the 
mountain, they were found to be under much 
perplexity and concern : it was about a very 
distressing and violent case of demoniacal pos- 
session, which the apostles, in the absence of 
their Master, had attempted to relieve ; and the 
attempt being abortive, had been much ridi- 
-culed on that account, by the scribe who hap- 
pened to be present. When the approach of 
Jesus was perceived, one man hastened out of 
the crowd to meet Him, and kneeling down 
before Him, explained the matter. He said, 
" Lord, have mercy on my son (for he is mine 
■only child) ; for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed ; 
for oft-times he falleth into the fire, and oft into 
the water. And lo ! a spirit taketh him and 
teareth him ; and he foameth, and gnasheth 
with his teeth, and pineth away; and I spake 
to Thy disciples that they should cast him 
•out, and they could not." He added, that he 
had been thus affected from infancy. 

Christ then directed the lad to be brought 
to Him, and no sooner did he appear in that 
■august presence, than he fell into one of those 
violent convulsions of which the father had 
spoken, and who now implored more earnestly 
for relief: " If Thou canst do anything, have 
•compassion upon us, and help us." Jesus an- 
swered, " If thou canst believe — all things are 
possible to him that believeth." The man re- 
plied, with tears, " Lord, I believe ; help Thou 
mine unbelief." Touched by this answer, 
Jesus at once commanded the deaf and dumb 
spirit to come forth; and He was obeyed, 
though not without such rending throes as 



left the lad like one dead. Some, indeed, said 
that he was dead ; but Jesus took him by the 
hand, lifted him up, and restored him perfectly 
cured to his amazed and rejoicing parent 
The disciples afterwards took an opportunity 
of asking Him why they could not effect this 
cure ; and, as might be expected, He said that 
it arose from the defect of their faith, and from 
their want of sufficient confidence in the powers 
which He had bestowed upon them. 

Paying- Tribute. 

There was a sacred tribute paid yearly by 
every adult male in Israel to the treasury of 
the Temple. The amount was half a shekel, 
regarded in the time of Christ as equivalent to 
a didrachma, by which name the piece of 
money that paid it is called in the Gospels. 
When the usual time of payment came round, 
the collectors at Capernaum inquired of Peter 
whether his Master paid the tribute. He re- 
plied in the affirmative ; but when he men- 
tioned the matter to Jesus, he was asked : 
" What thinkest thou, Simon ? of whom do 
the kings of the earth take tribute ? of their 
own children,, or of strangers ? " Peter of 
course replied, " Of strangers ; " and Jesus re- 
joined, " Then are the children free." But 
although thus free, He directed the tribute to 
be paid, that there might be no occasion to al- 
lege that He despised the Temple. But they 
had not the money. The Saviour of the world 
was not possessed of fifteen pence. But all 
things were in His power and knowledge. 
He directed Peter to go and angle in the lake, 
and open the mouth of the first fish he took. 
The apostle did so ; and he found in the fish a 
coin called a stater, equal to a shekel, which 
the fish had doubtless lately swallowed. This 
was enough to pay two tributes, and Christ 
directed Peter to pay with it for both. 

When Jesus was afterwards with His dis- 
ciples in the house which they occupied, He 
questioned them respecting a discussion in 
which they had been engaged on the road. 
But no one answered ; all being ashamed to 
confess that they had been disputing which 
of them should be the greatest in their Mas- 



466 



AMBITIOUS DISCIPLES, 
conceived 



ter's kingdom, which they still conceived to Then He sat down, and taught them again, 

be of this world. as He had done so often, that he who would 

At the time Jesus took no notice of the be first must be last of all, and servant of all, 

dispute. He left their own consciences to and that the road to honor is humility. And 

work. But when they reached Capernaum wishing to enforce this lesson by a symbol of 




TEACHING HUMILITY BY A LITTLE CHILD. Luke ix. 47. 



a*id were in the house, then He asked them 
what they had been disputing about on the 
way. Deep shame kept them silent, and that 
silence was the most eloquent confession of 
their sinful ambitions. 



exquisite tenderness and beauty, He called to 
Him a little child, and set it in the midst, and 
then, folding it in His arms, warned them that 
unless they could become as humble as that 
little child, they could not enter into the king- 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



467 



dom of heaven. They were to be as children 
in the world ; and he who should receive even 
one such little child in Christ's name should 
be receiving Him, and the Father who sent 
Him. 

The expression "in my name" seems to 
have suggested to John a sudden question, 
which broke the thread of Christ's discourse. 
They had seen, he said, a man who was cast- 
ing out devils in Christ's name ; but since the 
man was not one of them, they had forbidden 
him. Had they done right? 

" No," Jesus answered ; " let the prohibition 
be removed." He who could do works of 
mercy in Christ's name could not lightly speak 
evil of that name. He who was not against 
them was with them. Sometimes indifference 
is opposition ; sometimes neutrality is aid. 

Children of the Kingdom. 

And then, gently resuming His discourse 
— the child yet nestling in His arms, and fur- 
nishing the text for His remarks — He warned 
them of the awful guilt and peril of offending, 
of tempting, of misleading, of seducing from 
the paths of innocence and righteousness, of 
teaching any wicked thing, or suggesting any 
wicked thought to one of those little ones, 
whose angels see the face of His Father in 
heaven. Such wicked men and seducers, such 
human performers of the devil's work — ad- 
dressing them in words of more bitter, crush- 
ing import than any which he ever uttered — 
a worse fate, He said, awaited them, than to 
be flung with the heaviest millstone round 
their neck into the sea. 

And He goes on to warn them that no sac- 
rifice could be too great if it enabled them to 
escape any possible temptations to put such 
stumbling-blocks in the way of their own 
souls, or the souls of others. Better cut off 
the right hand, and enter heaven maimed — 
better hew off the right foot, and enter heaven 
halt — better tear out the right eye, and enter 
heaven blind — than suffer hand or foot or eye 
to be the ministers of sins which should feed 
the undying worm. Better be drowned in 
this world with a millstone round the neck, 



than carry that moral and spiritual millstone 
of unresisted temptation which can drown the 
guilty soul in despair. 

For just as salt is sprinkled over every sac- 
rifice for its purification, so must every soul be 
purged by salt, or by fire, or by both ; by the 
salt of God's truth freely applied to the soul 
by the reason and the conscience ; or, if not, 
then by the fire of God's afflicting judgments 
— the fire which purges, and so saves from 
the worse fire which consumes. Let this re- 
fining, purging, purifying salt of searching self- 
judgment and self-severity be theirs. " Have 
salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one 
another." 

And thus, at once to confirm the duty of 
this mutual peace which they had violated, 
and to show them that, however deeply rooted 
be God's anger against those who lead others 
astray, they must never cherish hatred even 
against those who had most deeply injured 
them. He taught them how, first by private 
expostulation, then if necessary by public ap- 
peal, at once most gently and most effectually 
to deal with an offending brother. 

The Forgiven Servant. 

Peter, in the true spirit of formalism, wanted 
a specific limit to the number of times when 
forgiveness should be granted ; but Jesus 
taught that the times of forgiveness should 
be practically unlimited. He illustrated that 
teaching by the beautiful parable of the ser- 
vant, who, having been forgiven by his king 
a debt of ten thousand talents, immediately 
afterwards seized his fellow-servant by the 
throat, and would not forgive him a miserable 
little debt of one hundred pence, a sum 1,250,- 
000 times smaller than that which he himself 
had been forgiven. The child whom Jesus 
had held in His arms might have understood 
that moral. 

Jesus had abstained from attending at Jeru- 
salem at the last Passover. Autumn had now 
come, and with it the pleasant feast of Taber- 
nacles. The " brethren " of Jesus perceiving 
that He manifested no intention to attend this 
feast either, urged Him to do so. Their feel- 



468 



NEW PROOFS REQUIRED. 



ing in this it is not difficult to discover. They, i form inclined them to belief, but they were 
who had always had the human presence of | ever anxious to receive proofs yet more mani- 




THE CRUEL SERVANT. Matt. Xviii. 23. 

Christ before their eyes, found it peculiarly I fest of the Divine dignity to which He laid 
difficult to believe in Him with entire fixed- claim. They now wished to see Him in the 
ness. The miracles which they saw Him per- great theatre of the metropolis; still expect- 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



169 



ing, probably, the arrival of a decisive moment 
in which He would reveal Himself with power 
as the Messiah. 

This moment, they supposed, would come 
as soon as matters should be brought to a 
crisis by His appearance among His enemies 
at Jerusalem. Jesus, however, being unwilling 
to excite attention without necessity, did not 
consider the present moment, when the bulk 
of the people were in the road, as the most 
suitable. He suffered His brethren to depart 
alone; but afterwards went up to the holy 1 
city in a private manner with his disciples. 

At Jerusalem the expectations of the assem- 
bled multitudes were alive concerning Him, 
and with different feelings men talked eagerly 
to one another about the probabilities of His 
appearance. At length He appeared. 

After His arrival, He taught His doctrines 
in His usual manner, openly in the porticos 
of the Temple; and people who knew how 
strongly the learned and priestly classes were J 
irritated against Him, felt some surprise that! 
no one attempted to molest Him. " His hour; 
was not yet come," is the simple and abun- 
dantly satisfactory reason for this which the 
evangelist assigns. 

On the last day of the feast, the Pharisees, 
who were in authority, did send officers to 
apprehend Him as He taught in the Temple; 
for by that time they perceived that the cur- 
rent of popular opinion was setting in strongly | 
in favor of His claims. Then said one to! 
another, " When Christ cometh, will He do 
more miracles than those which this man 
hath done?" Some averred, "Of a truth 
this is the Prophet (which Moses foretold)." 
Others said, " This is the Christ." But some 
objected, " Shall Christ come out of Galilee ? 
Hath not the Scripture said that Christ 
cometh of the seed of David, and out of the 
town of Bethlehem, where David was ? " The 
officers sent by the Pharisees paused to hear 
His discourse, and were so impressed by His 
words that they made no attempt to arrest 
Him, but returned to their employers, saying, 
" Never man spake like this man." They 
were confounded by His wisdom. 



There was a poor beggar, blind from his 
birth, who was well known in the streets of 
Jerusalem. This man's eyes Jesus anointed 
with clay, and then sent him to wash them in 
the Pool of Siloam. Instead of deriding 
means of themselves so inefficient, the man 
obeyed, and he returned from the pool with 
the perfect use of both his eyes. This cure 
upon a person so well known excited more 
attention than any other miracle which Christ 
had yet performed. 

The Man Blind from Birth. 

All the Jews were trained to regard special 
suffering as the necessary and immediate con- 
sequence of special sin. Perhaps the disciples 
supposed that the words of Jesus to the para- 
lytic at Capernaum might seem to sanction 
such an impression. They asked, therefore, 
how this man came to be born blind. Could 
it be in consequence of the sins of his parents? 
If not, was there any way of supposing that 
it could have been for his own ? The suppo- 
sition in the former case seemed hard ; in the 
latter, impossible. They were perplexed. 

Into the unprofitable regions of such barren 
speculation Jesus refused to follow them, and 
He declined, as always, the tendency to infer 
and to sit in judgment upon the sins of others. 
Neither the man's sins, He told them, nor 
those of his parents, had caused that lifelong 
affliction ; but now, by means of it, the works 
of God should be made manifest. He, the 
Light of the world, must for a short time 
longer dispel its darkness. Then He spat on 
the ground, made clay with the spittle, and 
smearing it on the blind man's eyes, bade him 
" go wash in the Pool of Siloam." The blind 
man went, washed, and was healed. 

The saliva of one who had not recently 
broken his fast was believed among the an- 
cients to have a healing efficacy in cases of 
weak eyes., and clay was occasionally used to 
repress tumors on the eyelids. But that these 
instruments in no way detracted from the 
splendor of the miracle is obvious ; and we 
have no means of deciding in this, any more 
than in the parallel instances, why Jesus, who 



470 



THE TRUE SABBATH. 



sometimes healed by a word, preferred atj 
other times to adopt slow and more elaborate 
methods of giving effect to His supernatural 
power. 

In this matter He never revealed the prin- 
ciples of action which doubtless arose from 
His inner knowledge of the circumstances, 
and from His insight into the hearts of those 
on whom His cures were wrought. Possibly 
He had acted with the express view of teach- 
ing more than one eternal lesson by the inci- 
dents which followed. 

The People Amazed. 

At any rate, in this instance, His mode of 
action led to serious results. For the man 
had been well known in Jerusalem as one 
who had been a blind beggar all his life, and 
his appearance with the use of his eyesight 
caused a tumult of excitement. Scarcely 
could those who had known him best believe 
even his own testimony, that he was indeed 
the blind beggar with whom they had been so 
familiar. They were lost in amazement, and 
made him repeat again and again the story of 
his cure. But that story infused into their 
astonishment a fresh element of Pharisaic in- 
dignation ; for this cure also had been wrought 
on a Sabbath-day. The Rabbis had forbidden 
any man to smear even one of his eyes with 
spittle on the Sabbath, except in cases of 
mortal danger. Jesus had not only smeared 
both the man's eyes, but had actually mingled 
the saliva with clay ! 

This, as an act of mercy, was in the deepest 
and most inward accordance with the very 
causes for which the Sabbath had been or- 
dained, and the very lessons of which it was 
meant to be a perpetual witness. But the 
spirit of narrow literalism and slavish minute- 
ness and quantitative obedience — the spirit that 
hoped to be saved by the algebraical sum of 
good and bad actions — had long degraded the 
Sabbath from the true idea of its institution 
into a pernicious superstition. This kind of 
Sabbath, with all its petty servility, was in no 
respect the Sabbath of God's loving and holy 
law. Paul calls it a " beggarly element." 



And these Jews were so imbued with this 
utter littleness, that a unique miracle of mercy 
awoke in them less of astonishment and grati- 
tude than the horror kindled by a neglect of 
their Sabbatical superstition. Accordingly, in 
all the zeal of letter-worship, they led off the 
man to the Pharisees in council. Then fol- 
lowed the scene which John has recorded in a 
manner so inimitably graphic in his ninth 
chapter. 

First came the repeated inquiry, " how the 
thing had been done ? " followed by the re- 
peated assertion of some of them that Jesus could 
not be from God, because He had not observed 
the Sabbath ; and the reply of others that to press 
the Sabbath-breaking was to admit the mira- 
cle, and to admit the miracle was to establish 
the fact that He who performed it could not 
be the criminal whom the others described. 
Then, being completely at a standstill, they 
asked the blind man his opinion of his deliv- 
erer ; and he — not being involved in their 
vicious circle of reasoning — replied with fear- 
less promptitude, " He is a Prophet." 

The Parents Questioned. 

By this time they saw the kind of nature 
with which they had to deal, and anxious for 
any loophole by which they could deny or set 
aside the miracle, they sent for the man's 
parents. " Was this their son ? If they as- 
serted that he had been born blind, how was it 
that he now saw ? " Perhaps they hoped to 
browbeat or to bribe these parents into a denial 
of their relationship, or an admission of im- 
posture ; but the parents also clung to the 
plain truth, while, with a certain servility and 
cunning, they refused to draw any inferences 
which would lay them open to unpleasant con- 
sequences. " This is certainly our son, and he 
was certainly born blind ; as to the rest, we 
know nothing. Ask him. He is quite capa- 
ble of answering for himself." 

Then — one almost pities their sheer per- 
plexity — they turned to the blind man again. 
He, as well as his parents, knew that the Jewish 
authorities had agreed to pronounce the ban 
of exclusion from the synagogue, on any one 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



471 



who should venture to acknowledge Jesus as i or ignore the miracle, and to accept their 
the Messiah ; and the Pharisees probably | dictum that Jesus was a sinner. 




HEALING THE MAN BORN BLIND. John IX. I. 

hoped that he would be content to follow their I But the man was made of sturdier stuff than 
advice, to give glory to God, that is, to deny I his parents. He was not to be overawed by 



472 



THE FIRST CONFESSOR. 



their authority, or baffled by their assertions. 
He breathed quite freely in the halo-atmos- 
phere of their superior sanctity. " We know," 
the Pharisees had said, " that this man is a 1 
sinner." " Whether He is a sinner," the man 
replied, " I do not know ; one thing I do know, 
that, being blind, now I see." 

Then they began again their weary and futile 
cross-examination. " What did He do to 
thee? how did he open thine eyes ? " But the 
man had had enough of this. " I told you once, 
and ye did not attend. Why do ye wish to 
hear again? Is it possible that ye too wish to 
be His disciples?" Bold irony this — to ask 
these stately, ruffled, scrupulous Sanhedrists, 
whether he was really to regard them as anx- 
ious and sincere inquirers about the claims of 
the Nazarene Prophet ! 

Clearly here was a man whose presumptu- 
ous honesty would neither be bullied into sup- 
pression nor corrupted into a lie. He was quite 
impracticable. So, since authority, threats, 
blandishments, had all failed, they broke into 
abuse. "Thou art His disciple: we are the 
disciples of Moses ; of this man we know noth- 
ing." " Strange," he replied, '• that you should 
know nothing of a man who yet has wrought 
a miracle such as not even Moses ever wrought; 
and we know that neither He nor any one else 
could have done it, unless He were from God." 
What ! was a mere blind beggar, a natural 
ignorant heretic, altogether born in sin, to be 
teaching them! Unable to control any longer 
their transport of indignation, they flung him 
out of the hall and out of the synagogue. 

But Jesus did not neglect His first confessor. 
He, too, in all probability had, either at this or 
some previou time, been placed under the ban 
of lesser excommunication, or exclusion from 
the synagogue ; for we scarcely ever again read 
of His re-entering any of those synagogues 
which, during the earlier years of His minis- 
try, had been His favorite places of teaching 
and resort. He sought out and found the 
man, and asked him, " Dost thou believe on 
the Son of God ? " " Why, who is He, Lord," 
answered the man " that I should believe on 
Him ? " 



"Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He 
who talketh with thee." " Lord, I believe," 
he answered ; and he did Him reverence. 

It must have been shortly after this time 
that Jesus pointed the contrast between the 
different effects of His teaching — they who 
saw not, made to see ; and those who saw, 
made blind. The Pharisees, ever restlessly 
and discontentedly hovering about Him, and 
in their morbid egotism always on the look- 
out for some reflection on themselves, asked 
" if they too were blind." The answer of 
Jesus was, that in natural blindness there 
was no guilt, but to those who only stumbled 
in the blindness of wilful error a claim to the 
possession of sight was a self-condemnation. 

True and False Shepherds. 

The thought naturally led Him to the 
nature of true and false teachers, which He 
expanded and illustrated in the beautiful apo- 
logue — half parable, half allegory — of the true 
and false shepherds. He told them that He 
was the Good Shepherd, who laid down His 
life for the sheep; while the hireling shep- 
herds, flying from danger, betrayed their 
flocks. 

He, too, was that door of the sheepfold, by 
which all His true predecessors alone had en- 
tered while all the false — from the first thief who 
had climbed into God's fold — had broken in 
some other way. And then He told them that of 
His own free will He would lay down His life 
for the sheep, both of this and of His other 
flocks, and that of His own power He would 
take it again. But all these Divine mysteries- 
were more than they could understand ; and 
while some declared that they were the non- 
sense of one who had a devil and was mad, 
others could only plead that they were not 
like the words of one who had a devil, and 
that a devil could not have opened the eyes 
of the blind. 

Thus, with but little fruit for them, save the 
bitter fruit of anger and hatred, ended the visit 
of Jesus to the feast of Tabernacles. And 
since His very life was now in danger, He 
withdrew once more from Jerusalem to Galilee, 




THE GOOD SHEPHERD. John X. II. 



(473) 



474 



ASSAULTED BY THIEVES. 



for one brief visit before He bade to His old 
home His last farewell. 

About this time follow several important dis- 
courses of Christ. One of them contained 
the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan. 

This parable arose in discourse with a 
Pharisee, who, having stated the great com- 
mandments of the law were — " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;" 
and " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self; " was told "Thou hast answered right : 
this do and thou shalt live." But he, being 
willing to justify himself in the narrow con- 
struction which he and all other Jews of his 
■class put upon the latter duty, asked, " And 
who is my neighbor?" To which Jesus 
answered by this parable, if it be right to de- 
scribe as a parable an incident real in all its 
•circumstances, and which might have hap- 
pened on any day. 

it describes a man as " going down " from 
Jerusalem to Jericho, which stands on a plain 
many hundred feet below the level cf Jerusa- 
lem, and the road to which lay in part through 
a rocky wilderness, which was in those days 
(as Joseph us vouches) more -beset by robbers 
than ain ? other road in Palestine. This man 
was attacked by thieves, who stripped him of 
his raiment, which is at this day almost always 
done by Eastern robbers, because the loose 
clothes of the Orientals can be worn by almost 
any person of average stature into whose 
hands they come. 

And they not only stripped him, but as he 
had made some resistance, they handled him 
so severely, that he lay by the roadside half 
dead with wounds and bruises. Jericho was 
then a great station for the priests, and priests 
and Levites were continually passing on the 
road to* and from Jerusalem. A priest, who 
had been at Jerusalem offering up prayers for 
the safety of the people, came hard upon the 
wounded man on his return home ; " but when 
he saw him, he passed by on the other side." 

Soon after a Levite passed on his way to 
Jerusalem : he stopped, and even drew nigh 
and looked upon the poor wretch ; but he 
also went on without rendering assistance to 



one whom he could not have but recognized 
as a Jew, and as such a " neighbor," to whom 
the law required him to show mercy. Next 
came a Samaritan, one of the people between 
whom and the Jews an inexorable enmity ex- 
isted. But he paused not to consider this. 
Although in haste, and on horseback, he in- 
stantly alighted ; and hastened to comfort him 
with wine, and to mollify his stiffening sores 
with oil. He then placed him carefully upon 
his own beast, and led him tenderly to the 
nearest inn, where he left him in charge of 
the keeper to provide for his wants, with the 
words, " Take care of him, and whatsoever 
thou spendest more, when I come again I will 
repay thee." This was genuine compassion. 

Who Was the Neighbor? 

When he had concluded this parable, Jesus 
pointedly asked the questioner, " Which now 
of these three thinkest thou was neighbor to 
him that fell among thieves ? " He could not 
but answer, " He that showed mercy on him;" 
to which Jesus rejoined, " Go thou and do 
likewise." 

About this time the seventy disciples re- 
turned to their Master from the mission on 
which they had been sent. " Lord, even the 
devils are subject to us through thy name," 
was their exulting report to Him. He re- 
plied, "Behold I give you power to tread on 
serpents and scorpions and over all the power 
of the enemy; and nothing shall by any 
means hurt you." But to repress in them all 
pride and conceit in these preternatural gifts, 
and to correct the notion that these formed 
their greatest honor, He added — " Notwith- 
standing, in this rejoice not, that the spirits 
are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice, be- 
cause your names are written in heaven." 

The future life is here brought forward 
under the image of an earthly commonwealth, 
in which the names of citizens were inscribed 
in a book, from which were occasionally ex- 
punged the names of those who were thought 
unworthy, and who thereby lost their civil 
rights. The image which ascribes such a 
book to God is frequent in the Bible. 



476 



RETURN OF THE SEVENTY. 



We cannot, of course, suppose that the 
seventy returned in a body, but that from 
time to time, two and two, as Jesus approached 
the various cities and villages whither He had 
sent them, they came to give Him an account 
of their success. And that success was such 
as to fill their simple hearts with astonishment 
and exultation. Though He had given them 
no special commission to heal demoniacs, 
though in one conspicuous instance even the 
apostles had failed in this attempt, yet now 
they could cast out devils in their Master's 
name. 

Jesus, while entering into their joy, yet 
checked the tone of over-exultation, and rather 
turned it into a nobler and holier channel. 
He bade them feel sure that good was eter- 
nally mightier than evil ; and that the victory 
over Satan — his fall like lightning from heaven 
— had been achieved and should continue for- 
ever. Over all evil influences He gave them 
authority and victory, and the word of His 
promise should be an amulet to protect them 
from every source of harm. They should go 
upon the lion and adder, the young lion and 
the dragon should they tread under feet; be- 
cause He had set His love upon them, there- 
fore would He deliver them : He would set 
them up because they had known His name. 
And yet there was a subject of joy more deep 
and real and true — less dangerous because less 
seemingly personal and conspicuous than this 
— on which He rather fixed their thoughts : it 
was that their names had been written, and 
stood unobliterated, in the Book of Life in 
heaven. This was occasion for rejoicing. 

Th<> Pharisee and Publican 

And besides the gladness inspired in the 
heart of Jesus by the happy faith and un- 
bounded hope of His disciples, He also re- 
joiced in spirit that, though rejected and de- 
spised by scribes and Pharisees, He was loved 
and worshipped by publicans and sinners. The 
poor to whom lie preached His Gospel — the 
blind whose eyes He had come to open — the 
sick whom He had come to heal — the lost 
whom it was His mission to seek and save; — 



these all thronged with heartfelt and pathetic 
gratitude to the Good Shepherd, the Great 
Physician. 

The scribes and Pharisees as usual mur- 

1 inured, but what mattered that to the happy 

j listeners ? To the weary and heavy-laden 

i He spoke in every varied form of hope, of 

blessing, of encouragement. By the parable 

of the importunate widow He taught them 

the duty of faith, and the certain answer to 

ceaseless and earnest prayer. 

By the parable of the haughty, respectable, 
! fasting, alms-giving, self-satisfied Pharisee — 
| who, going to make his boast to God in the 
: Temple, went home less justified than the poor 
publican, who could only reiterate one single 
cry for God's mercy as he stood there beating 
his breast, and with downcast eyes — He 
taught them that God loves better a penitent 
humility than a merely external service, and 
that a broken heart and a contrite spirit were 
sacrifices which He would not despise. Nor 
was this all. He made them feel that they 
were dear to God; that, though erring chil- 
dren, they were His children still. 

There was soon another opportunity for 
Jesus to enter a practical protest against the 
notions concerning the Sabbath which in His 
time were entertained. He was teaching in 
one of the synagogues on the Sabbath-day,, 
when He noticed the presence of a woman 
who was doubled up by a disease under which 
she had been suffering for eighteen years. He 
called the afflicted creature before Him, and 
when He laid His sacred hands upon her, her 
bent body became straight, and she glorified 
God. 

The ruler of the synagogue was filled with 
indignation by this act, which he regarded as 
a profanation of the holy day; and he said to 
the people, " There are six days on which men 
ought to work : in them, therefore, come and 
be healed, and not on the Sabbath-day." The 
severe answer of the benevolent Saviour re- 
buked him for thinking it a matter of small 
importance that the afflicted should be relieved 
one day sooner from their sorrows. " Thou 
hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



477 



Sabbath day loose his ox or his ass from the 
stall, and lead him away to the watering ; and 
ought not this woman, being a daughter of 
Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these 
eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on 
the Sabbath-day?" No one could answer 
this. 

The Mustard Seed. 

Soon after, Christ took occasion to compare 
the small beginnings and eventual extension 
of " the kingdom of God," meaning the church, 
to a grain of mustard-seed, " which a man took 
and cast into his garden ; and it grew, and 
waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air 
lodged in the branches of it." He again com- 
pared it to leaven, " which a woman took and 
hid in three measures of meal till the whole 
was leavened." These familiar comparisons, 
•certain to be remembered, were prophetic in 
their purport, and would be called to mind 
with much interest, when the result which 
they indicate had been realized — when the 
seed became a great tree, and when the morsel 
had leavened the whole mass. 

It was probably on the next Sabbath that 
Christ dined in the house of a Pharisee, and 
took notice of the manifest anxiety of the 
guests to secure the most honorable places. 
This is, at the present day, a matter of vast 
solicitude and importance among the Orientals, 
the rank and estimation of a man being deter- 
mined by the place which he occupies ; and that 
among the Jews there were frequent disputes 
about seats at a banquet, we learn from Jo- 
sephus and the Rabbinical writers. 

Jesus, with the freedom which belonged to 
His character and office, reprehended this 
practice, and proceeded to inculcate the su- 
perior merits of those who feasted the afflicted 
and needy, over those who bestowed their feasts 
only on those from whom they expected a cor- 
responding return. He does not in this pro- 
hibit the reciprocation of hospitality among 
the rich ; but He prefers the acts of benefi- 
cence which are performed without the hope 
of reward. Some one on this remarked, 
*■ Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the king- 
dom of God," by which he probably intended 



to express the blessedness of those who should 
live in the kingdom which he believed the 
Messiah was to establish on the earth. 

To this Jesus replied in the striking parable 
of the great supper, the obvious intention of 
which is to reprove the prejudices which, from 
notions of secular felicity and grandeur, the 
nation in general entertained on this subject, 
in consequence of which, that which they, in 
prospect, regarded as a period so full of bless- 
ing to themselves, would, when present, be 
exceedingly neglected and despised. 

The parable describes a person as making a 
good supper to which a large number of friends 
were invited. When all things were ready, 
the servants were, according to custom, sent 
to call the persons previously invited. But 
they all excused themselves on one ground or 
another. One said he had bought (condi- 
tionally) a piece of ground, and must needs go 
and see it; and another, that he had bought 
five yoke of oxen, and must go and prove 
them. These excuses allude to a custom of 
proving articles during a treaty for their pur- 
chase. Another alleged that he had "married 
a wife, and therefore could not come." 

The Lost Sheep. 

These excuses might be very good sepa- 
rately taken, and on their own merits; but 
agreement among all the guests to excuse 
themselves showed much disrespect for the 
host, and a disposition to undervalue him and 
the feast which he had provided. And thus 
he felt it ; for he was wroth, and commanded 
his servants to bring in from the streets and 
highways the destitute, the afflicted, the poor, 
and the miserable, that they might enjoy the 
feast which the invited guests had refused. 
The application of this parable, under the con- 
siderations which have been indicated, is obvi- 
ous, and must have been exceedingly galling 
to the auditors. 

Not long after this, Christ, finding that He 
had incurred the blameful sneers of the Phari- 
sees, on account of the number of " publicans 
and sinners " who flocked to hear Him, ex- 
plained and justified His conduct in several 



478 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



striking parables. In the first He describes a 
man possessing a flock of a hundred sheep, 
and when one of them has gone astray, pro- 
ceeds in search of it, and when it was found, 
lays it on his shoulders (after a custom of the 
Jewish shepherds which is still common in the 
East), and returns home exulting more in the 
one sheep he had recovered than in the ninety 
and nine which he had not lost. 

The beauty of these references to the shep- 
herd and the sheep must be evident to all. 



the Old Testament had for their occupation the 
tending of sheep. David, the renowned king 
of Israel, was summoned from the fields, and, 
with the glow of health upon his cheek, and 
the mark of the shepherd's crook still upon 
his hand, he was called to the high sphere 
which he filled so illustriously. It is easy to 
see that Jesus in His endeavor to convey to 
the minds of the people some knowledge of 
the great things He came to teach, would be 
likely to draw illustrations from the flock, the 




FINDING THE LOST SHEEP. Luke XV. 4. 



The Great Teacher always drew His illustra- 
tions and parables from objects which were 
most familiar to the Jewish mind. He does 
not wander far into abstractions and meta- 
physics ; He is not among the clouds of 
speculation while His hearers are on earth, 
living a practical life. 

The office and duties of the shepherd were 
well known in Palestine at this time, even as 
they are at the present day. Some of those 
who stand among the illustrious characters of 



fold and the shepherd. And perhaps none of 
His utterances are more beautiful and sug- 
gestive than those which deal with this com- 
mon occupation. It is not a little significant 
that the first announcement of the Saviour's 
birth in Bethlehem, that event which has stirred 
the world ever since, was made by the angelic 
chorus to those who were guarding their flocks 
by night. 

Here we have a parable so simple and cap- 
tivating that a child can understand it, while at 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



479 



the same time there is a depth of meaning in it 
sufficient to interest the wisest sage. " If one 
poor, wayward sheep go astray, what man is 
there among you who would not leave the 
ninety and nine, and go after that which is 
lost? " That one poor sheep, which we would 
naturally think would hardly be missed from 
the fold, is the very one that the shepherd 
seeks and is anxious to recover. For the 
time being he appears to have forgotten the 
ninety and nine, and his whole thought is 
fixed upon the one that has gone astray. And 
he is willing to search for it, is ready to sub- 
mit to the toil and weariness of that search, 
and cannot rest until the lost one is found. 

The Anxious Pursuit. 

Across the fields, down through the dales, 
over the rugged slopes, through brambles and 
bushes, he presses on, casting his eager eye to 
the right and the left, hoping at every moment 
that he will hear the plaintive bleat, or dis- 
cover the sheep that has departed from the 
fold. Hours he spends ; it may be that even 
the sun sets and the stars come out; but 
neither rugged hills nor lowering night can 
turn him back from his anxious pursuit. At 
length, after searching long and wearily, he is 
rewarded by finding the sheep that was lost. 

One of the most exquisite touches in this 
remarkable parable is brought out in the 
words, " He laid it on his shoulders rejoicing." 
The shepherd is not represented as ill-treating 
the sheep; he does not beat nor bruise it; 
rather is there great rejoicing in his heart, as 
when friend has met with friend. His treat- 
ment might have been far otherwise, but all 
this is resolutely excluded from the parable. 
Perhaps the wanderer by this time is faint and 
weary, but the shepherd has a strength which 
he is ready to supply. 

Carefully he lifts it, places it upon his shoul- 
der, and turns his footsteps homeward. He is 
not happy that his sheep has been lost, but he 
rejoices in the fact that it is found. With 
lighter footstep now he moves across the 
fields, and, though heavy the burden may be 
upon his back, he is not represented as laying 



it down. His return is different from his-- 
going, happier by far. Ninety and nine he left 
behind him ; now the hundredth is brought 
back, and he finds a greater joy in this restored 
one than in all the others. 

The interior meaning of this parable is suf- 
ficiently plain. There were those who consid- 
ered themselves righteous, who had a vc\y 
high opinion of themselves, and who consid- 
ered that no particular fault could be found 
with their lives. They were puffed up in their 
own conceit, and did not think for a moment 
that they had any need of righteousness be- 
yond what they possessed already. One who 
owns himself a poor penitent, one wanderer 
from the fold of the Great Shepherd, lost on 
the mountains, weary and sad, nigh to death, 
having been found in his extremity of suffer- 
ing, brings by his return a satisfaction deep 
and inexpressible. Very vivid are the colors 
of this picture — the scene drawn by a masterly- 
hand. Very graphic \s the language and very 
sweet is the meaning w hich it conveys. Unique 
among all human utterances, whether of Platos, 
or Homers, or Shakespeares, is this simple il- 
lustration, this scene by the wayside, this fas- 
cinating picture among the craggy hills and. 
under the skies of the Orient. 

The Prodigal Son. 

The next parable has the same scope. In 
it a woman possessed of ten pieces of silver- 
loses one of them, and proceeds to light a 
candle, and sweeps the house, searching dili- 
gently till she has found it ; and when it is 
found, rejoicing in that one piece. 

The parable of the prodigal son, which next 
follows, has the same general purport with the 
others, teaching that God would have no one 
perish, but willingly receives those who repent 
of their sins, and grants them His forgive- 
ness. In this beautiful parable, which has all 
the air of a fact from common life, and which, 
might easily be such, Jesus represents a wealthy 
landholder having two sons. 

The younger of them, full of animal spirits, 
and impatient of the restraints of his father's 
house, obtains from him his share of the patri- 




THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN. Luke XV. 20. 



(480) 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



481 



mony, and hastens away to a distant place, 
where he may take his fill of sensual pleasures 
without notice or control. Soon, all his ample 
means were wasted in riotous living, " and he 
began to be in want." At the same time a 
famine arose in the land ; the gay companions 
of his pleasures departed from him, and he 
had no resource but to hire himself out as a 
swineherd to " a citizen of that country." The 
famine made provisions scarce and dear, and 
his employment kept not from him the pangs 
of hunger, so that very often he would fain 
have appeased his. appetite with the coarse 
fruits of the carob-tree, which were given to 
his hogs, and which none but the poorest of 
human beings eat. 

Thus degraded, thus miserable, the youth 
at length " came to himself," for he had been 
morally insane before : and then he thought 
of the blessings of his father's house, the hired 
servants in which had bread enough and to 
spare, while he was perishing with hunger. 
This brought him to the resolution — " I will 
arise and go to my father, and will say unto 
him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and 
in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be 
called thy son : make me as one of thy hired 
servants." 

The Compassionate Father. 

He did as he had said. When he drew 
nigh to his father's house, he doubtless con- 
sidered much of the manner in which he 
should make his approach : but he needed 
not; for his father, with the true instinct of 
paternal love, knew the wretched prodigal 
"while he was yet a great way off;" and he 
was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell 
on his neck and kissed him. The son began 
to confess his unworthiness ; but the only an- 
swer of the father was to tell his servants — 
" Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him ; 
and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his 
feet : and bring hither the fatted calf and kill 
it, and let us eat and be merry : for this my 
son was dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, 
and is found." 

In the height of their rejoicing, the elder 
31 



brother (representing the Pharisees) came in 
from the fields ; and when he understood the 
cause of this unwonted gladness, lie was 
offended and would not enter the house ; and 
when his father came out to him he com- 
plained that, while his faithful services and 
steady conduct had obtained no reward, no 
sooner did his wasteful brother return than 
the fatted calf had been killed for him. The 
glad father answered, " Son, thou art ever 
with me, and all that I have is thine. It was 
meet that we should make merry and be glad; 
for this thy brother was dead, and is alive 
again ; and was lost, and is found." 

Never certainly in human language was so 
much — such a world of love and wisdom and 
tenderness — compressed into such few im- 
mortal words. Every line, every touch of the 
picture is full of beautiful eternal significance. 

The poor boy's presumptuous claim for all 
that life could give him — the leaving of the 
old home — the journey to a far country — the 
brief spasm of" enjoyment " there — the mighty 
famine in that land — the premature exhaustion 
of all that could make life noble and endura- 
ble — the abysmal degradation and unutterable 
misery that followed — the coming to himself, 
and recollection of all that he had left behind 
— the return in heart-broken penitence and 
deep humility — the father's far-off sight of 
him, and the gush of compassion and tender- 
ness over this poor returning prodigal — the 
ringing joy of the whole household over him 
who had been loved and lost, and had now 
come home — the unjust jealousy and mean 
complaint of the elder brother — and then that 
close of the parable in a strain of music — all 
this is indeed a Divine epitome of the wander- 
ing of man and the love of God such as no 
literature has ever equalled, such as no ear of 
man has ever heard elsewhere. 

Put in the one scale all that Confucius, or 
Zoroaster, or Socrates ever wrote or said — 
and they wrote and said many beautiful and 
holy words — and put in the other the parable 
©f the prodigal son alone, with all that this 
single parable suggests and means, and can 
any candid spirit doubt which scale would 



482 



THE SHADOW OF DOOM. 



outweigh the other in eternal preciousness — I record of it which the evangelist Luke has 

in Divine adaptation to the wants of man ? I happily preserved. We seem to hear through- 

So this great journey grew gradually to a | out it an undertone of that deep yearning 



THE PARA1LE 




close. The awful solemnity — the shadow, as 
it were, of coming doom — the half-uttered 
" too late " which might be dimly heard in its 
tones of warning — characterize the single 



which Jesus had before expressed — " I have 
baptism to be baptized with ; and how am 
straitened until it be accomplished ! " 

It was a sorrow for all the broken peac 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



483 



and angry opposition which His work would 
cause on earth — a sense that He was prepared 
to plunge into the "willing agony" of the 
already kindled flame. And this seems to 
have struck the minds of all who heard Him; 
they had an expectation, fearful or glad ac- 
cording to the condition of their consciences, 
of something great. Some new manifes- j 
tation — some revelation of the thoughts of j 
men's hearts — was near at hand. At last the 
Pharisees summoned up courage to ask- Him 
■"when the kingdom of God should come?" 
There was a certain impatience, possibly also 
a tinge of sarcasm and depreciation in the 
question, as though they had said, " When is 
all this preaching and preparation to end, and 
the actual time to arrive ? " 

His answer, as usual, indicated that their 
point of view was wholly mistaken. The 
coming of the kingdom of God could not be 
ascertained by the kind of narrow and curious 
watching to which they were addicted. False 
■Christs and mistaken Rabbis might cry, " Lo 
here!" and " Lo there!" but that kingdom 
was already in the midst of them ; nay, if 
they had the will and the wisdom to recog- 
nize and to embrace it, that kingdom was 
within them. 

That answer was sufficient to the Pharisees, 
•but to His disciples He added words which 
implied the fuller explanation. Even they did 
not fully realize that the kingdom had already 
■come. Their eyes were strained forward in 
intense and yearning eagerness to some glori- 
ous future, but in the future, glorious as it 
would be, they would still look backward with 
yet deeper yearning, not unmingled with re- 
gret, to this very past — to these days of the 
Son of man, in which they were seeing and 
their hands handling the Word of Life. 

In those days, let them not be deceived by 
any " Lo there ! Lo here ! " nor let them 
waste in feverish and fruitless restlessness the 
calm and golden opportunities of life. For 
that coming of the Son of man should be 
bright, sudden, terrible, universal, irresistible 
as the lightning flash ; but before that day He 
must suffer and be rejected. Moreover, that 



gleam of His second advent would flame upon 
the midnight of a sensual, unexpectant world, 
as the flood rolled over the festive sensualism 
in the days of Noah, and the fire and brim- 
stone streaming from heaven upon the glitter- 
ing rottenness of the cities of the plain. 

Jesus then addressed more particularly to 
His own disciples, some of whom were 
wealthy, the parable of the unjust steward, 
with the view of inculcating the true use of 
riches, and how they might be employed so as 
to ensure advantage from them in a future 
state. As, however, the parable describes a 
dishonest contrivance of the steward to gratify 
his lord's debtors at his expense, that they 
might thereby be induced to support him when 
dismissed from his stewardship, the moral, or 
application, is to be adduced, not from the act 
itself, which was culpable, but from the anxiety 
which the man felt to make his present means 
available for his future good. 

The Slave of Maminoii. 

Jesus here showed His disciples the neces- 
sity of care and faithfulness, of prudence and 
wisdom, in so managing the affairs and inter- 
ests and possessions of this life as not to lose 
hereafter their heritage of the eternal riches. 
It was impossible — such was the recurrent 
burden of so many discourses — to be at once 
worldly and spiritual ; to be at once the slave 
of God and the slave of mammon. With the 
supreme and daring paradox which impressed 
His Divine teaching on the heart and memory 
of the world, He urged them to the foresight 
of a spiritual wisdom by an example drawn 
from the foresight of a criminal cleverness. 
If such immense and needless difficulties had 
not been raised about this parable, it would 
have seemed almost superfluous to say that 
the point held up for imitation in the steward 
is not his injustice and extravagance, but the 
foresight with which he anticipated, and the 
skill with which he provided against, his ulti- 
mate difficulties. It really seems as if com- 
mentators were so perplexed by the parable as 
hardly to have got beyond Julian's foolish idea 
that it sanctions cheatine ! 



484 



PRUDENT FORESIGHT. 



What can be clearer than the very simple de- 1 dishonesty : be ye faithful stewards, and show 
ductions ? This steward, having been a bad I the same diligence, purpose, sagacity, in sub- 




steward, showed diligence, steady purpose, and 
clear sagacity in his dishonest plan for extri- 
cating himself from the consequences of past 



rHE unjust steward. — Luke xvi. I. 

ordinating the present and the temporal to the 
requirements of the eternal and the future. 
Just as the steward made himself friends of 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



485 



the tenants, who, when his income failed, re- 
ceived him into their houses, so do^ use your 
wealth — (and time, opportunity, knowledge, is 
wealth, as well as money) — for the good of 
your fellow-men ; that when you leave earth 
poor and naked, these fellow-men may wel- 
come you to treasures that never fail. 

Thrift Commended. 

The lesson is, in fact, the same as in the 
famous traditional saying of Christ, " Show 
yourselves approved money-changers." The 
parables of the unjust judge and the importu- 
nate suitor show quite as clearly as this par- 
able that the lesson conveyed by a parable 
may be enforced by principles of contrast, and 
may involve no commendation of those whose 
conduct conveys the lesson. It is very prob- 
able that both these parables were drawn from 
circumstances which had recently occurred. 

The importance of this parable is such that 
the reader will be pleased to get the comments 
upon it of Dr. Geikie, the celebrated author of 
the " Life and Words of Christ." Jesus is 
represented as saying : 

"A certain rich man had a steward, to whom 
he left the entire charge of his affairs. He 
learned, however, from some sources, that this 
man was acting dishonestly by him, and scat- 
tering his goods ; so he called him and let him 
know what he had heard, telling him, at the 
same time, to make out and settle all his ac- 
counts, as he could no longer hold his office. 

A Shrewd Scheme. 

" The steward, knowing that he was guilty, 
was at a loss what to do. ' I cannot dig,' said 
he, to himself, 'for I have not been accustomed 
to it, and I am ashamed to beg.' At last he 
hit on a plan which he thought would serve 
his end, and at once set himself to carry it out. 
Going to all his master's tenants, one by one, 
he asked each how much rent or dues he had 
to pay, though, in fact, he knew all this before- 
hand. When told, he pretended to have been 
commissioned, in compliance with his own 
suggestion, to lower the amount in each case ; 
and he thus secured the favor of all. For 



example, he went to one and asked him, ' How 
much owest thou to my lord ? ' and when told 
'A hundred pipes of oil,' bade him take back 
his bill, and write another, instead, for fifty. 
A second, who owed a hundred quarters of 
wheat, he told to make out a fresh writing 
with only eighty. In this way, by leading 
them to think him their benefactor, he made 
sure of friends, who would open their houses 
to him when he had been dismissed. 

" Some time after, when his master heard 
how cleverly he had secured his own ends, he 
could not help admiring his shrewdness. And, 
in truth, it is a fact, that bad men like this 
steward — the sons of this world, not of the 
next — are wiser in their dealings with their 
fellows than the sons of light — my disciples — 
are in theirs with their brethren, sons of my 
heavenly kingdom, like themselves. 

"As the master of that steward commended 
him for his prudence, though it was so worldly 
and selfish, I, also, must commend to you a 
prudence of a higher kind in your relations to 
the things of this life. By becoming my dis- 
ciples, you have identified yourselves with the 
interests of another Master than Mammon, the 
god of this world — whom you have hitherto 
served — and have before you another course 
and aim in life. You will be represented to 
your former master as no longer faithful to 
him, for my service is so utterly opposed to 
that of Mammon that, if faithful to me, you 
cannot be faithful to him, and he will, in con- 
sequence, assuredly take your stewardship of 
this world's goods from you — that is, sink you 
in poverty, as I have often said. 

" I counsel you, therefore, so to use the 
goods of Mammon — the worldly means still 
at your command — that, by a truly worthy 
distribution of them to your needy brethren — 
and my disciples are mostly poor — you may 
make friends for yourselves, who, if they die 
before you, will welcome you to everlasting 
habitations in heaven, when you pass thither, 
at death. Fit yourselves, by labors of love 
and deeds of true charity, as my followers, to 
become fellow-citizens of the heavenly man' 
sions with those whom vou have relieved. 



486 



THE GREATER RICHES. 



" If you be faithful, thus, in the use of your I misused the lesser cannot hope to be entrust- 
possessions on earth, you will be deemed ed with a greater. If you show in your life 
worthy by God to be entrusted with infinitely I that you have not been faithful to God in the 




greater riches hereafter, in heaven, for he thati use of this world's goods, entrusted to you by 
is faithful in this lesser stewardship has shown Him to administer for His glory, how can you 
that he will be so in a higher, but he who has | hope that He will commit to your keeping the 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



487 



unspeakably grander trust of heavenly riches? 
If you have proved unfaithful in the steward- 
ship of what was not yours — the worldly 
means lent you for a time by God — how can 
you hope to be honored with the great trust 
of eternal salvation, which would have been 
yours had you proved yourself fit for it? 

" Be assured that if you do not use your 
early riches faithfully for God, by dispensing 
them as I have told you, you will never enter 
my heavenly kingdom at all. You will have 
shown that you are servants of Mammon, and 
not the servants of God ; for it is impossible 
for any man to serve two masters." 

Open Derision. 

Such unworldly counsels, so contrary to 
their own spirit, were received with contempt- 
uous ridicule by the Pharisees standing round, 
as the mere dreams of a crazed enthusiast. 

The love of money had become a character- 
istic of their decaying religiousness, and it 
seemed to them the wildest folly to advise the 
rich, as their truest wisdom, to use their wealth 
to make friends for the future world, instead 
of enjoying it here. It is quite possible, in- 
deed, that some of them felt the words of 
Christ as a personal reproof, and were all the 
more embittered. 

Patient as He was in the endurance of per- 
sonal wrongs and insults, the indignation of 
Jesus was roused at such sneers at the first 
principles of genuine religion, and He, at once, 
with the calm fearlessness habitual to Him, ex- 
posed their hypocrisy and unsafeness as spiri- 
tual guides. 

" You hold your heads high," said He, " and 
affect to be saints, before men — such perfect 
patterns of piety, indeed, that you may judge 
all men by yourselves. 

" But God, who knows all things, and 
judges, not by the outward appearance, but 
by the heart, knows how different you are in 
reality from what you make men believe. 
Your pretended holiness, which is so highly 
thought of by men, is an abomination before 
God. You ignore, or explain away the com- 
mands of His law, when they do not suit 



you, and thus are mere actors, for true godli- 
ness honors the whole law. I condemn you 
on the one ground on which you claim to be 
most secure. You demand honor for your 
strict obedience to the law ; I charge you with 
hypocrisy, for your. design and deliberate cor- 
ruption of that law, to suit yourselves. 

The Law of Divorce. 

" Sincerity is demanded from those who 
wish to serve God. That which Moses and 
the prophets so long announced — that to 
which all the Scriptures point, the kingdom of 
the Messiah — has come. From the time 
when the Baptist preached, that kingdom is 
no longer future, but is set up in your midst, 
and with what success ? Every one presses 
with eagerness into it. But, as you know, I, 
its Head and King, make the most searching 
demands from those who would enter it, and 
open its citizenship only to those who are 
willing to overcome all difficulties to obtain it. 
You charge me with breaking the law, but, so 
far from doing so, I require that the whole law, 
in its truest sense, be obeyed by every one 
who seeks to enter the new kingdom. It is 
easier for heaven and earth, I tell men, to pass 
away, than for one tittle of the law to lose its 
force. But how different is it with you ! 

" Take the one single case of divorce. 
What loose examples does not the conduct 
of some of your own class supply? What 
conflicting opinions do you not give on the 
question ? I claim that the words of the law 
be observed to the letter, and maintain, in op- 
position to your hollow morality, that any 
one who puts away his wife, except for 
adultery, and marries another, himself com- 
mits adultery, and that he who marries the 
woman thus divorced is also guilty of the 
same crime. Judge by this whether you or I 
most honor the law — whether you or I are 
the safer guides of the people. How God 
must despise your boasts of special zeal for 
His glory !" 

Although Christ had been speaking to the 
apostles, some of the Pharisees seem to have 
been present and to have heard Him ; and it 



488 



CHIEF SEATS. 



is a characteristic fact that this teaching, more 
than any other, seems to have kindled their 
most undisguised derision. They began to 
treat Him with the most open and insolent 
disdain. And why ? Because they were 
Pharisees, and yet were fond of money. Had 
not they, then, in their own persons, success- 
fully solved the problem of " making the best 
of both worlds?" Who could doubt their 
perfect safety for the future ? nay, the absolute 
certainty that they would be admitted to the 
" chief seats," the most distinguished and con- 
spicuous places in the world to come ? Were 
they not, then, standing witnesses of the ab- 
surdity of the supposition that the love of 
money was incompatible with the love of 
God? 

Our Lord's answer to them is very much 
compressed by Luke, but consisted, first, in 
showing them that respectability of life is one 
thing, and sincerity of heart quite another. 
Into the new kingdom, for which John had 
prepared the way, the world's lowest were 
pressing, and were being accepted before them ; 
the gospel was being rejected by them, though 
it was not the destruction, but the highest ful- 
filment of the law. Nay, even to the law 
itself, of which not one tittle should fail, they 
were faithless, for they could connive at the 
violation of its most distinct provisions. 

In this He alluded, in all probability, to 
their relations to Herod Antipas, whom they 
were content to acknowledge and to flatter, 
and to whom not one of them had dared to 
use the brave language of reproach which had 
been used by John the Baptist, although by 
the clearest decisions of the law which they 
professed to venerate, his divorce from the 
daughter of Aretas was criminal, and his 
marriage with Herodias was doubly criminal, 
and worse. 

Dives and Lazarus. 

Then followed the grand and somewhat 
mysterious parable of the rich man and Laza- 
rus. It represents a wealthy and luxurious 
personage, " clad in purple," which, although 
originally confined to royal and noble person- 



ages, was, in the time of Christ, affected by 
the rich and opulent ; " and in fine linen," 
which, being in those days used chiefly by 
women, was regarded as effeminate. The por- 
tal or porch of a great man's house was a usual 
resort of beggars ; and at this rich man's gate 
was daily laid a beggar named Lazarus, who, 
as often happens with persons in his wretched 
condition, was " full of sores," the result of 
some cutaneous disorder brought on by hard 
fare and dirt. 

He was thus brought to the rich man's gate, 
that he might be fed with the crumbs that fell 
from his table. This, it seems, he obtained 
from the servants, but nothing from the rich 
man himself — no kind inquiry, no notice, no 
attempt to alleviate his condition — although 
he must daily have observed this miserable 
object as he went in and out. How great that 
misery was, which this rich man deigned not 
to notice, is shown by the fact that the street 
dogs came and licked the sores of Lazarus, 
which shows that they were open sores, and 
that they were not " either closed, or bound 
up, or mollified with ointment." 

An Impassable Gulf. 

In course of time the rich man and the 
poor man died; and then their conditions were 
reversed. Lazarus — poor no more, no more 
full of sores — " was carried by the angels to 
Abraham's bosom," that is, to the society of 
Abraham in heaven ; while the rich man lay 
in fiery torments afar off. In this painful con- 
dition he implored that Lazarus might be sent 
with one drop of water to cool his parched and 
burning tongue. Abraham replied, " Son, re- 
member that thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil 
things ; but now he is comforted and thou art 
tormented." This is expressed conformably 
to the notions of the Hebrews, who used the 
phrase " receiveth his world " for a course of 
secular felicity, and were wont to say, " He 
who shall pass forty days without chastise- 
ments has received his world, a full abundant 
reward for all the good he hath done here." 

Abraham also pointed to the obstacle which 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



489 



existed in the " great chasm," impassable to 
either party, which lay between them. On 
hearing this, the wretched soul's thoughts then 
took another direction, and he implored Abra- 
ham to send Lazarus to his five brethren, still 
living in his father's house (which implies that 
he had himself died young), to warn them lest 
they also should come to that place of torment. 
Abraham said, " They have Moses and the 
prophets, let them hear them." But the other 
urged, " Nay, father Abraham, but if one went 
to them from the dead, they will repent;" a 
common but most erroneous belief, to which 
Abraham cogently and truly answered, " If 
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
will they be persuaded though one rose from 
the dead." As Doddridge remarks, " The im- 
penitence of many who saw another Lazarus 
raised from the dead, and the wickedness of 
the soldiers who were eye-witnesses to the res- 
urrection of Christ, and yet that very day suf- 
fered themselves to be hired to bear false tes- 
timony against it, are most affecting and 
astonishing illustrations of this truth." 

After this Jesus addressed His disciples in 
sundry discourses, in which He taught them to 
avoid giving cause of offence, and to be for- 
giving and merciful to one another, even under 
repeated provocation. The disciples then, 
having been taught so much respecting charity 
and benevolence towards men, expressed a de- 
sire to be taught also concerning faith towards 
God, of which He had so often spoken to them, 
and that they might have more of that faith 
imparted to them, to which He had so often 
alleged all things to be possible. 

Approaching Conflicts. 

It may be while He was^resting with them 
in the cool of the evening, the incidents of the 
whole day were passed in review, and Jesus 
noticed that the words and bearing of His 
opponents, respect for whom, as the teachers 
of the nation, was instinctive with every Jew, 
had not been without their effect even on His 
disciples. It was evident that the very nature 
of His demands — the trials and persecutions 
to come, and the weakness of human nature — 



would raise moral hindrances to the full and 
abiding loyalty of not a few. 

By way of caution, therefore, He now warned 
them on this point. " It is impossible," said 
He, " to prevent divisions, disputes, and even 
desertion and apostasy, on the part of some 
of you, in the evil times to come. Misrepre- 
sentation, prejudice, the bent of different minds ; 
the weakness of some, and the unworthiness 
of others, will inevitably produce their natural 
results. The progress of my kingdom will, I 
foresee, be hindered more or less from this 
cause, but it cannot be avoided. Yet, woe to 
him who thus hinders the spread and glory of 
the Truth. It were better for him, if, like the 
worst criminal, he were bound to a heavy mill- 
stone, and cast into the sea, than that he should 
cause a single simple child-like soul, who be- 
lieves in me, to fall. Take heed that you 
neither mislead nor are misled ! Remember 
that I tell you that offences must be prevented 
or removed by a lowly, forgiving spirit on 
your part. You know how far you are yet 
from this ; how strong pride, love of your own 
opinion, harshness, and impatience, still are in 
your hearts. To further my kingdom when I 
am gone, strive above all things for peace and 
love among yourselves. 

Love and. Forgiveness. 

" The one grand means of avoiding these 
causes of offence and spiritual ruin is un- 
wearied, forgiving love; by that frame of 
mind which you see so wholly wanting in the 
Rabbis, that they have even now murmured 
at my so much as speaking to sinners, from 
whom such simple, lowly brethren are to be 
gathered. If such an one sin against you, 
and turn away from your fellowship, rebuke 
him for his sin. but if he see his error and 
repent of it, and come back, forgive him; aye, 
even if he wrong you seven times in a day, 
and feel and acknowledge his error and promise 
amendment, as often, you must each time for- 
give him freely." 

The twelve had listened to these counsels 
with intense interest, but their moral grandeur 
almost discouraged them. They felt that 



'490 



PRAYER FOR FAITH. 



nothing is harder than constant patience and I meekness. They had talked over the whole 
loving humility — never returning evil for evil, i matter, and saw only one source of strength. 
but ever ready to forgive, even when repeat- 1 Coming to their Master, full of confidence in 




edly injured without cause. It needed, as I His Divine power to grant their request, they 
they feared, stronger faith than they yet had, I openly, and with a sweet humility, prayed 
to create such an abiding spirit of tender! Him that He would increase their faith. 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



491 



"This request," answered Jesus, "shows 
that faith, in a true and worthy sense, is yet to 
be begun in your hearts. If you had it, even 
in a small measure, or, to use a phrase you 
hear every day, as a grain of mustard-seed, 
instead of finding obedience to these counsels 
too difficult, you would undertake and perform 
even apparent impossibilities — acts of trust 
which demand the highest spiritual power and 
strength. 

Master and Servant. 

"To such efficiency and eminence in my 
service will true faith in me lead you : but be- 
ware, amidst all, of any thought of merit of 
your own. Your faith must grow, and cannot 
be given as a mere bounty from without : it is 
a result of your own spiritual development 
and true humility, which looks away from 
self to me, as the one condition of this ad- 
vancement. You shall have the increased 
faith you seek, but it will be only by your 
continued loving dependence on me, your 
Master. 

" If any of you had a servant ploughing or 
tending your flock, would you say to him 
when he comes home from the field in the 
evening, ' Come near immediately, and sit 
down to meat?' Would you not rather say, 
' Prepare my supper, and make yourself fit to 
wait on me at table, and after I have supped, 
you shall eat and drink ? ' Would you think 
yourself under obligation to the servant be- 
cause he has been working for you, or because 
he waits on you as required ? Assuredly not, 
for your servant had only done what it was 
right he should do as a servant. Be, you, 
such servants. There is a daily work, with 
prescribed tasks, required from you. 

" The great supper will not be till this life is 
ended; but when it is ended, you must not 
think of yourselves, on account of it, except 
as becomes servants ; and should you be re- 
warded or honored, you must not forget that 
it is only from my free favor, and not as pay- 
ment of any claim; because, in fact, you have 
done only what it was your duty, as servants, 
to do. The servant who does less than his 



duty, is guilty before his master, but he who 
has done his duty, though he has avoided 
blame, has no reason to think himself entitled 
to reward. Feel, therefore, in any case, that 
your work has not been beyond your rightful 
duty, and that, though you have escaped con- 
demnation, you have no claim for any merit." 

The hostility of the Rabbis was growing 
daily more bitter, after each fruitless attack. 
At each town or village they gathered round 
Him, and harassed Him at every step by at- 
tempts to compromise Him with the authori- 
ties. 

On one of these last days of His journey 
towards Jerusalem, a knot of Pharisees had, 
thus, forced themselves on Him, and sought, 
to elicit something that might serve them, by 
asking Him : 

" Master, you have often represented your- 
self, both by words and by mighty deeds, as 
the Messiah, but we see no signs as yet of the 
coming of the kingdom of God. When will 
it come ? It has been long promised." 

The New Kingdom. 

" The kingdom of God," answered Jesus, 
" is something entirely different from what you 
expect. You look for a great political revolu- 
tion, and the establishment of a Jewish empire, 
with its capital in Jerusalem. Instead of this- 
it is a spiritual kingdom, in the hearts and 
consciences of men, and, as such, cannot come 
with the outward display and circumstance of 
earthly monarchy, so that men may say, ' Lo, 
here is the kingdom of God,' or, ' Lo, there.' 
The coming of the kingdom develops itself 
unobserved. I cannot, therefore, give you 
any moment when it may be said to have come, 
for, in fact, it is already in your midst. I, the 
Messiah, live and work amongst you, and 
where the Messiah is, there is His kingdom." 

The malevolent question thus met a reply 
which at once balked curiosity, and laid on al? 
the most solemn responsibilities; for, if the 
Messiah was really among them, how impera- 
tive to fit themselves for entering His king- 
dom ! The interrogators presently left, and 
Jesus resumed the subject with His disciples,. 



492 



DAYS OF TROUBLE. 



" I have only spoken to these men," said 
He, " of the growth and development of my 
kingdom, unseen, and silently, in the hearts of 
men. To you I would now speak of the fu- 
ture. Days will come when trouble shall 
make men's hearts long for one of the days of 
the Son of man back again, and false Messiahs 
will arise, pretending to bring deliverance. 
But when they say to you, ' Lo, there is the 
Messiah come at last,' ' Lo, here He is,' go not 
out after them ; do not follow them. For the 
■coming of the Son of man will be as sudden, 
as striking to all eyes, as mighty in its power, 
as when the lightning leaps from the cloud 
and suddenly sets the whole heavens in flame. 
There is no need of asking of the lightning, 
" Where is it ? ' or for any to tell you of it. 

" But this coming will not be now. I must 
first suffer many things for this genera- 
tion, and be rejected by it. Far from ap- 
proaching with slow, royal pomp, seen and 
-welcomed from afar; far from the world hail- 
ing my coming, and preparing for it, as for 
that of an expected king ; they will be busied 
in their ordinary affairs when it is nearest; 
till, suddenly, wide ruin and judgment burst 
on them, as the flood on the men of the days 
of Noah, and the fire from heaven on Sodom, 
in the days of Lot, bringing destruction on 
all. Men lived in security then ; they ate and 
drank ; they married and gave in marriage, 
with no thought or preparation for the im- 
pending catastrophe. 

Startling Predictions. 

" It will be the same at my coming. Men 
will be as secure ; the day will burst on them 
as suddenly, when I shall be revealed in my 
glory. When it comes, there will be an awful 
and instant separation of man from man. The 
good and evil will no longer be mixed to- 
gether. He who would save himself must, on 
the moment, part from them whom the peril 
threatens. He who lives in a town, must, as 
the destruction approaches, so hasten his flight, 
that if he be on the housetop when it draws 
near, he must not think of going into the 
house to save anything, but must flee, at the 



loss of all earthly possessions. He who is in 
the open field, must not turn back to his house 
for his goods, but must leave all behind him, 
and escape with his life. You hear my words; 
see that, in that day, you give heed to them. 
Remember Lot's wife, who perished for look- 
ing back, in disobedience to the Divine com- 
mand. Whosoever, in that day, shall seek to 
preserve his life, by unfaithfulness to me, shall 
lose life eternal, and he who loses this life for 
my sake, will secure heaven for ever." 

Jesus continued to instruct His disciples. To 
their remarkable words, " Increase our faith," 
He replied by the strong hyperbole, " If ye had 
faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye might 
say unto this sycamine (sycamore) tree, Be thou 
plucked up by the root, and be thou planted 
in the sea ; and it should obey you." Hyper- 
boles like this, expressive of physical impossi- 
bilities were common among the Hebrews, 
and are to be taken not as literal propositions, 
but as illustrative expressions. 

Sons of Thunder. 

It seems that Christ had returned from Jeru- 
salem to Galilee, where some of the above 
transactions occurred, for we next read that 
He is again about to journey to Jerusalem, 
probably to attend the feast of Dedication. 
As His object was to preach the gospel on 
His journey, He sent messengers before Him 
as He went through Galilee and Samaria ; and 
we cannot question that the intelligence of the 
coming of the Prophet of Nazareth drew large 
audiences to hear His utterances and to wit- 
ness His miracles. Once they entered a vil- 
lage of the Samaritans to make ready for Him ; 
but, as He was on the way to one of the feasts, 
they refused to receive him. 

The annual festivals at Jerusalem were 
odious to this people, who believed that they 
ought to be celebrated at their own temple on 
Mount Gerizim, and the feast of Dedication 
j was particularly disliked by them, as it was of 
human institution, and they recognized no fes- 
| tivals or observances but such as Moses had 
established. This refusal awakened the indig- 
nation of the two sons of Zebedee — those 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



493 



" sons of thunder " — and they said, " Wilt thou 
that we command fire to come down out 
of heaven and consume them, even as Elias 



At another village ten men who were lepers 
heard with joy of the approach of one by whom 
so many of their afflicted brotherhood hae 




LAZARUS AT THE RICH MAN'S GATE. Luke XVI. 1 9. 

did?" But He turned and rebuked them, I been made whole. Not being allowed to enter 
saying, "The Son of man is come not to de- 1 towns, or to mix with sound men, they stood 
stroy men's lives, but to save them." | afar off, outside the town, and as the Saviour 



494 



PRIESTS AND LEPERS. 



drew nigh they cried loudly, "Jesus, Master, 
have mercy on us." A cry for mercy was 
■never heard by Him in vain. Yet He did not 
immediately heal them, but, to try *:heir faith, 
sent them to show themselves for examination 
by the priest, intending that they should be 
healed on the way. Believing that He could i 
heal them, even when already gone, they 
turned their steps with glad hearts towards the 
holy city. 

It is observed that Christ told them to go I 
and show themselves to the priests; and as j 
there was no need for one person to show 
himself to many priests, it is hence inferred 
that, the matter being one of merely medical 
jurisdiction, He sent those of the lepers who 
were Jews to Jerusalem, and those who were 
Samaritans to Mount Gerizim, to be inspected 
by their own priests. This is doubtful ; but it 
is certain that they were perfectly cured as 
they proceeded on their way. 

A Happy Company. 

It is easy to conceive with Bishop Hall, 
" what an amazed joy there was among these 
lepers when they found themselves thus sud- 
denly cured ; each tells other what a change 
he feels in himself; each comforts other with 
the assurance of his outward clearness ; each 
congratulates other's happiness, and thinks, 
and says, ' How joyful this news will be to 
their friends and families!'" They hastened 
on their way to show themselves to the priest 
and claim the certificate of recovery, which 
would restore them to the society of men and 
to the pleasant intercourse of life. 

There was among them one only whose 
grateful emotions overcame for the moment 
even this natural desire to realize the privileges 
of his new condition ; and he who returned to 
thank his deliverer was a Samaritan. Jesus 
could not but remark on this circumstance. 
He said, " Were there not ten cleansed ? But 
where are the nine ? " 

Soon after this, some of the Pharisees took 
occasion to question Him when the kingdom 
of God would come. By this they doubtless 
meant the manifestation of the Messiah as a 



conqueror and king ; and from the tenor of 
His answers we may infer that the question 
was asked in some derision of His own claims. 
He told them in reply, that the Son of man 
would not come with any of the external 
show and pomp which they expected. He 
then more particularly addressed His own 
disciples, and warned them of the impostors 
who should hereafter arise, claiming to be the 
Messiah, and seducing many to follow them 
to their ruin. 

Then, in many striking comparisons, He 
illustrated the suddenness and effect of His 
coming to execute judgment upon the nation 
from which He was about " to suffer many 
things." "As it was in the days of Noah," He 
said, " so shall it be in the days of the Son of 
man. They did eat, they drank, they married 
wives, they were given in marriage, till the 
day that Noah entered into the ark, and the 
flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise 
also it was in the days of Lot ; they did eat f 
they drank, they bought, they sold, they 
planted, they budded ; but the same day that 
Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brim- 
stone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son 
of man is revealed." 

The Pharisee and Pnhlican. 

From this, by a natural transition, He passed 
to enjoin the importance of constant prayer 
and implicit reliance on the Divine assistance, 
in the parable of the importunate widow, who 
day after day urged an unjust and impious 
judge to do her justice upon her adversary. 
She could not upon the merits of her case or 
from his compassion obtain attention ; but at 
length he did her the justice she required, for 
no other reason than to release himself from 
her worrying applications. "And," said Jesus, 
" shall not God," the just and merciful, who 
does not despise, but love " His own elect," 
repel all injury from them, even though He 
seem for a while regardless of their prayers? 

Jesus having thus taught the importance 
and use of urgent prayer, proceeded to show 
by another parable the spirit in which prayer 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



495 



should be offered. Two men went up to the I the Pharisee stood wrapt in himself, and said, 
Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other I "God, I thank Thee that I am not as other 




the importunate widow. — Luke xviii. I. 



a publican. They both stood, no other post- 
ure being allowed in public prayer except to 
kings, who were not forbidden to sit. But 



men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers — or 
even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, 



tithes of all that I possess." 



496 



SCENE IN THE TEMPLE COURT. 



This he said silently, or " within himself," 
since the rest of the congregation, who might 
have supposed that he was praying for the 
welfare of the people, would have taken um- 
brage if they had discovered that he was only 
speaking evil of others. In his unuttered 
words he claimed a righteousness beyond the 
law, and rested with proud confidence upon it. 
The fasting twice in the week was not required 
by the law, but was observed by Pharisaic de- 
votees; the tithe of all that he possessed was 
not exacted by the law, but was minutely and 
rigidly enforced by the Pharisees. 

In this confidence of a claim on Heaven, the 
Pharisee had planted himself in the interior 
part of the Temple court, as near to the sanc- 
tuary as the regulations of Divine service 
would admit; but the publican humbly stood 
afar off in the outer borders of the Temple 
court, " and would not so much as lift his eyes 
to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, 
' God be merciful to me a sinner.' " " I tell 
you (added Jesus) that this man went down to 
his house justified rather than the other." 

Jesus at Bethany. 

It was not on the road from Galilee to Jeru- 
salem, as some suppose, that Jesus was hospi- 
tably entertained in the house of Martha. 
She lived at Bethany, quite in an opposite 
quarter ; which shows that Christ early visited 
the place after his arrival at Jerusalem, and 
perhaps lodged there, returning daily to the 
city, Bethany being only just on the other side 
of the Mount of Olives. Martha appears to 
have been a widow, with whom lived her sister 
Mary and her brother Lazarus. With this 
family Jesus was very intimate, and Lazarus, 
in particular, was favored with His friendship 
and love. They were all rejoiced to see Him 
again ; and Martha, " on hospitable thoughts 
intent," busied herself in preparing for the en- 
tertainment of Him and His disciples. This 
was her way of showing her regard for Christ; 
but her sister Mary chose rather to remain 
near Him, that she might not lose the oppor- 
tunity of profiting by His heavenly instruc- 
tions and gracious words. 



The task which Martha had imposed upon 
herself of providing handsomely for so large a 
party, suddenly arrived, was heavy, and its 
hurry and solicitude made her regard the 
course taken by her sister as idleness, and as 
neglect of a matter in which Christ and the 
friends He had brought with Him were essen- 
tially concerned. Confident that Jesus must 
view it in the same light, and must fully ap- 
preciate her bustlingcare for His entertainment, 
she ventured to complain to Him, " Lord, dost 
Thou not care that my sister hath left me to 
serve alone ? Bid her, therefore, that she 
help me." But how much was she astonished 
to hear Him answer, " Martha, Martha, thou 
art careful and troubled about many things ; 
but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen 
that good part, which shall not be taken away 
from her." She could not but understand this 
pointed contrast of the many cares of this life, 
with that one matter of infinite concern to 
man — the salvation of his soul. 

This scene suggests some very practical les- 
sons. It was natural that there should be 
some stir in the little household at the coming 
of such a Guest, and Martha hurried to and 
fro with excited energy to prepare for His 
proper entertainment. Her sister Mary, too, 
was anxious to receive Him fittingly, but her 
notions of the reverence due to Him were of 
a different kind. Knowing her sister was only 
too happy to do all that could be done for His 
material comfort, she in deep humility sat at 
His feet and listened to His words. 

The Sisters of Bethany. 

Mary was not to blame, for her sister evi- 
dently enjoyed the task she had chosen of 
providing as best she could for the claims of 
hospitality, and was quite able, without any 
assistance, to do everything that was required. 
Nor was Martha to blame for her active ser- 
vice ; her sole fault was that, in this outward 
activity, she lost the necessary equilibrium of 
an inward calm. As she toiled and planned 
to serve Him, a little touch of jealousy dis- 
turbed her peace as she saw her quiet sister 
sitting — " idly," she may have thought — at the 




CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. 



JESUS TEACHING AND HEALING. 



497 



feet of their great Visitor, and leaving the 
trouble to fall on her. 

If she had taken time to think, she could 
not but have acknowledged that there may 
have been as much of consideration as of sel- 
fishness in Mary's withdrawal into the back- 
around in their domestic administration ; but 
to be just and noble-minded is always difficult, 
nor is it even possible when any one mean- 
ness, such as petty jealousy, is suffered to in- 
trude. So, in the first blush of her vexation, 



An imperfect soul, seeing what is good and 
great and true, but very often failing in the 
attempt to attain to it, is apt to be very hard in 
its judgments on the shortcomings of others. 
But a divine and sovereign soul — a soul that 
has more nearly attained to the measure of the 
stature of the perfect man — takes a calmer 
and gentler, because a larger-hearted view of 
those little weaknesses which it cannot but 
daily see. And so the answer of Jesus, if it 
were a reproof, was at any rate an infinitely 




MARY AND MARTHA.. 



instead of gently asking her sister to help her, if 
help, indeed, were needed — an appeal which, if 
we judge Mary aright, she would instantly have 
heard — Martha almost impatiently, and not 
quite reverently, hurries in, and asks Jesus if 
He really did not care to see her sister sitting 
there with her hands before her, while she was 
left single-handed to do all the work. Would 
He not tell Mary to go and help, and no 
.longer sit idle ? 
32 



gentle and tender one, and one which would 
purify but would not pain the poor, faithful 
heart of the busy, loving maiden to whom it 
was addressed. 

" Martha, Martha," so He said — and as we 
hear that most natural address may we not 
imagine the half-sad, half-playful, but wholly 
kind and healing smile which lightened His 
face ? — " thou art anxious and bustling about 
many things, whereas but one thing is need- 



498 



CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM. 



ful ; but Mary chose for herself the good part, 
which shall not be taken away from her." | 
Paul, as has well been said, in his most fer- 
vent activity, had yet the contemplativeness 
and inward calm of Mary; and John, with 
the most rapt spirit of contemplation, could 
yet practise the activity of Martha. Jesus did 
not mean to reprobate any amount of work 
undertaken in His service, but only the spirit 
of fret and fuss — the want of all repose and 
calm — the ostentation of superfluous hospi- 
tality — in doing it; and still more that ten- 
dency to reprobate and interfere with others, 
which is so often seen in Christians who are 
as anxious as Martha, but have none of Mary's 
holy trustfulness and perfect calm. 

A Joyous Festival. 

It is likely that Bethany was the home of 
Jesus during His visits to Jerusalem, and from 
it a short and delightful walk over the Mount 
of Olives would take Him to the Temple. As 
already remarked, it was now winter-time, and 
the feast of the Dedication was being cele- 
brated. This feast, according to Wieseler, fell 
this year on December 20th. It was founded 
by Judas Maccabaeus in honor of the cleansing 
of the Temple in the year b. c. 164, six years 
and a half after its fearful profanation by Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes. Like the Passover and the 
Tabernacles, it lasted eight days, and was 
kept with great rejoicing. Besides its Greek 
name of Encaenia, it had the name of " the 
Lights," and one feature of the festivity was a 
general illumination to celebrate the legendary 
miracle of a miraculous multiplication, for 
eight days, of the holy oil which had been 
found by Judas Maccabaeus in one single jar 
sealed with the high-priest's seal. Our Lord's 
presence at such a festival shows that He looked 
with no disapproval on the joyous enthusiasm 
of national patriotism. 

The eastern porch of the Temple still re- 
tained the name of Solomon's porch, because 



it was at least built of the materials which 
had formed part of the ancient Temple. Here, 
in this bright colonnade, decked for the feast 
with glittering trophies, Jesus was walking ur> 
and down, quietly, and apparently without 
companions, sometimes, perhaps, gazing across 
the valley of the Kidron at the whited sepul- 
chres of the prophets, whom generations of 
Jews had slain, and enjoying the mild winter 
sunlight, when, as though by a preconcerted 
movement, the Pharisaic party and their leaders 
suddenly surrounded and began to question 
Him. 

Perhaps the very spot where He was walk- 
ing, recalling as it did the memories of their 
ancient glory — perhaps the memories of the 
glad feast which they were celebrating, as the 
anniversary of a splendid deliverance wrought 
by a handful of brave men who had over- 
thrown a colossal tyranny — inspired their 
ardent appeal. "How long," they impatiently 
inquired, " dost thou hold our souls in painful 
suspense? If thou really art the Messiah, tell 
us with confidence. Tell us here, in Solomon's 
porch now, while the sight of these shields and 
golden crowns, and the melody of these cith- 
erns and cymbals, recall the glory of Judas the 
Asmonaean — wilt thou be a mightier Macca- 
baeus, a more glorious Solomon ? shall these 
citrons, and fair boughs, and palms, which we 
carry in honor of this day's victory, be carried 
some day for Thee ? " It was a strange, im- 
petuous, impatient appeal, and is full of sig- 
nificance. It forms their own strong condem- 
nation, for it shows distinctly that He had 
spoken words and done deeds which would 
have justified and substantiated such a claim 
had He chosen definitely to assert it. And if 
He had in so many words asserted it — above 
all, had He asserted it in the sense and with 
the objects which they required — it is probable 
that they would have instantly welcomed Him 
with tumultuous acclaim, and hailed Him as 
their King. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 




J^HEN the feast 
was ended, 
Jesus 1 e f t 
Jerusalem ; but, 
instead of return- 
ing to Galilee, He 
went beyond the 
Jordan, to the 
place where John 
at first baptized, and remained 
there for some time. He was 
here in a neighborhood, the peo- 
ple of which had heard much of 
the Baptist's instructions, and had 
witnessed his course of proceedings; and the 
presence of Jesus reminded them, and many 
others who flocked to Him, of the testimony 
which John himself, whose memory they ven- 
erated, had here borne to Christ. They con- 
sidered that John had wrought no miracles, 
and yet many had been disposed to regard him 
as the Messiah ; how much, then, were they 
bound to recognize the Messiah in Jesus, who 
had wrought so many miracles, and to whom 
John himself had borne his most distinct tes- 
timony. The people were thus predisposed 
to believe in Him ; and many, moved by 
the testimony of John and by His own dis- 
courses, did receive Him as the expected 
Messiah. There, then, in comparative quiet, 
among a well-disposed people, free from the 
plots of the Sanhedrim and the malignant op- 
position of the Pharisees, the Saviour of men 
spent some portion of the last four months of 
his life. It was one of those seasons of re- 
pose which we often note to occur in the 
history of men, before they come to the great 
and crowning struggle of their lives, and 
which even the Saviour did not deem- it unfit 
to realize before He entered upon Hie tremen- 
dous scenes of that " hour " which He had 



so often said was not yet come; but which 
He knew to be now nigh at hand. 

While still in the Peraean Bethany — Peraea 
being the country east of the Jordan — Jesus had 
received from the other Bethany, where He 
had so often found a home, the solemn mes- 
sage that " he whom He loved was sick." 
Lazarus was the one intimate personal friend 
whom Jesus possessed outside the circle of 
His apostles, and the urgent message was 
evidently an appeal for the presence of Him 
in whose presence, so far as we know, there 
had never been a death-bed scene. 

But Jesus did not come. He contented 
Himself — occupied as He was in important 
works — with sending them the message that 
" this sickness was not to death, but for the 
glory of God," and stayed two days longer 
where He was. And at the end of those two 
days He said to His disciples, " Let us go into 
Judaea again." The disciples reminded Him 
how lately the Jews had there sought to stone 
Him, and asked Him how He could venture 
to go there again ; but His answer was that 
during the twelve hours of His day of work 
He could walk in safety, for the light of His 
duty, which was the will of His Heavenly 
Father, would keep him from danger. 

And then he told them that Lazarus slept, 
and that He was going to wake him out of 
sleep. Three of them at least must have re- 
membered how, on another memorable oc- 
casion, He had spoken of death as sleep; but 
either they were silent, and others spoke, or 
they were too slow of heart to remember it. 
As they understood Him to speak of natural 
sleep, He had to tell them plainly that Lazarus 
was dead, and that He was glad of it for their 
sakes, for that He would go to restore him to 
life. " Let us also go," said the affectionate 
but ever despondent Thomas, " that we may 

(499) 



500 



DEATH VANQUISHED. 



die with Him " — as though he had said, " It is 
all a useless and perilous scheme, but still let 
us go." The evangelist adds, " Now Jesus 
loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus," 
as if designedly to point our attention to the 
seemingly unaccountable conduct of Jesus in 
remaining still for two days in the place with- 
out apparent notice of the tidings which had 
been brought to Him. So convinced were 
the disciples that, from the exasperated feel- 
ing of the Jews, this journey would end in the 
death of their Master, that they followed Him 
as men prepared for that result, and ready to 
die with Him. 

The Resurrection and the Life. 

Starting early in the morning, Jesus could 
easily have accomplished the distance — some 
twenty miles — before sunset. But, on His ar- 
rival, He stayed outside the little village. Its 
vicinity to Jerusalem, from which it is not two 
miles distant, and the evident wealth and po- 
sition of the family, had attracted a large con- 
course of distinguished Jews to console the 
sisters, and mourn with them ; and it was ob- 
viously desirable to act with caution in ven- 
turing among such determined enemies. But 
while Mary, true to her retiring and contem- 
plative disposition, was sitting in the house, 
unconscious of her Lord's approach, the more 
active Martha had received intelligence that 
He was near at hand, and immediately went 
forth to meet Him. Lazarus had died on the 
very day that Jesus received the message of 
his illness ; two days had elapsed while He 
lingered in Peraea, a fourth had been spent on 
the journey. Martha could not understand 
this sad delay. " Lord," she said, in tones 
gently reproachful, " if Thou hadst been here 
my brother had not died," yet, " even now " 
she seems to indulge the vague hope that 
some alleviation may be vouchsafed to their 
bereavement. 

The few words which follow are words of 
most memorable import — a declaration of 
Jesus which has brought comfort not to 
Martha only, but to millions since — "Thy 
brother shall rise again." 



Martha evidently had not dreamt that he 
would now be awaked from the sleep of death, 
and she could only answer, " I know that he 
shall rise again in the resurrection at the last 
day." 

Jesus said unto her, " I am the Resurrection 
and the Life : he that believeth on me, though 
he have died, shall live ; and he that liveth and 
believeth on me shall never die. Believest 
thou this ? " 

It was not for a spirit like Martha's to dis- 
tinguish the interchanging thoughts of phys- 
ical and spiritual death which were united in 
that deep utterance; but, without pausing to 
fathom it, her faithful love supplied the an- 
swer, " Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of God, which should come 
into the world." 

Having uttered that great confession, she at 
once went in quest of her sister, about whom 
Jesus had already inquired, and whose heart 
and intellect, as Martha seemed instinctively 
to feel, were better adapted to embrace such 
lofty truths. She found Mary in the house, 
and both the secrecy with which she delivered 
her message, and the haste and silence with 
which Mary arose to go and meet her Lord, 
show that precaution was needed, and that 
the visit of Jesus had not been unaccompanied 
with danger. 

The Jews who were comforting her, and 
whom she had thus suddenly left, rose to 
follow her to the tomb, whither they thought 
that she had gone to weep ; but they soon saw 
the real object of her movement. Outside the 
village they found Jesus surrounded by His 
friends, and they saw Mary hurry up to Him, 
and fling herself at His feet with the same 
agonizing reproach which her sister also had 
used, " Lord, if Thou hadst been here my 
brother had not died." The greater intensity 
of her emotion spoke in her fewer words and 
her greater self-abandonment of anguish, and 
she could add no more. It may be that her 
affection was too deep to permit her hope to 
be so sanguine as that of her sister; it may be 
that with humbler reverence she left all to her 
Lord. 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



501 



The sight of all that love and misery, the 
pitiable spectacle of human bereavement, the 
utter futility at such a moment of human con- 
solation, the shrill commingling of a hired 
and simulated lamentation with all this gen- 
uine anguish, the unspoken reproach, " Oh, 
why didst Thou not come at once and snatch 
the victim from the enemy, and spare Thy 
friend from the sting of death, and us from 
the more bitter sting of such a parting?" — 
all these influences touched the tender com- 
passion of Jesus with deep emotion. A strong 
effort of self-repression was needed — an effort 
which shook His whole frame with a powerful 
shudder — before He could find words to speak, 
and then He could only ask, " Where have ye 
laid him ? " They said, " Lord, come and see." 

Scene at the Tomb of Lazarus. 

As He followed them His eyes were stream- 
ing with silent tears. His tears were not un- 
noticed, and while some of the Jews observed 
with respectful sympathy this proof of His 
affection for the dead, others were asking du- 
biously, perhaps almost sneeringly, whether 
He who had opened the eyes of the blind 
could not have saved His friend from death ? 
They had not heard how, in the far-off village 
of Galilee, He had raised the dead ; but they 
knew that in Jerusalem He had opened the 
eyes of one born blind, and that seemed to 
them a miracle no less stupendous. 

But Jesus knew and heard their comments, 
and once more the whole scene — its genuine sor- 
rows, its hired mourners, its uncalmed hatreds, 
all concentrated around the ghastly work of 
death — came so powerfully over His spirit, that, 
though He knew that He was going to wake the 
dead, once more His whole being was swept by 
a storm of emotion. The grave, like most of 
the graves belonging to the wealthier Jews, 
was a recess carved horizontally in the rock, 
with a slab or mass of stone to close the en- 
trance. Jesus bade them remove this. 

Then Martha interposed — partly from con- 
viction that the soul had now utterly departed 
from the vicinity of the mouldering body, 
partly afraid in her natural delicacy of the 



shocking spectacle which the removal of that 
stone would reveal. For in that hot climate 
it is necessary that burial should follow im- 
mediately upon death, and as it was the even- 
ing of the fourth day since Lazarus had died, 
there was too much reason to fear that by this 
time decomposition had set in. Solemnly 
Jesus reminded her of His promise, and the 
stone was moved from the place where the 
dead was laid. 

"Lazarus, Come Forth!" 

He stood at the entrance, and all others 
shrank a little backward, with their eyes still 
fixed on that dark and silent cave. A hush 
fell upon them all as Jesus raised His eyes 
and thanked God for the coming confirmation 
of His prayer. And then, raising to its clear- 
est tones that voice of awful and sonorous au- 
thority, and uttering, as was usual with Him 
on such occasions, the briefest words, He 
cried, " Lazarus, come forth ! " 

Those words thrilled once more through 
that region of impenetrable darkness which 
separates us from the world to come ; and 
scarcely were they spoken when, like a spectre, 
from the rocky tomb issued a figure, swathed 
indeed in its white and ghastly cerements — 
with the napkin round the head which had 
upheld the jaw that four days previously had 
dropped in death, bound hand and foot and 
face, but not livid, not horrible — the figure of 
a youth with the healthy blood of a restored 
life flowing through his veins ; of a life re- 
stored — so tradition tells us — for thirty more 
long years to life, and light, and love. This, 
and similar deeds of power and compassion, 
vividly recall those glowing lines of Bicker- 
stith : 

From His lips 

Truth, limpid, without error, flowed. 

Disease 
Fled from His touch. Pain heard Him and was not. 
Despair smiled in His presence. Devils knew, 
And trembled. In the Omnipotence of faith, 
Unintevmittent, indefectible, 
Leaning upon His Father's might, He bent 
All nature to His will. The tempest sank, 
He whispering, into waveless calm. The bread 



502 



EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE. 



Given from His hands fed thousands, and to spare. 

The stormy waters, as the solid rock, 

Were pavement for His footstep. Death itself, 

With vain reluctances, yielded its prey 

To the stern mandate of the Prince of Life. 



act was too stupendous not to draw general 
attention, and, in the actual state of" public 
feeling towards Christ, to be attended with 
important consequences. It was also per- 




CHRIST BLF.SSTNG LITTLE CHILDREN. Matt. xix. 1 5. 

formed in the immediate vicinity of the me- 
tropolis, and upon a person who appears to 



The mixed emotions with which tin- re- 
appearance of one so many days dead affected 
the sisters and friends of Lazarus and the dis- 
ciples of Jesus, we must leave to the imagina- 
tion of the reader, unless so far as they are 
demonstrated by subsequent events, for the 



have been well known. 

Most of the Jews present, overcome by this 
exhibition of Divine power, believed in Jesus 
as the Messiah ; but there were some whose 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



503 



sense being alienated from Divine things, 
would not acknowledge it, but went away and 
gave a perverted account of the transaction 
to the Sanhedrin. This assembly, the high 
spiritual council of the Jews, held its meetings 
in the stone hall of the Temple, and, when 
full, consisted of seventy-one members, al- 
though twenty-three sufficed for the transac- 
tion of business. The council was much 
alarmed at the report of the resurrection of 
Lazarus. They could not deny that Jesus 
{" this man," as they contemptuously described 
Him) had actually wrought miracles ; but in 
their exasperation and prejudice against one 
who taught doctrines so opposite to their own 
practices and expectations, they allowed this 
circumstance to weigh little with them. 

But this conviction obliged them to take a 
fresh ground for their hostility against Him. 
If His party prevail, they said, He will excite 
political commotions, which will result in 
bringing down upon us the deprivation of the 
privileges which the Romans have left to us. 
This was probably no other than an ostensible 
pretext for the course they then began to con- 
template, for the purpose of silencing the mi- 
nority in the Sanhedrin which thought favor- 
ably of Jesus, and which had already caused 
its voice to be heard. It is impossible that 
this view could have been taken in sincerity ; 
for Jesus never affected an earthly kingdom, 
■or inculcated any principles likely to lead to 
revolt or tumult: whereas the Jews themselves 
•desired nothing better than to find in the Mes- 
siah one who would have led them on to 
shake off the hateful yoke of the Romans ; 
and if Jesus had appeared in that character, 
would have received Him and followed Him. 
It was now, however, determined to lose no 
time in bringing about the death of Jesus on 
the ground which had thus been taken ; and 
in regarding their ensuing conduct as the 
■effect of this design, the reader will be better 
able to apprehend the connection of the inci- 
dents which compose the closing scenes of 
the Redeemer's life. At once we hear low 
whisperings, and see crafty men putting their 
lieads together and hatching deadly plots. 



Jesus himself, being aware of this design, 
withdrew with His disciples to Ephraim, a 
small city a few miles to the east of Jerusalem, 
in what was called the wilderness of Judaea, 
whence he is supposed to have soon returned to 
the parts beyond the Jordan from which He had 
lately come. Here, as usual, He was attended 
by large numbers of people, whom He taught, 
and the diseased among whom He healed. He 
was here among a well-disposed people ; and 
on one occasion many mothers brought their 
children that he might bestow his blessing on 
them. 

Jesus and the Little Ones. 

Jesus had been speaking against the practice 
of divorce, which was then very common 
among the Jews, and then, like a touching 
and beautiful comment on these high Avords, 
and the strongest of all proofs that there was 
in the mind of Christ no admiration for the 
" voluntary service " which Paul condemns, 
as a proof of His belief that marriage is hon- 
orable in all — He took part in a scene that 
has charmed the imagination of poet and 
painter in every age. For as though to de- 
stroy all false and unnatural notions of the 
exceptional glory of religious virginity, He, 
among whose earliest acts it had been to bless 
a marriage festival, made it one of His latest 
acts to fondle infants in His arms. 

It seems to have been known in Peraea that 
the time of His departure was approaching; 
and conscious, perhaps, of the words which 
He had just been uttering, there were fathers 
and mothers and friends who brought to Him 
the fruits of holy wedlock — young children 
and even babes — that He might touch them 
and pray over them. Ere He left them for- 
ever, they would bid Him a solemn farewell ; 
they would win, as it were, the legacy of His 
special blessing for the generation yet to 
come. 

The disciples thought their conduct forward 
and officious. They did not wish their Master 
j to be needlessly crowded and troubled; they 
: did not like to be disturbed in their high col- 
loquies. They were indignant that a number 
I of mere women and children should come ob- 



504 



AN EAGER INQUIRER. 



truding on more important persons and in- 
terests. Women were not honored nor chil- 
dren loved in antiquity as now they are ; no 
halo of romance and tenderness encircled 
them ; too often they were subjected to shame- 
ful cruelties and hard neglect. 

The Disciples Rebuked. 

But He who came to be the friend of all 
sinners, and the helper of all the suffering and 
sick, came also to elevate woman to her due 
honor, centuries before the Teutonic element 
of modern society was dreamt of, and to be 
the protector and friend of helpless infancy 
and innocent childhood. Even the uncon- 
scious little ones were to be admitted into His 
Church by His sacrament of baptism, to be 
made members of Him, and inheritors of 
His kingdom. He turned the rebuke of the 
disciples on themselves; He was as much 
displeased with them as they had been with 
the parents and children. " Suffer the little 
children," He said, in words which each of 
the Synoptists has preserved for us in all their 
immortal tenderness — " Suffer little children 
to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven." 

And when He had folded them in His arms, 
laid His hands upon them, and blessed them, 
He added once more His constantly needed, 
and therefore constantly repeated, warning, 
" Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom 
of heaven as a little child, shall not enter 
therein." 

When this beautiful and deeply instructive 
scene was over, Matthew tells us that He 
started on His way, probably for a new jour- 
ney to the other Bethany ; and on this road 
occurred another incident, which impressed 
itself so deeply on the minds of the specta- 
tors that it, too, has been recorded by the 
evangelists in a triple narrative. 

The Rich Young Man. 

A young man of great wealth and high 
position seems suddenly to have been seized 
with a conviction that he had hitherto neg- 
lected an invaluable opportunity, and that 



one who could alone explain to him the true 
meaning and mystery of life was already or* 
His way to depart from among them. De- 
termined, therefore, not to be too late, he came 
running, breathless, eager — in a way that sur- 
prised all who beheld it — and, prostrating him- 
self before the feet of Jesus, exclaimed, " Good! 
Master, what good thing shall I do that I may 
inherit life ? " 

If there was something attractive in the 
mingled impetuosity and humility of one so 
young and distinguished, yet so candid and 
earnest, there was in his question much that 
was objectionable. The notion that he could 
gain eternal life by " doing some good thing " 
rested on a basis radically false. If we may 
combine what seems to be the true reading of 
Matthew with the answer recorded in the 
other evangelists, Jesus seems to have said to 
him, " Why askest thou me about the good > 
and why callest thou me good? One is good, 
even God." He made no unfounded claim. 

An Unexpected Answer. 

He would as little accept the title " Good," 
as He would accept the title "Messiah," when 
given in a false sense. He would not be re- 
garded as a mere " good Rabbi." So far, 
Jesus would show the youth that when he 
came to Him as to one who was more than 
man, his entire address, as well as his entire 
question, was a mistake. No mere man cam 
lay any other foundation than that which is 
laid, and if the ruler committed the error of 
simply admiring Jesus as a Rabbi of pre- 
eminent sanctity, yet no Rabbi, however 
saintly, was accustomed to receive the title of 
" good," or prescribe any amulet for the 
preservation of a virtuous life. And in the 
same spirit He continued : " But if thou wilt 
enter into life, keep the commandments." 

The youth had not expected a reply so ob- 
vious and so simple. He cannot believe that he 
is merely referred to the Ten Commandments, 
and so he asks, in surprise, " What sort of 
commandments ? " Jesus, as the youth wanted 
to do something, tells him merely of those of 
the second table, for, as has been well re- 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



505 



marked, " Christ sends the proud to the Law, 
and invites the humble to the Gospel." 
" Master," replied the young man in surprise, 
" all these have I observed from my youth." 
Doubtless in the mere letter he may have done 
so, but he evidently knew little of all that 
those commandments had been interpreted by 
the Christ to mean. And Jesus, seeing his 
sincerity, looking on him loved him, and gave 
him one short crucial test of his real con- 
dition. He was not content with the common- 
place; he aspired after the heroical, or rather 
thought that he did ; therefore Jesus gave him 
a heroic act to do. " One thing," He said, 
" thou lackest," and bade him go, sell all that 
he had, distribute it to the poor, and come 
and follow Him. 

It was too much. The young ruler went 
away very sorrowful, grief in his heart, and a 
cloud upon his brow, for he had great posses- 
sions. He preferred the comforts of earth to 
the treasures of heaven ; he would not pur- 
chase the things of eternity by abandoning 
those of time ; he made, as Dante calls it, " the 
great refusal." And so he vanishes from the 
Gospel history; nor do the evangelists know 
anything of him farther. But the sad, stern 
imagination of the poet follows him, and there 
among the myriads of those who are blown 
about like autumn leaves on the confines of 
the other world, blindly following the flutter 
of a giddy flag, he sees the shade of him who 
made through cowardice the great refusal. 

The Camel and the Needle's Eye. 

We may hope and believe a fairer ending 
for one whom Jesus, as He looked on him, 
could love. But the failure of this youth to 
meet the test saddened Jesus, and looking 
round at His disciples, He said, " How hardly 
shall they that have riches enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." The words once more 
struck them as very severe. Could then no 
good man be rich, no rich man be good? 
But Jesus only answered — softening the sad- 
ness and sternness of the words by the affec- 
tionate title " children " — " Children, how hard 
it is to enter into the kingdom of God ; " hard 



for any one, but, He added, with an earnest look 
at His discip^s, and doubtless specially ad- 
dressing Peter, " It is easier for a camel to go- 
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of God." They 
might well be amazed beyond measure ; things 
impossible to nature are possible to grace ; 
things impossible to man are easy to God. 

Then with a touch — was it of complacency, 
or was it of despair ? — Peter said, " Lo, we 
have forsaken all, and followed Thee," and 
either added, or implied, In what respect, then, 
shall we be gainers ? The answer of Jesus 
was at once a magnificent encouragement and 
a solemn warning. The encouragement was 
that there was no instance of self-sacrifice 
which would not even in this world, and even 
in the midst of persecutions," receive its 
hundred-fold increase in the harvest of spirit- 
ual blessings, and would in the world to come 
be rewarded by the infinite recompense of 
eternal life ; the warning was that familiar one 
which they had heard before, that many of 
the first should be last, and the last first. 

A Striking Parable. 

And to impress upon them still more fully 
and deeply that the kingdom of heaven is not 
a matter of mercenary calculation or exact 
equivalent — that there could be no bargaining 
with the Heavenly Householder— that before 
the eye of God's clearer and more penetrating 
judgment Gentiles might be admitted before 
Jews, and publicans before Pharisees, and 
young converts before aged apostles — He told 
them the memorable parable of the laborers 
in the vineyard. That parable, amid its other 
lessons, involved the truth that, while all who 
serve God should not be defrauded of their 
just and full and rich reward, there could be 
in heaven no murmuring, no envyings, no 
jealous comparison of respective merits, no 
base struggling for precedency, no miserable 
disputings as to who had performed the great- 
est service, or who had received the least of 
grace. 

The householder early in the morning went 
out into the market-place to hire laborers for 



506 



THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 



his vineyard, and agreed with them for the i eleventh hour. When they came to be paid, 
wages of a denarius (about fifteen cents) a day. ! those who were hired last received a denarius. 




HIKlNCi 



LABORERS FOR THE VINEYARD 



At the third hour he hired others, promising I on which those who had been first hired and 

SEEmae -nr,dr^,:: rs3=irs= 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



507 



contract for the day's wages, and asserted his 
own right to make the last comers equal to 
them in the reward of labor. By this, Jesus 
appears to have inculcated that God regards 
not how long a man works in spiritual things, 
but how well ; and that ardor of intention and 
singleness of motive will often make the labor 
of one hour as valuable, in a moral calcula- 
tion, as the ordinary labor of an entire day. 

The time of the Passover now drew nigh, 
.and Jesus set forth for Jerusalem, much to the 
consternation of the disciples, who expected 
the most disastrous results from the hostility 
.and known designs of the Sanhedrin. But 
He told them plainly that His hour was now 
nigh at hand : " Behold, we go up to Jerusa- 
lem, and all things that are written by the 
prophets concerning the Son of man shall be 
accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto 
the chief priests and to the scribes, and they 
shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver 
Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge 
and to crucify Him : and the third day He 
shall rise again." This they did not then un- 
derstand. They understood the facts as stated. 
They could not misunderstand them ; but they 
•expected that the Messianic reign on earth 
with which their minds were filled would com- 
mence after the resurrection. 

The Mother of Zeheclee's Children. 

This is shown by the petition which two, 
•certainly not the least intelligent of Christ's 
apostles, namely, the sons of Zebedee, set their 
mother upon asking of Him, " Grant that my 
two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, 
and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom." 
This amounted to a request that they might 
•enjoy the first and second places among the 
subjects of His earthly kingdom, the degree 
of dignity being in oriental courts denoted by 
proximity to the throne. 

Let us ask what it was that induced Salome 
to make the request that she did — in other 
words; why did she seek to place her two sons, 
the one upon the right hand, the other upon 
the left, of the Saviour? That which caused 
her to take this step was a conversation our 



Lord held with His twelve disciples, originated 
with the design of preparing their minds to 
meet the changes about to come. 

In this conversation He stated that when 
He, the Son of man, should sit upon the 
throne of His glory, they, His twelve disciples, 
should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel. Now she, in common 
with her two sons and the rest of the apostles, 
interpreted this prophecy according to her 
own preconceived ideas. Indeed, they all 
thought that the kingdom He was about to 
establish must be an earthly one, like unto the 
existing kingdoms, only with this difference, 
that it would gradually extend its boundaries 
until all other kingdoms became absorbed in 
it, and the whole earth became full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea. 

Places of Honor. 

To a certain extent they were quite correct 
in their supposition, but they went astray from 
losing sight of the fact that the nature of 
Christ's kingdom was not a temporal so much 
as a spiritual one ; and as one mistake gen- 
erally leads to others, so it was in this case. 
Supposing it to be an earthly kingdom that 
was spoken of, they concluded that its affairs 
must be administered after some existing 
earthly model ; and so, as was natural, their 
thoughts reverted to their own Sanhedrin. 

The Sanhedrin, we read, was the highest 
ecclesiastical court of the Jews, and Josephus 
has given us a description of its constitution. 
From his description we learn that the prince, 
or president of the court, sat between two 
rows of senators, or elders, having upon his 
right hand and upon his left each a man of 
great influence and authority. The person 
upon his right hand was called the " Father 
of the Court," and the person upon his left 
was named the "Sage;" and in the absence 
of the prince, or president, these two officers 
represented him, and conducted the business 
of the court. Bearing this in mind, the digni- 
ties to which James and John aspired were the 
highest He could bestow — in fact, as He Him- 
self stated, they were higher than He could 



508 



A STRANGE REQUEST. 



bestow : " To sit upon My right hand and 
upon My left is not Mine to give, but it shall 
be given to them for whom it is prepared of 



bly. They thought to act for and stand in the 
place of Christ, and conceived it possible for 
mortal men to exercise His authority, and 

~" ! I HI W 




SALOME'S REQUEST FOR HER sons. — Mark x. 35. 

My Father." They aspired to hold the same 1 represent His presence when absent. But 
relation to Jesus that the "Father" and the they were mistaken. 

"Sage" of the Jewish Sanhctlrin did towards It is not given to man to take the place of 
the prince or president of that august assem- 1 Christ, and this they learned from their Mas- 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



509 



ter's lips in the reply He gave : " Ye know not I 
what ye ask ; " and then, as if to assure them 
of what He said, He adds : "Are ye able to 
drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to 
be baptized with the baptism that I am bap- 
tized with ? " — an interrogation which they, 
nothing daunted by his assertion of their 
ignorance, answered in the affirmative: "They 
say unto Him, We are able." 

Symbols of Suffering. 

His cup and His baptism ! Here was a 
further display of ignorance upon their part. 
They could not have known what these sym- 
bolic words foreshadowed. At furthest they 
could only have supposed them to stand for 
obstacles and difficulties in the enterprise upon 
which they, in common with their Master, had 
embarked : and such a view is borne out by 
what followed. " Yes," says our blessed Lord, 
replying to them, " yes, ye shall drink indeed 
of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism 
that I am baptized with." 

He knew that His sufferings and shame 
would be shared by these two men ere they 
quitted this life, but he knew that it would not 
be now, and that a long training was necessary 
to enable them to go through with it: for al- 
though John suffered banishment in the Isle 
of Patmos for Christ, and although the head 
of his brother James fell by an order of Herod 
in the same glorious cause, yet these things 
did not take place until Jesus had passed from 
earth to heaven, and left His followers an 
ever-memorable example of what real shame 
and suffering were. 

Before they were called upon to suffer, they 
saw upon their Leader's head the crown of 
thorns, upon His shoulder the purple robe, 
and in His right hand the derisive sceptre. 
They could not forget the betrayal, the trial, 
and the insults offered Him by the Roman 
soldiery. When summoned to death, they, 
too, recollected the morning on which He 
passed forth .to execution, His feet tottering 
with the burden of the cross He carried ; and 
the cry that then broke forth from the lips 
which had so often breathed health upon the 



sick and life upon the dead, " Eli, Eli, lama 
sabachthani ! " still rang in their ears, and 
added resolution to their will. 

The transaction is of importance as showing 
the entire misconception concerning the nature 
of Christ's kingdom under which the apostles 
still labored. Their views as to the actual 
reign were not very different from those which 
others entertained ; but they believed that 
Jesus was indeed the Messiah by whom these 
views were to be brought out. They also had 
modified notions as to the manner of His 
reign ; for there can be no doubt that they ap- 
plied to the conduct of His temporal kingdom 
much which He intended to apply, and which 
we now apply, to His kingdom in the souls of 
men. It was left for a future day to correct 
all their erroneous notions, and to make plain 
all that they had previously misunderstood. 

The Publican Zaccheus. 

On arriving at Jericho, which was the second 
city of Judaea, the people gathered in crowds 
to see Him pass. Among them was the chief 
of the tax-gatherers, Zaccheus, who being too 
short to see Him in the crowd, in the intensity 
of his desire to view one of whom he had 
heard so much, mounted a sycamore-tree for 
the purpose, jesus when He came to the 
place looked up, and called to him by name, 
" Zaccheus, make haste and come down ; for 
to-day I must abide at thy house." 

Overwhelmed by an honor which he prob- 
ably desired, but had not dared to ask, he left 
the tree and hastened home to receive his great 
guest, who alone of all the holy men of His 
age did not despise even the publicans. The 
mob as usual murmured at this preference; 
but Zaccheus, in the fulness of his heart and 
his awakening convictions, stood forth and de- 
clared that from that hour he would bestow 
half his wealth to feed the poor, and would 
restore fourfold the wrong which any man 
could lay to his charge. 

On leaving the city the next morning, a 
blind man, who sat begging by the wayside, 
hearing the noise of the passing crowd, in- 
quired what it meant ; and being told that 




(510) 



ZACCIIEUS CALLED BY JESUS. Luke xix. 5. 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



511 



Jesus of Nazareth was going by, began to cry 
out, in his loudest voice, "Jesus, Thou Son of 
David, have mercy on me," till the Saviour 
heard him and stopped. When he was told 
of this, the blind man rose, and, in his eager- 
ness, cast off his impeding outer garment as he 
hastened to the place where Jesus stood. 

On seeing him, Jesus asked, " What wilt 
that I should do unto thee? " He answered, 
" Lord, that I might receive my sight." And 
Jesus had compassion upon him, and said, 
" Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee." 
Here we have again a striking instance of an 
acknowledgment of Christ as the Messiah, in 
the very first cry of a blind man, in the epi- 
thet "Thou Son of David." And this faith — 
that Christ was the Messiah, and that He 
could restore his sight — was that to which the 
Lord referred, and which touched Him so 
deeply. 

Jesus at Bethany. 

It was customary for those who lay under 
ceremonial defilements to go up to Jerusalem 
earlier than others, that they might undergo 
the legal purifications before the commence- 
ment of the Passover. Those who were thus 
early at Jerusalem, as well as the residents, 
met together in the fore-courts of the Temple, 
and speculated anxiously on the probabilities 
of Christ's appearance at the feast. As He 
must have known of the resolution concerning 
Him at which the Sanhedrin had now arrived, 
most people concluded that He would keep 
Himself out of the way. ' 

However, six days before the feast, Jesus ar- 
rived at Bethany, where He had lately raised 
Lazarus from the dead. Here He spent the 
remainder of the day, and the night. Many 
persons at Jerusalem having heard of His ar- 
rival at Bethany, went over in the hope of 
seeing Him and the man He had raised from 
the dead together ; and they were not disap- 
pointed, for Lazarus was among those who 
" sat at meat " with Jesus, at the supper which 
was that evening provided. The mention of 
this circumstance leads the evangelist to record 
that many ruling men were so hardened as to 
meditate the death of Lazarus himself, on ac- 



count of the attention drawn towards Christ 
by the presence and existence of a man He 
had raised from the dead. 

As we might expect from our previous 
knowledge of the sisters Martha and Mary, 
they took very different parts in the entertain- 
ments of this remarkable evening. As women, 
they could not seat themselves at the table; 
but Martha, as usual, attended to the prepara- 
tions of the supper, and busied herself in the 
outward service, while Mary surrendered her- 
self to the full feeling of affectionate devote- 
ment to Christ's person, rendered more lively 
and intense, we may well suppose, on account 
of her brother's resuscitation. She possessed 
a large quantity of costly ointment; and in 
order to testify her love, she sacrificed it all. 
She did what " the woman that was a sinner" 
had done before ; she anointed His feet with 
the precious "nard," till the house was filled 
with the powerful fragrance. 

An objection to this act as a wasteful ex-; 
travagance arose this time from no other per- 
sonage than Judas Iscariot ; and the evangelist 
John neglects not the opportunity of connect- 
ing with this objection another trait in his 
character. He had already pilfered from the 
common fund of the disciples of Jesus, which 
had been confided to his charge; and hence 
the secret source of his discontent that Mary 
had not thrown the proceeds of her spikenard 
into the common treasury, if she desired to 
afford evidence of her love. Under an objec- 
tion of ostensible worth, in which some well- 
meaning disciples concurred, he concealed his 
true character and disposition, which was ap- 
parent only to the Saviour, who answered by 
a touching justification of Mary's deed as a 
preanointing for His coming burial, followed 
by the pregnant remark — " The poor ye have 
always with you ; but Me ye have not always." 

Entry into Jerusalem. 

By the following morning it was well known 
in Jerusalem that Jesus would be that day in 
the city, and the people generally determined 
to give Him a grand reception. Impure hopes- 
may in part have prompted this course, and 







JERUSALEM. — Matt. XX. 1 9. 



(512) 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



513 



they may have expected that if a proof of 
attachment, of recognition, so public and so 
general, were exhibited, Jesus might be in- 
duced to appear openly as the King Messiah. 
A great multitude, therefore, went forth to 
meet Him, with such demonstrations of honor 
as were anciently shown to oriental kings. 
A great many palms grew on the way from 
Jerusalem to Jericho ; from these they broke 
off blooming branches and strewed them in 
the way : some also carried green boughs and 
branches of blossoms in their hands, as was 
customary when they celebrated the taber- 
nacle and dedication feasts, while they sang 
songs of gratulation and praise. 

"Hosanna in the Highest." 

Accompanied by the Jews who had come 
over to see Lr.zarus, the Saviour left Bethany 
the same morning and came to Bethphage — a 
row of houses on each side of the public way 
surrounded by fig-trees, whence its name 
"place of figs." The multitude had probably 
come thus far to meet Him. Seeing the 
favorable disposition of the people towards 
Him, Jesus concluded to avail himself of it, 
in order to make an abiding impression upon 
the disciples, when they should afterwards 
reflect upon the manner of His entrance into 
Jerusalem. That He was really the Messiah 
foretold by the prophets, and the true nature 
of the Messianic character — these were the 
facts which He desired to impress strongly 
upon their minds. 

Now the prophet Zechariah had described 
the arrival of the Messiah as that of a peace- 
ful King who felt interested in the welfare of 
His people, and who would enter the metrop- 
olis of His kingdom riding upon an ass. The 
ass was an animal used for riding in time of 
peace, while the horse was employed in times 
of war. In order to lead His disciples to the 
consideration that the prophetic view of Zecha- 
riah, in regard to the condition of the expected 
Deliverer, was fulfilled in Him, Jesus made 
choice of this very mode of entrance. He 
sent two of His disciples forward to a place 
where He told them they would find a colt 
33 



" on which no man had ever yet sat." This 
specification is not without meaning, as year- 
lings which have never borne the yoke, and 
never been employed for common purposes, 
were reserved for sacred uses. 

This colt they were to unloose and to bring 
to Jesus ; they found the colt, and were pro- 
ceeding to unloose it when the owners ob- 
jected ; but when the disciples said, " The 
Lord hath need of him," they, sharing in the 
general feeling, felt glad and honored, and 
allowed them to take not only the colt, but 
the dam, which from natural instinct followed 
her young. They brought them to Jesus, and 
laid their clothes upon them both, not know- 
ing which of them he would choose to ride. 
He mounted the colt, and rode onward, at- 
tended by the rejoicing crowd, who spread 
their garments in His path, and waved their 
branches with exulting shouts. 

The disciples fully shared in the enthusiasm 
of that hour; and when the triumphal multi- 
tude came near to Jerusalem at the descent of 
the Mount of Olives, they broke forth in singing 
the verses from the n8th psalm, which were 
usually sung at the feasts already mentioned, 
and which were always considered to bear a 
reference to the Messiah : 

"Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel, 
That Cometh in the name of the Lord ! 
Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, 
That cometh in the name of the Lord ! 
Hosanna in the highest ! " 

All the city was moved by various emotions 
at this public entry of the Redeemer. Doubt- 
less general attention was directed to His 
movements, and to observe the step which 
would next be taken by Him. He entered at 
the gate near the Temple, and straightway 
proceeded to the sacred courts. The blind 
and lame of the city no sooner heard of His 
arrival than they hastened to Him there, and 
He healed them. This was no other than His 
usual course. It was wonderful, beneficent, 
great; but it was not for Him extraordinary, 
and the ill-founded expectations which had 
been raised were sorely disappointed. The 
children in the Temple still kept up the cry 



514 



FRUIT-BEARING. 



which had before been raised ; and the priests 
and scribes in high displeasure called Ins at- 
tention to it : " Hearest Thou what these say ? " 
To which He answered, " Yea ; have ye never 
read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings 
Thou hast perfected praise ? " 

After some further discourse, which with 
the previous proceedings occupied the rest of 
the da)-, Jesus left the city and returned to 
Bethany, where he lodged. 

The next morning Jesus and His disciples ( 



disciples, " Let no man eat fruit of thee hence- 
forth forever." He then proceeded to the city, 
on entering which He went to the Temple, 
and expelled from the sacred court the dealers 
and money-changers, by whose merchandise 
and tables it was thronged in the week before 
the Passover. This act was similar to that 
with which, three years before, He had com- 
menced his ministry in Jerusalem. He then 
remained teaching in the Temple, and the at- 
tention with which the people heard Him pre- 




THE WITHERED FIG- 

again left Bethany to spend the day in Jeru- 
salem. On the way Jesus observed a fig-tree 
in full leaf, and, being hungry, went to it, ex- 
pecting to find fruit thereon. As the fruit of 
the fig-tree is perfecjed before the leaf, it was 
natural to expect fruit upon a tree which made 
this show of leaves ; as the time of fig-gather- 
ing was not yet come, it was certain that the 
fruit which this tree ought to bear had not yet 
been gathered. But Jesus found the tree 
without fruit, and said, in the hearing of His 



iree. — Mark xi. 14. 

vented His enemies from venturing to lay 
hands upon Him. In the evening Jesus again 
repaired to Bethany. 

On returning to Jerusalem on the next 
morning, the fig-tree on which He had the 
preceding day laid the weight of His curse, and 
which was then so rich in foliage, was found 
to be dried away even to the roots. This pro- 
ceeding must probably be regarded in the 
light of a symbolical action, teaching that His 
power to punish the guilty was as strong as 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



515 



that which He had more usually exercised in 
conferring benefits. But with the usual benefi- 
cence of His character and actions, He dem- 
onstrated this truth in the way least of all 
others calculated to inflict injury or pain. It 
was exercised upon a fig-tree, barren, and 
therefore unprofitable to any one, but having 
the show, though it lacked the reality, of use- 
ful life ; it was, moreover, a tree standing by 
the public way, and therefore belonging to no 
one who could complain that his property had 
vbeen destroyed, or in any way damaged. 

A Gunning Snare. 

On proceeding to teach in the Temple, the 
priests and others in authority gathered around 
Him, requiring to know by what authority 
He taught in that place ; for it was the prov- 
ince of the Sanhedrin to grant the right of 
teaching in the Temple, and this Christ had 
never received. They perhaps hoped that He 
would answer that He acted under Divine au- 
thority as the Messiah, and that they might 
thus obtain matter of accusation against Him. 
At another time He would perhaps so have 
answered ; but now, being aware of the snare 
laid for Him, He refrained from a direct 
answer, but, as on some other occasions solved 
the question by another : — " The baptism of 
John, was it from heaven or of men ? " 

A sudden pause followed. " Answer me," 
said Jesus, interrupting their whispered col- 
loquy. And surely they, who had sent a com- 
mission to inquire publicly into the claims of 
John, were in a position to answer. But no 
answer came. They knew full well the im- 
port of the question. They could not for a 
moment put it aside as irrelevant. John had 
openly and emphatically testified to Jesus, had 
acknowledged Him, before their own deputies, 
not only as a Prophet, but as a Prophet far 
greater than himself — nay, more, as the Prophet, 
the Messiah. Would they recognize that au- 
thority, or would they not ? 

Clearly Jesus had a right to demand their 
reply to that question before He could reply to 
theirs. But they could not, or rather would 
not answer that question. It reduced them in 



fact to a complete dilemma. They would not 
say " from heaven," because they had in heart 
rejected it ; they dared not say " of men," be- 
cause the belief in John (as we see even in 
Josephus) was so vehement and so unanimous 
that openly to reject him would have been to 
endanger their personal safety. They were 
reduced, therefore — they, the masters of 
Israel — to the ignominious necessity of say- 
ing, " We cannot tell." 

There is an admirable Hebrew proverb 
which says, " Teach thy tongue to say, ' I do 
not know.' " But to say, " We do not know," 
in this instance, was a thing utterly alien to 
their habits, disgraceful to their discernment, 
a death-blow to their pretensions. It was 
ignorance in a sphere wherein ignorance was 
for them inexcusable. They, the appointed 
explainers of the law — they, the accepted 
teachers of the people — they, the acknowl- 
edged monopolizers of Scriptural learning and 
oral tradition — and yet to be compelled, 
against their real convictions, to say, and that 
before the multitude, that they could not tell 
whether a man of immense and sacred influence 
— a man who acknowledged the Scriptures 
which they explained, and carried into practice 
the customs which they reverenced — was a di- 
vinely inspired messenger or a deluding im- 
postor! 

Questioners Confounded. 

Were the lines of demarcation, then, be- 
tween the inspired Prophet and the wicked 
seducer so dubious and indistinct? It was 
indeed a fearful humiliation, and one which 
they never either forgot or forgave. And yet 
how just was the retribution which they had 
thus brought on their own heads ! The 
curses which they had intended for another 
had recoiled upon themselves; the pompous 
question which was to be an engine wherewith 
another should be crushed, had sprung back 
with sudden rebound, to their own confusion 
and shame. 

Jesus did not press upon their discomfiture, 
though He well knew — as the form of His 
answer showed —that their " do not know " 
was a " do not choose to say." Since, how- 






516 



FOES BAFFLED. 



EEr^A-t*-* 1 *— 




RESPONSES OF THE two sons.— Matt. xxi. 28 



of an authority about which, by their own 
confession, they were totally incompetent to 
decide, He ended the scene by simply saying, 



So they retired a little into the background. 
He continued the instruction of the people 
which they had interrupted, and began once 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



517 



more to speak to them in parables, which both 
the multitude and the members of the San- 
hedrin who were present could hardly fail to 
understand. And He expressly called their 
attention to what He was about to say. 
" What think ye ? " He asked, for now it is 
their turn to submit to be questioned ; and 
then, telling them of the two sons, of whom 
the one first flatly refused his father's bidding, 
but afterwards repented and did it, the other 
blandly promised an obedience which he never 
performed, He asked, " Which of these two 
did his father's will ? " 

They could but answer, "the first;" and 
He then pointed out to them the plain and 
solemn meaning of their own answer. It 
was, that the very publicans and harlots, de- 
spite the apparent open shamelessness of their 
disobedience, were yet showing them — them, 
the scrupulous and highly reputed legalists of 
the holy nation — the way into the kingdom of 
heaven. Yet these sinners, whom they de- 
spised and hated, were streaming before them 
through the door which was not yet shut. 
For John had come to these Jews on their 
own principles and in their own practices, and 
they had pretended to receive him, but had 
not; but the publicans and the harlots had re- 
pented at his bidding. For all their broad 
fringes and conspicuous phylacteries, they — 
the priests, the separatists, the Rabbis of these 
people — were worse in the sight of God than 
sinners whom they would have scorned to 
touch with one of their fingers. 

The Husbandman and Vineyard. 

Then He bade them " hear another para- 
ble," the parable of the rebellious husband- 
men in the vineyard, whose fruits they would 
not yield. That vineyard of the Lord of 
Hosts was the house of Israel, and the men 
•of Judah were His pleasant plants ; and they, 
the leaders and teachers, were those to whom 
the Lord of the vineyard would naturally look 
for the rendering of the produce. But in 
spite of all that He had done for His vine- 
yard, there were no grapes, or only wild 
grapes. " He looked for judgment, but be- 



hold oppression ; for righteousness, but behold 
a cry." 

And since they could not render any pro- 
duce, and dared not own the barren fruitless- 
ness for which they, the husbandmen, were 
responsible, they insulted, and beat, and 
wounded, and slew messenger after messenger 
whom the Lord of the vineyard sent to them. 
Last of all, He sent His Son, and that Son — 
though they recognized Him, and could not but 
recognize Him — they beat and slew. 

When the Lord of the vineyard came, what 
would He do to them? Either the people, 
out of honest conviction, or the listening 
Pharisees, to show their apparent contempt for 
what they could not fail to see was the point 
of the parable, answered that He would 
wretchedly destroy those wretches, and let 
out the vineyard to worthier and more faithful 
husbandmen. A second time they had been 
compelled to an admission, which fatally, out 
of their own mouths, condemned themselves ; 
they had confessed with their own lips that it 
would be in accordance with God's justice to 
deprive them of their exclusive rights, and to 
give them to the Gentiles. 

The Beloved Son. 

In this parable of the rebellious husband- 
men and the vineyard we have another in- 
stance of the text taken from an object which 
was very familiar to the Jews. Palestine was 
a vine-growing country ; warm and genial was 
the sun, sweetening the rich clusters of grapes; 
mellow and productive in many places was the 
soil; heavy was the dew which fell in the even- 
ing, while at night the sharp breath was taken 
from the air, and balmy influences nursed the 
young and growing life. A parable dealing 
with a husbandman, his son, and his vineyard 
would be readily understood, and this one 
before us has a meaning no less deep than 
others which fell from the lips of Him who 
spake as " never man spake." 

Among the prominent characters are the 
lord of the vineyard and his son. It was but 
natural to assume that the son was dear to the 
heart of his father. He had nestled at the 



518 



PARENTAL AFFECTION. 



^ r ♦ i..j Kpph watched in his early | naturally infer, for it is in keeping with the 
KS Sto^S ^dtl' forth in the I affection's of hun,an nature ; a son a lw a y s be ing 




THE SPEECHLESS GUEST. — Matt. Xxii. 12. 

fulness of his strong, young manhood, and, tola dear object of parental regard, around whoa* 
those who loved him, was more than vine- hopes cluster as the vines cling to their sup- 
yards and their rich products. All this we I port, and whose welfare is always guarded. 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



519 



Repeated messages, it seems, were sent by 
the lord of the vineyard to the keepers of it, 
and that which was expected in return was 
only such as would reasonably be demanded. 
No return, however, was made ; the vineyard 
was a barren, fruitless thing, yielding no profit, 
and only occupying the fertile ground which 
might have been employed for other purposes. 
Now the lord of the vineyard resolves to send 
his son, thinking that, of course, he will be 
reverenced, and his mission will prove suc- 
cessful. 

Not for a moment does the tender-hearted 
father imagine that a sad, unhappy fate awaits 
the one whom he loves so much. He does 
not fully understand the malicious nature of 
those with whom he is dealing. A deep plot 
is laid and bold men are ready to execute it. 
The resolve is nothing less than the slaying 
of the son when he arrives, putting him out 
of the way entirely, robbing the lord of the 
vineyard not only of the fruits of the vintage, 
but also of his darling child. 

Plain Truths. 

Here a very startling question is asked. 
When the lord of the vineyard comes, what 
will he do with the wicked husbandmen who 
have cruelly taken the life of his son? Only 
one answer, of course, could be given. It 
was felt by those who listened to this parable 
that but one course could be pursued. The 
lord of the vineyard would destroy those who 
had been guilty of acts so unjust and wicked. 
Of course, this parable, like many others 
spoken by Jesus, refers to the Jewish people 
and their treatment of the prophets, and espe- | 
cially of the Messiah who stood in their 
midst, unknown to them ; present, yet distant 
as the unseen God. The Jewish people were 
the wicked husbandmen, who, having failed 
in many respects, resolved to take the Son 
and put Him out of the way, and thus con- 
tinue in their wickedness. 

And to show them that their own Scriptures 
had prophesied of this their conduct, He asked 
them whether they had never read (in the 1 18th 
psalm) of the stone which the builders rejected, 



which nevertheless, by the marvellous purpose 
of God, became the headstone of the corner ? 
How could they remain builders any longer, 
when the whole design of their workmanship 
was thus deliberately overruled and set aside? 
Did not their old Messianic prophecy clearly 
imply that God would call other builders to 
the work of His Temple? 

Woe to them who even stumbled — as they 
were doing — at that rejected stone ; but even 
yet there was time for them to avoid the more 
crushing annihilation of those on whom that 
stone should fall. To reject Him in His hu- 
manity and humiliation involved pain and loss; 
but to be found still rejecting Him when He 
should come again in His glory, would not 
this be " utter destruction from the presence 
of the Lord?" To sit on the seat of judg- 
ment and condemn Him — this should be ruin 
to them and their nation ; but to be con- 
demned by Him, would not this be to be 
" ground to powder ? " 

They saw now, more clearly than ever, the 
whole bent and drift of these parables, and 
longed for the hour of vengeance ! But, as 
yet, fear restrained them ; for, to the multi- 
tude, Christ was still a Prophet. 

The King's Son. 

One more warning utterance He spoke on 
this day of parables — the parable of the mar- 
riage of the king's son. In its basis and 
framework it closely resembled the parable 
of the great supper uttered during His last 
journey, at a Pharisee's house; but in many 
of its details, and in its entire conclusion, it 
was different. Here the ungrateful subjects 
who receive the invitation, not only make 
light of it, and pursue undisturbed their 
worldly avocations, but some of them actually 
insult and murder the messenger who had in- 
vited them, and — a point at which the history 
merges into prophecy — are destroyed and 
their city burned. And the rest of the story 
points to yet further scenes, pregnant with 
still deeper meanings. Others are invited ; 
the wedding-feast is furnished with guests 
both bad and good; the king comes in, and 



520 



THE WEDDING GARMENT. 



notices one who had thrust himself into the 
company in his own rags, without providing 
or accepting the wedding garment, which the 
commonest courtesy invariably required. 



teeth ; and then follows, for the last time, the 
warning urged in varying similitudes, with a 
frequency commensurate to its importance, 
that " many are called, but few are chosen." 




This rude, intruding, presumptuous guest is 
cast forth by attendant angels into outer dark- 
ness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of 



Teachings so obvious in their import filled 
the minds of the leading priests and Pharisees 
with a more and more bitter rasre. To bad 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



521 



men nothing is so maddening as the exhibi- 
tion of their own self-deception. So great 
was the hardly concealed fury of the Jewish 
hierarchy, that they would gladly have seized 
Him that very hour. Fear restrained them, 
and He was suffered to retire unmolested to 
His quiet resting-place. But either that night 
or early on the following morning, His ene- 
mies held another council — at this time they 
seem to have held them almost daily — to see 
if they could not make one more combined, 
•systematic, overwhelming effort " to entangle 
Him in His talk," to convict Him of ignorance 
or of error, to shake His credit with the mul- 
titude, or embroil Him in dangerous relations 
towards the civil authority. 

He was scarcely seated in the Temple when 
the result of the machinations of His enemies 
on the previous evening showed itself in a 
new kind of strategy, involving one of the 
most perilous and deeply laid of all the 
•schemes to entrap and ruin Him. The deadly 
nature of the plot appeared in the fact that, to 
carry it out, the Pharisees were united in 
malicious conjuncture with the Herodians ; so 
that two parties, usually ranked against each 
•other in strong opposition, were now reconciled 
in a conspiracy for the ruin of their common 
enemy, and were united to dismay and per- 
plex Him. It was a confederacy of evil. 

Who the Herodians Were. 

The Herodians occur but seldom in the 
•Gospel narrative. Their very designation — ap- 
plied to the Greek-speaking courtiers of an 
Edomite prince who, by Roman intervention, 
had become a Judaean king — showed at once 
their hybrid origin. Their existence had 
mainly a political significance, and they stood 
outside the current of religious life, except so 
far as their worldly interests led then) to show 
.an ostentatious disregard for the Mosaic law. 
They were, in fact, mere provincial courtiers ; 
men who basked in the sunshine of a petty tyr- 
anny which, for their own personal ends, they 
were anxious to uphold. 

To strengthen the family of Herod by 
keeping it on good terms with Roman im- 



perialism, and to effect this good understand- 
ing by repressing every distinctively Jewish 
aspiration — this was their highest aim. And 
in order to do this they changed their names, 
adopted Pagan habits, frequented amphithe- 
atres, familiarly accepted the symbols of 
heathen supremacy, even went so far as to 
obliterate, by such artificial means as they 
could, the distinctive and covenant symbol of 
Hebrew nationality. 

That the Pharisees should tolerate even the 
most temporary partnership with such men as 
these, whose very existence was a violent out- 
rage on their most cherished prejudices, 
enables us to gauge more accurately the ex- 
treme virulence of hatred with which Jesus 
had inspired them. And that hatred was 
destined to become deadlier still. It was 
already at red-heat; the words and deeds of 
this day were to raise it to its whitest intensity 
of wrath, and awaken its terrible fury. 

A Fresh Attack. 

The Herodians might come before Jesus 
without raising a suspicion of sinister motives; 
but the Pharisees, astutely anxious to put Him 
off His guard, did not come to Him in person. 
They sent some of their younger scholars, 
who (already adepts in hypocrisy) were to 
approach Him as though in all the guileless 
simplicity of an inquiring spirit. They evi- 
dently designed to raise the impression that a 
dispute had occurred between them and the 
Herodians, and that they desired to settle it 
by referring the decision of the question at 
issue to the final and higher authority of the 
Great Prophet. They came to Him circum- 
spectly, deferentially, courteously. 

" Rabbi," they said to Him with flattering 
earnestness, " we know that Thou art true, and 
teachest the way of God in truth, neither 
carest Thou for any man ; for Thou regardest 
not the person of men." It was as though 
they would entreat Him, without fear or fa- 
vor, confidentially to give them His private 
opinion ; and as though they really wanted 
His opinion for their own guidance in a moral 
question of practical importance, and were 



522 



ROMAN TAXES. 



quite sure that He alone could resolve their 
distressing uncertainty. But why this sly 
serpentine approach ? The forked tongue and 
the envenomed fang appeared in a moment. 

"Tell us, therefore" — since you are so wise, 
so true, so courageous — " tell us, therefore, is 
it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 
This capitation tax, which we all so much de- 
test, but the legality of which these Herodians 
support, ought we, or ought we not, to pay it? 
Which of us is in the right? — we who loathe 
and resent, or the Herodians, who delight in 
it?" 

He must, they thought, answer " Yes " or 
"No;" there is no possible escape from a 
plain question so cautiously, sincerely, and re- 
spectfully put. Perhaps He will answer, " Yes, 
it is lawful." If so, all apprehension of Him 
on the part of the Herodians will be removed, 
for then I le will not be likely to endanger them 
or their views. For although there is some- 
thing which loolcs dangerous in this common 
enthusiasm for Him, yet if one, whom they 
take to be the Messiah, should openly adhere 
to a heathen tyranny, and sanction its most 
galling imposition, such a decision will at once 
explode and evaporate any regard which the 
people may feel for him. 

Cunning Hypocrites. 

If, on the other hand, as is all but certain, 
1 [e should adopt the views of His countryman 
Judas the Gaulonite, and answer, " No, it is 
not lawful," then, in that case too, we are 
equally rid of Him; for then He is in open 
rebellion against the Roman power, and these 
new Herodian friends of ours can at once hand 
I lim over to the jurisdiction of the Procurator. 
Pontius Pilatus will deal very roughly with 
His pretensions, and will, if need be, without 
the slightest hesitation, .mingle His blood, as 
he has done the blood of other Galilaeans, with 
the blood of the sacrifices. 

They must have awaited the answer with 
breathless interest; but even if they succeeded 
in concealing the hate which gleamed in their 
eyes, Jesus at once saw the sting and heard 
the hiss of the Pharisaic serpent. They had 



fawned on I lim with their" Rabbi," and "true' r 
and " impartial," and " fearless ;" He " blights 
them with the flash " of one indignant word, 
" Hypocrites!" That word must have unde- 
ceived their hopes, and crumbled their crafti- 
ness into dust. " Why tempt ye me, ye hypo- 
crites ? Bring me the tribute-money." They 
would not be likely to carry with them the hated 
Roman coinage with its heathen symbols,, 
though they might have been at once able re- 
produce from their girdles the Temple shekel. 
But they would only have to step outside the 
Court of the Gentiles, and borrow from the 
money-changers' tables a current Roman coin. 
While the people stood round in wondering 
silence they brought Him a denarius, and put 
it in His hand. On one side were stamped 
the haughty, beautiful features of the Emperor 
Tiberius, with all the wicked scorn upon the 
lip; on the obverse, his title of Pontifex Max- 
im us ! 

It was probably due to mere accident that 
the face of the cruel, dissolute tyrant was on 
this particular coin, for the Romans, with that 
half-contemptuous concession to national su- 
perstitions which characterized their rule, had 
allowed the Jews to have struck for their par- 
ticular use a coinage which recorded the name 
without bearing the likeness of the reigning 
emperor. 

" Whose image and superscription is this?'*' 
He asked. They say unto Him, " Caesar's." 
There, then, was the simplest possible solution 
of their cunning question. " Render, therefore, 
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." 
That alone might have been enough, for it 
implied that their national acceptance of this 
coinage answered their question, and revealed 
its emptiness. The very word which He used 
conveyed the lesson. They had asked, " Is it 
lawful to give ? " He corrects them, and says, 
" Render" — " Give back." It was not a vol- 
untary gift, but a legal due; not a cheerful 
offering, but a political necessity. It was per- 
fectly understood among the Jews, and was 
laid down by their greatest Rabbis in later 
days, that to accept the coinage of any king 
was to acknowledge his supremacy. 




(523) 



524 



HUSBAND AND WIFE. 



By accepting the denarius, therefore, as a I 
current coin they were openly declaring that 
Caesar was their sovereign, and they — the very, 
best of them — had settled the question that it 
uuts lawful to pay the poll-tax, by habitually 
doing so. It was their duty, then, to obey the J 
power which they had deliberately chos«n, and j 
the tax. under these circumstances, only repre- 
sented an equivalent for the advantages which 
they received. But Jesus could not leave them 
with this lesson only. He added the far 
deeper and weightier words — " and to God the 
things that are God's." 

Imperial Caesar* 

To Caesar you owe the coin which you have 
admitted as the symbol of his authority, and 
which bears his image and superscription ; to 
God you owe yourselves. Nothing can more 
fully reveal the depth of hypocrisy in these 
Pharisaic questioners than the fact that, in 
spite of the Divine answer, and in spite of their 
own secret and cherished convictions, they yet 
made it a ground of clamorous accusation 
against Jesus, that He had " forbidden to give 
tribute unto Caesar ! " 

The Sadducees, a sect which disbelieved in 
a future life, and whose opinions were very 
prevalent among the upper classes in Judaea, 
then put a question to Him, proposing the 
case of a woman who, under the law, married 
seven brothers in succession, and asking whose 
wife she would be in the life to come. This 
question Jesus answered without reserve, de- 
claring that the relation of husband and wife 
did not exist in heaven ; and perceiving the 
covert blow at the notion of a future life 
which the question involved, He added further 
a proof of it from that part of Scripture (the 
Pentateuch, or books of Moses) which alone 
they received as the revealed will of God. 

This he did by reminding them that when 
•God called to Moses from the burning bush, 
he said, " I am the God of Abraham," which 
"was a proof that then Abraham really lived, 
seeing that He is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living. This was a sufficient an- 
swer to their question. I 



Soon after Jesus broke forth into a terrible 
denunciation of the Pharisees and their doc- 
trines, which He concluded by declaring that 
the existing generation should not have passed 
away till all the blood they had shed, and all 
the iniquities they had committed, had been 
terribly avenged. Then, foreseeing the mis- 
eries which awaited the devoted city, He added 
mournfully, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou 
that killest the prophets and stonest them 
which are sent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, even as 
a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings 
— and ye would not ! Behold, your house is 
left unto you desolate ! " 

And has not that denunciation been fear- 
fully fulfilled? Speaking of the murder of the 
younger Hanan,and other eminent nobles and 
hierarchs, Josephus says, " I cannot but think 
that it was because God had doomed this city 
to destruction as a polluted city, and was re- 
solved to purge His sanctuary by fire, that He 
cut off these their great defenders and well- 
wishers ; while those that a little before had 
worn the sacred garments and presided over 
the public worship, and had been esteemed 
venerable by those that dwelt in the whole 
habitable earth, were cast to the wild beasts." 

Jerusalem's Doom. 

Never was a narrative more full of horrors, 
frenzies, unspeakable degradations, and over- 
whelming miseries than is the history of the 
siege of Jerusalem. Never was any prophecy 
more closely, more terribly, more overwhelm- 
ingly fulfilled than fell is of Christ. The men 
going about in the disguise of women with 
swords concealed under their gay robes ; the 
rival outrages and infamies of John and Simon ; 
the priests struck by darts from the upper 
court of the Temple, and falling slain by 
their own sacrifices; "the blood of all sorts 
of dead carcasses — priests, strangers, profane 
— standing in lakes in the holy courts;" the 
corpses themselves lying in piles and mounds 
on the very altar slopes ; the fires feeding 
luxuriously on cedar-work overlaid with gold; 
friend and foe trampled to death on the gleam- 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



525 



ing mosaics in promiscuous carnage ; priests, 
swollen with hunger, leaping madly into the 
devouring flames, till at last those flames had 
done their work, and what had been the Temple 
of Jerusalem, the beautiful and holy House of 
God, was a heap of ghastly ruin, where the 
burning embers were half-slaked in pools of 
gore. The work of destruction was terrible. 



casses ? " — to experience the " deep silence " 
and the kind of deadly night which seized 
upon the city in the intervals of rage? — to 
see 600,000 dead bodies carried out of the 
gates ? — to see friends fighting madly for grass 
and nettles, and the refuse of the drains? — to 
see the bloody zealots " gaping for want, and 
[stumbling and staggering along like mad 




CHRIST WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM. 



-Matt, xxiii. 37. 

And did not all the righteous blood shed, dogs?"— to hear the horrid tale of the miserable 
upon the earth since the days of Abel come j mother who, in the pangs of famine, had de- 
upon that generation ? 



Did not many of that 
generation survive to witness and feel the un- 
utterable horrors which Josephus tells? — to 
see their fellows crucified in jest, " some one 
way, and some another," till "room was want- 
ing for the crosses, and crosses for the car- 



voured her own child ? — to be sold for slaves 
in such multitudes that at last none would 
buy them ? — to see the streets running with 
blood, and the "fire of burning houses 
quenched in the blood of their defenders?" 
— to have their young sons sold in hundreds, 



526 



UNPARALLELED CARNAGE. 



or exposed in the amphitheatres to the sword 
of the gladiator or the fury of the lion, until 
.at last, " since the people were now slain, the 
Holy House burnt down, and the city in 
flames, there was nothing further left for the 
enemy to do ? " 

In that awful siege it is believed that there 
perished 1,100,000 men, besides the 97,000 
who were carried captive, and most of whom 
perished subsequently in the arena or the 
mine ; and it was an awful thing to feel, as 
some of the survivors and eye-witnesses — 
and they not Christians — did feel, that "the 
city had deserved its overthrow by producing 
a generation of men who were the causes of 
its misfortunes;" and that "neither did any 
other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did 
any age ever breed a generation more fruitful 
in wickedness than this was, since the begin- 
ning of the world." 

It must have been clear to all that the great 
denunciation just recorded involved a final and 
hopeless rupture. After language such as this 
there could be no possibility of reconciliation. 
It was " too late." The door was shut. When 
Jesus left the Temple His disciples must have 
been aware that He was leaving it forever. 

True and False Giving. 

But apparently as He was leaving it — per- 
haps while lie was sitting with sad heart and 
downcast eyes in the court of the women to 
rest His soul, troubled by the unwonted in- 
tensity of moral indignation, and His mind 
wearied with these incessant assaults — another 
and less painful incident happened, which 
enabled Him to leave the actual precincts of 
the House of His Father with words, not of 
anger, but of approval. 

In this court of the women were thirteen 
chests, each shaped like a trumpet, broadening 
downwards from the aperture, and each adorned 
with various inscriptions. Into these were 
cast those religious and benevolent contribu- 
tions which helped to furnish the Temple with 
its splendid wealth. While Jesus was sitting 
there the multitude were dropping their gifts, 
and the wealthier donors were conspicuous 



among them as they ostentatiously offered 
their gold and silver. Raising His eyes, per- 
haps from a reverie of sorrow, Jesus at a glance 
took in the whole significance of the scene. 

At that moment a poor widow timidly 
dropped in her little contribution. The lips 
of the rich contributors may have curled with 
scorn at a presentation which was the very 
lowest legal minimum. She had given two 
of the very smallest of current coins; for it 
was not lawful, even for the poorest, to offer 
only one. The coin was worth less than half 
a cent of our money, and with the shame of 
poverty she may well have shrunk from be- 
stowing so trivial a gift, when the rich men 
around her were lavishing their gold. 

Contempt for the Poor. 

We cannot understand the full force of this 
act of the poor widow ; we cannot really ap- 
preciate Christ's commendation of her, until 
we call to mind the social position of the 
humble poor at that time. If it is true now 
that money is power, it was even more true 
then, for of all the great the rich were the 
greatest, and of all the lowly the poor were 
the lowliest. Men had not yet learned to 
strip off the external and see beneath it man 
with immortality in his breast, and the name 
of God written on his brow. Men were 
judged, not as the offspring of a common 
Creator, not as great in soul and possessed of 
Divine endowments. This has been the mis- 
take of the ages, that man was estimated and 
measured, not in himself, but by what he pos- 
sessed, or by what he could achieve. 

Think of that climax in the answer of Jesus 
to the disciples of John. Nothing could have 
been more astonishing than that the poor 
should have the gospel preached to them, and, 
if man could have discovered it, nothing was 
more truly an evidence of the Divine charac- 
ter of Christ than His condescension and His 
regard for the lowly; and so, in His estima- 
tion, the poor garments of the widow who 
casts her gift into the treasury are finer than 
the purple of kings, and the two mites are 
brighter than the gems of coronets. 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



527 



The commendation of this poor woman, we 
say, is all the more remarkable because the 
poor were despised and never commended, and 
remarkable also because the rich and the great 

111 



spirit. That is a great gift which has a heart 
in it, although it may be nothing more than 
the look of an eye or the grasp of a hand. 
The commercial spirit of the world weighs 




were praised, and all they did was considered 
of vast account. This scene, so impressive, 
there in the Temple has in it a golden mean- 
ing. It gives us an idea of the nature of true 
giving, not by outward bulk, but by inward 



the widow's mite. — Luke xxi. 3. 

things in scales, rattles the gifts upon the 
counter, and counts them up ; looks at the fig- 
ures on the subscription list, and sees whether 
they are two or three in number, or more; 
calculates in dollars and cents the benefit of 



528 



FREE GIVERS. 



the contribution. This is what the world does, 
and in the eye of the world alone, the poor 
widow is not more queenly than those who 
wear diadems, and is not richer than those 
who live in palaces. Christian principle here, 
as in many other instances, stands in contrast 
with this commercial spirit. One throb of 
sympathy, one sigh from a noble soul, two 
mites freely given, are to be commemorated 
in histories where the lines are never obliter- 
ated, and where the glory of the page is never 
dimmed. 

It is a beautiful consideration that all along 
through the Gospels we have these little inci- 
dents, just those things which happen from day 
to day, but which have a meaning so vast. 
These incidents are fixed in the world's thought 
and memory; they live there in the world's 
great heart as truly as the stone pyramids live 
on the sands of Egypt. It was by little things 
of this description, weighing so heavy, that 
Jesus taught many of His most blessed truths, 
and gave to men His heavenly wisdom. There 
were those in the Temple, great and influen- 
tial, who saw nothing in this poor widow's act 
to admire, but when, those two mites dropped 
into the treasury, the sound rang through all 
heaven ; more than this, it rang through all 
the ages to come, and the poor widow in the 
Temple has an immortal fame. 

The names of empires may be lost, the glory 
of conquerors may be quenched in oblivion, 
but, like the Mary whose story of spikenard 
and tears is told wherever the gospel is 
preached, so this loving act of the poor widow 
is a part of that same gospel, and the news 
of it sounds equally far. Jesus was pleased 
with the faithfulness and the self-sacrificing 
spirit of the gift. It was like the "cup of cold 
water" given for love's sake, which in His 
kingdom should not go unrewarded. 

He wished to teach forever the great lesson 
that the essence of charity is self-denial ; and 
the self-denial of this widow in her pauper 
condition was far greater than that of the 
wealthiest Pharisee who had contributed his 
gold. " For they all flung in of their abun- 
dance, but she of her penury cast in all she 



i had, her whole means of subsistence." " One 
coin out of a little," says Ambrose, " is better 

[ than a treasure out of much ; for it is not con- 
sidered how much is given, but how much re- 
mains behind." " If there be a willing mind," 

| says Paul, " it is accepted according to that a 

I man hath, and not according to th^L" he hath 

not." 

Splendor of the Temple. 

And now Jesus left the Temple for the last 
time; but the feelings of the apostles still 
clung with the loving pride of their nation- 
ality to that sacred and memorable spot. They 
stopped to cast upon it one last lingering gaze, 
and one of them was eager to call His atten- 
tion to its goodly stones and splendid offerings 
— those nine gates overlaid with gold and sil- 
ver, and the one of solid Corinthian brass yet 
more precious; those graceful and towering 
porches ; those bevelled blocks of marble 
forty cubits long and ten cubits high, testifying 
to the toil and munificence of so many gen- 
erations ; those double cloisters and stately 
pillars; that lavish adornment of sculpture 
and arabesque ; those alternate blocks of red 
and white marble, recalling the crest and hol- 
low of the sea-waves; those vast clusters of 
golden grapes, each cluster as large as a man, 
which twined their splendid luxuriance over 
the golden doors. 

They would have Him gaze with them on 
the rising terraces of courts — the court of the 
Gentiles with its monolithic columns and rich 
mosaic; above this the flight of fourteen steps 
which led to the court of the women; then 
the flight of fifteen steps which led up to the 
court of the priests ; then, once more, the 



twelve steps which led to the final platform 
crowned by the actual Holy, and Holy of 
Holies, which the Rabbis fondly compared for 
its shape to a couchant lion, and which, with 
its marble whiteness and gilded roofs, looked 
like a glorious mountain whose snowy sum- 
' mit was gilded by the sun. 

It is as though they thought that the loveli- 
1 ness and splendor of this scene would inter- 
! cede with Him, touching His heart with mute 
I appeal. But the heart of Jesus was sad. To 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



529 



£*im the sole beauty of a Temple was the sin- 
cerity of its worshippers, and no gold or mar- 
ble, no brilliant vermilion or curiously-carved 
cedar-wood, no delicate sculpturing or votive 
gems, could change for Him a den of robbers 
into a House of Prayer. The builders were 
still busily at work, as they had been for nearly 
fifty years, but their work, unblessed of God, 
was destined — like the earthquake-shaken 
forum of guilty Pompeii — to be destroyed 
before it was finished. 

Not One Stone Left Upon Another. 

Briefly and almost sternly Jesus answered, 
as He turned away from the glittering spec- 
tacle, " Seest thou these great buildings ? there 
•shall not be left one stone upon another which 
shall not be thrown down." It was the final 
"" Let us depart hence." Tacitus and Josephus 
tell us how at the siege of Jerusalem was 
heard that great utterance of departing gods ; 
but now it was uttered in reality, though no 
earthquake accompanied it, nor any miracle to 
show that this was the close of another great 
epoch in the world's history. It took place 
•quietly, and God " was content to show all 
things in the slow history of their ripening." 
Thirty-five years afterwards that Temple sank 
into the ashes of its destruction ; neither Had- 
rian, nor Julian, nor any other, was able to 
build upon its site ; and now that very site is 
a matter of uncertainty. 

Henry Hart Milman, in his famous poem 
entitled " The Siege of Jerusalem," represents 
the Roman general, Titus, as viewing the 
Holy City, and exclaiming : 

It must be — 
And yet it moves me, Romans ! It confounds 
The counsel of my firm philosophy, 
That ruin's merciless ploughshare must pass o'er, 
And barren salt be sown on yon proud city. 
As on our olive-crowned hill we stand, 
Where Kedron at our feet its scanty waters 
Distils from stone to stone with gentle motion, 
As through a valley sacred to sweet peace, 
How boldly doth it front us ! how majestically ! 
Like a luxurious vineyard, the hill-side 
Is hung with marble fabrics, line o'er line, 
Terrace o'er terrace, nearer still, and nearer 
34 



To the blue heavens. There bright and sumptuous 

palaces, 
With cool and verdant gardens interspersed; 
There towers of war that frown in massy strength; 
While over all hangs the rich purple eve, 
As conscious of its being her last farewell 
Of light and glory to that fated city. 

And, as our clouds of battle, dust, and smoke 

Are melted into air, behold the Temple 

In undisturbed and lone serenity, 

Finding itself a solemn sanctuary 

In the profound of heaven ! It stands before us 

A mount "Of snow, fretted with golden pinnacles! 

The very sun, as though he worshipped there, 

Lingers upon the gilded cedar roofs, 

And down the long and branching porticos, 

On every flowery-sculptured capital, 

Glitters the homage of his parting beams. 

By Hercules! the sight might almost win 

The offended majesty of Rome to mercy. 

Returning to the narrative, sadly and si- 
lently, with deep thoughts in their hearts, the 
little band of disciples turned their backs on 
the sacred building, which stood there as an 
epitome of Jewish history from the days of 
Solomon onwards. They crossed the valley 
of Kidron, and climbed the steep foot-path 
that leads over the Mount of Olives to Bethany. 

At the summit of the hill they paused, and 
Jesus sat down to rest — perhaps under the 
green boughs of those two stately cedar trees 
which then adorned the summit of the hill. 
It was a scene well adapted to inspire most 
solemn thoughts. Deep on the one side be- 
neath Him lay the Holy City, which now, on 
this day, had shown finally that she knew not 
the time of her visitation. At His feet were 
the slopes of Olivet and the Garden of Geth- 
semane. On the opposite slope rose the city 
walls, and the broad plateau crowned with the 
marble colonnades and gilded roofs of the 
Temple. 

Turning in the eastward direction He would 
look across the bare, desolate hills of the wil- 
derness of Judaea to the purpling line of the 
mountains of Moab, which glow like a chain 
of jewels in the sunset light. In the deep, 
scorched hollows of the Ghor, visible in patches 
of sullen cobalt, lay the mysterious waters of 
the Sea of Lot. And thus, as He gazed from 



530 



IMPENDING CALAMITIES. 



the brow of the hill, on either side of Him 
there were visible tokens of God's anger and 
man's sin. On the one side gloomed the dull 
lake, whose ghastly and bituminous waves are 
a perpetual testimony to God's vengeance 
upon sensual crime; at I lis feet was the glo- 
rious guilty city which had shed the blood of 
all the prophets, and was doomed to sink 
through yet deadlier wickedness to yet more 
awful retribution. And the setting sun of His 
earthly life flung deeper and more sombre 
colorings across the whole scene of His earthly 

pilgrimage. 

Seeking a Sign. 

It may be that the shadows of His thought 
gave a strange solemnity to His attitude and 
features, as He sat there silent among the 
silent and saddened band of His few faithful 
followers. Not without a touch of awe His 
nearest and most favored apostles — Peter, and 
James, and John, and Andrew — came near to 
Him, and as they saw His eye fixed upon the 
Temple, asked Him privately, " When shall 
these things be? and what shall be the sign 
of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" 
Their " when ? " remained for the present un- 
answered. It was the way of Jesus, when 
some ignorant or irrelevant or inadmissible 
question was put to Him, to rebuke it not di- 
rectly, but by passing it over, and by substi- 
tuting for its answer some great moral lesson 
which was connected with it, and could alone 
make it valuable. Accordingly, this question 
of the apostles drew from Him the great dis- 
course of the last things, of which the four 
morai key-nctes are " Bew.are ! " and " Watch ! " 
and "Endure!" and "JVay!" The words 
show plainly the deep solicitude which He 
felt for His beloved disciples. 

In this discourse, Jesus first warned them 
of false Messiahs and false prophets ; He told 
them that the wild struggling of nations and 
those physical commotions and calamities 
which have so often seemed to keep time with 
the great crises of history, were not to trouble 
them, as they would be but the throe, the 
first birth-pang of the coming era. He proph- 
esied of dreadful persecutions, of abounding 



iniquity, of decaying faith, of wide evangel- 
ization as the signs of a coming end. And 
as we learn from many other passages of 
Scripture, these signs, as they did usher in 
the destruction of Jerusalem, so shall reap- 
pear on a larger scale before the end of all 
things is at hand. 

The next great paragraph of this speech 
dwelt mainly on the immediate future. He 
had foretold distinctly the destruction of the 
Holy City, and He now gives them indica- 
tions which should forewarn them of its ap- 
proach, and lead them to secure their safety. 
When they should see Jerusalem encompassed 
with armies — when the abomination which 
should cause desolation should stand in the 
Holy Place — then even from the fields, even 
from the housetops, they were to fly out of 
Judaea to the shelter of the hills, from the 
unspeakable horrors that should follow. 

The Sudden Appearing-. 

Nor even then were they to be carried 
away by any deceivableness of unrighteous- 
ness, caused by the yearning intensity of 
Messianic hopes. Many should cry, " Lo 
here!" and "Lo there!" but let them pay no 
heed; for when He came, His presence, like 
lightning shining from the east even to the 
west, should be visible and unmistakable to 
all the world, and like eagles gathering to the 
carcase should the destined ministers of His 
vengeance wing their flight. 

By such warnings the Christians were pre- 
served. Before John of Giscala had shut the 
gates of Jerusalem, and Simon of Gerasa had 
begun to murder the fugitives, so that " he 
who escaped the tyrant within the wall was 
destroyed by the other that lay before the 
gates " — before the Roman eagle waved her 
wing over the doomed city, or the infamies 
of lust and murder had driven every worship- 
per in horror from the Temple courts — the 
Christians had taken timely warning, and in 
the little Peraean town of Pella were beyond 
the reach of all the robbery, and murder, and 
famine, and cannibalism, and extermination 
which made the siege of Jerusalem a scene 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



531 



of greater tribulation than any that has been i the shaking of the powers of heaven- — signs 
recorded since the beginning of the world. | which may have a meaning both literal and 




THE VIRGINS. Matt. XXV. 1 3. 

Then Jesus passed to the darkening of the I metaphorical — which should precede the ap- 
sun and moon, and the falling of the stars, and I pearing of the Son of man in heaven, and the 



532 



WATCHING AND WAITING. 



gathering of the elect from the four winds by 
the trumpet-blast of the angels. 

That day of the Lord should have its signs 
no less than the other, and He bade His dis- 
ciples in all ages to mark thos^ signs and in- 
terpret them aright, even as they interpreted 
the signs of the coming summer in the fig- 
tree's budding leaves. But that day should 
come to the world suddenly, unexpectedly, 
overwhelmingly; and as it should be a day 
of reward to all faithful servants, so should it 
be a day of vengeance and destruction to the 
glutton and the drunkard, to the hypocrite 
and the oppressor. 

Therefore, to impress yet more indelibly 
upon their minds the lessons of watchfulness 
and faithfulness, and to warn them yet more 
emphatically against the peril of the drowsy 
life and the smouldering lamp, He told them 
the exquisite parables — so beautiful, so simple, 
yet so rich in instruction — of the ten virgins 
and of the talents. 

The Householder and Thief. 

" Take heed," He says, " and watch : for ye 
know not when the hour may strike. It will 
be like the coming of a man who has taken 
his journey into a far country, and has left his 
house in the hands of his servants, and ""iven 
authority over it to them — to each his own 
special work — and has commanded the keeper 
of the gate to watch for his return. Watch, 
therefore, like faithful, diligent servants, for ye 
know not the hour when I, the Master of the 
house, shall come, whether it will be in the 
evening, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, 
or in the morning; lest, if I come suddenly, I 
find you asleep. And what I say to you, My 
apostles, I say to all, Be iwake and watchful at 
all times, that ye may be able to escape all the 
terrors of My coming, by being found faithful, 
and thus may be set before Me by the holy 
angels, to enter into My glory, and stand before 
Me, as My servants, in My heavenly kingdom. 

" You know how a householder would have 
acted had he known beforehand at what watch 
of the night the thief would come, to plunder 
his goods. He would have watched, and not 



have suffered his house to be broken into. 
Therefore, be ready at all times, for the Son 
of man will come, when, perhaps, ye least ex- 
pect Him 

" Who among you will prove himself a 
good and faithful servant ? He will be like a 
servant of him of whom I have spoken, who 
took his journey to a far country — a servant 
set over the household to give them their food 
in due season, during his absence: who faith- 
fully did it. Blessed will be that servant, whom 
his lord, when he returns, shall find so doing! 
Verily I say to you, he will advance him to a 
far higher post, for he will set him not only 
over the food of his household, but over all 
his substance. And blessed, in like manner, 
will he be whom I, on My return, will find 
faithful to the charge committed to him in My 
kingdom ! 

" But if, instead of being faithful, you fail in 
your duty, you will be like a servant of the 
same master who should say in his heart, ' My 
lord delays his coming,' and begin to beat his 
fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the 
drunken, at his master's cost. The lord of 
that servant will come in a day when he does 
not look for him, and in an hour when he does 
not expect him, and will punish him to the 
uttermost, and make him bear the just fate of 
a hypocrite. Even so the hypocrite, in My 
kingdom, shall be cast out into outer dark- 
ness. 

Meeting the Bridegroom. 

" In that day it will be as when, at a mar- 
riage, the maidens invited to play and sing in 
the marriage procession prepare to go out to 
meet the bridegroom, to lead him to the house 
of the bride, where the marriage is to be cele- 
brated. Let me suppose there were ten such 
maidens — five wise, five foolish. The five 
foolish ones took their lamps with them, to 
help the display, and lighten the path of the 
bridegroom, but they forgot to take oil with 
them, besides, to refill the lamps, when they 
had burned out. 

" But the wise not only took their lamps, 
but oil in their oil-flasks as well. All the ten, 
thus differently prepared, went forth from the 






DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



533 



home of the bride, and waited in a house, on | the streets had heard the loud music and 
the way by which the bridegroom must come, I shouts, and had seen the light of the lamps 




to be ready to go out and escort him, when he 
passed by. 

" But he delayed so long that they all grew 
heavy, and fell asleep. At last, at midnight, 
they were suddenly roused ; for the people in 



and torches of the procession afar, and raised 
the cry at the doors — ' The bridegroom is 
coming, go ye out to meet him.' 

" Then they all arose, and trimmed each 
her own lamp, to have it ready. The foolish 



534 



LAMPS, BUT NO LIGHT. 



ones now found that their lamps were going 
out, because the oil was all burned, and asked 
the wise ones to give them of theirs. But 
they answered, ' We cannot possibly do so, for 
our oil would assuredly not suffice both for 
ourselves and you ; go, rather, to the sellers, 
and buy for yourselves.' 

" While they were away buying it, however, 
the bridegroom came, and the five who were 
ready joined the procession, and went in with 
the bridegroom to the marriage and the mar- 
riage-feast, and the door was shut. After a 
time the other five came, and knocked at the 
gate with anxious entreat)' — ' Lord, lord, open 
to us.' But he answered, ' I do not know you. 
You' were not among the other maids of the 
bride in the procession, and, therefore, you are 
strangers to me, and as such have nothing to 
do at my marriage.' 

" Learn from this parable that they who 
patiently watch and wait, doing the duty I have 
assigned them, till I come, though they know 
neither the day nor the hour when I shall do 
so, will have a part in the joys of My heavenly 
kingdom. All My followers will then be, as it 
were, My bride, and I their Bridegroom ; but 
those who are not faithful and true to the end 
will be shut out from the marriage-feast." 

The King and his Servants. 

With that marvelous power of turning 
every incident to practical account which 
marked His teaching, He proceeded to repeat 
a parable borrowed, in many particulars, from 
facts in their recent or passing national his- 
tory. Archelaus had set out for Rome, most 
likely from Jericho itself, not many years be- 
fore, to obtain investiture in the kingdom left 
to him by the will of his father Herod, and the 
Jews had sent a fruitless embassy after him to 
prevent his obtaining it. All the princes of 
the house of Herod had, indeed, been only 
vassals of Rome, and had had to go to the 
imperial city, in each case, to seek their king- 
dom as a gift from the Roman senate. 

"A certain man," said He, " of noble birth, 
went to a distant country to receive for him- 
self the dignity of king over his former fellow- 



citizens, and then to return. Before doing so 
he called ten of his servants, from whom, as 
such, he had the right to expect the utmost 
care for his interests in his absence. He pro- 
posed, in his secret mind, to entrust them with 
a small responsibility, by their discharge of 
which he could judge, when he returned, of 
their fitness and worthiness to be put into 
positions of greater consideration ; for he 
wished to choose from them his future chief 
officers for the administration of his affairs. 

The King's Return. 

" In the meantime he gave them, each, only 
a mina, one hundred drachmae (about eighteen 
dollars of our money), and said to them, 
' Trade with this, on my account, till I return.' 
If they proved to be faithful in this small 
matter, he would be able to advance them to 
higher trusts. 

" It happened, however, that he was so un- 
popular, that his fellow-citizens, in their hatred 
of him, sent an embassy after him to the su- 
preme power, complaining against him, and 
contemptuously declaring that they would not 
have such a man to rule over them. But their 
embassy failed, for, in spite of it, he obtained 
the province, and was appointed their king. 

" On his return, after he had thus received 
the government, he ordered the servants to 
whom he had given the money to be called 
before him, that he might know what each 
had gained by trading. The first came and 
said, ' Lord, thy talent has gained ten.' ' Well 
done, good servant,' replied his master, ' be- 
cause thou wast faithful in a very little, be 
thou governor of ten cities.' The second 
came, saying, ' Lord, thy talent has gained 
five.' ' Be thou governor of five cities,' replied 
his master. 

" But another came and said, ' Lord, here is 
thy talent, I have kept it safely tied up in a 
napkin : you will find it just as I got it. I did 
not know what to do with it, and I was afraid 
of thee ; for I know you are a hard man in 
money matters, looking for great profits where 
you have laid out next to nothing — taking up, 
as they say, what you had not put down, and, 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



535 



If needs be, reaping where you had not sown I " ' I will judge you out of your own mouth, 
— making good your loss, if there were any, I wicked servant,' replied his master. 'You 




THE TALENTS 



at his expense who caused it — and so, to keep 
myself safe, I thought it best to run no risk 
one way or other.* 



say you knew I was a hard man in money 
matters, seeking gain where I had laid 
nothing out to secure it, and reaping where 



536 



THE EVENING AT BETHANY. 



others have sown — why then did you not at 
least give my money to some exchanger to 
use at his table, that thus, on my return, I 
might have got it back with interest?' Then, 
turning to the servants standing by, he con- 
tinued, 'Take from him the mina, and give it 
him that has ten.' ' He has ten already,' 
muttered the servants, half afraid. But the 
king went on in his anger, without heeding 
them — ' I tell you that to every one who 
shows his fitness to serve me, by having 
already increased what I at first gave him, I 
shall give more ; but I shall take away what 
I first gave from him who, by adding nothing 
to it, has proved his unfitness to use what 
might be put in his hands.' " 

A Sacred Trust. 

The lessons of the parable could hardly be 
misunderstood. To the Jewish people, who 
would not receive Him as the Messiah, they 
spoke in words of warning alarm ; but the 
twelve, themselves, heard a solemn caution. 
They had each, in being selected as an apostle, 
received a sacred trust, to be used for his 
Master's interests, till the coming again in 
glory. Well for him who, when his Lord 
returned to judgment, could give a good ac- 
count of his stewardship ; woe to him who had 
neglected his trust! Though called to the 
same honor at first as the others, as an 
apostle he would be stripped of his rank, and 
receive no share in the glory and dignities of 
the Messianic kingdom. As to the Jews who 
rejected Him, His coming would be the 
signal for the sorest judgments. 

On that day those who had shown the 
least kindness to the least of these His 
brethren should be accounted to have done it 
unto Him. But then, lest these grand utter- 
ances should lead them to any of their old 
mistaken Messianic notions, He ended them 
with the sad and now half-familiar refrain, 
that His death and anguish must precede all 
else. The occasion, the manner, the very day 
are now revealed to them : " Ye know that after 
two days is the Passover, and the Son of man 
is betrayed to be crucified." 



So ended that great discourse upon the 
Mount of Olives, and the sun set, and He 
arose and walked with his apostles the short 
remaining road to Bethany. It was the last 
time that He would ever walk it upon earth ;. 
and after the trials, the weariness, the awful 
teachings, the terrible agitations of that event- 
ful day, how delicious to Him must have been 
that hour of twilight loveliness and evening 
calm ; how refreshing the peace and affection 
which surrounded Him in the quiet village 
and the holy home. 

Jesus did not love cities, and scarcely ever 
slept within their precincts. He shrank from 
their congregated wickedness, from their glar- 
ing publicity, from their feverish excitement, 
from their featureless monotony, with all the 
natural and instinctive dislike of delicate 
minds. An oriental city is always dirty; 
the refuse is flung into the streets ; there is no 
pavement ; the pariah dog is the sole scav- 
enger; beast and man jostle each other pro- 
miscuously in the crowded thoroughfares. 

The Approaching Passion. 

And though the necessities of His work 
compelled Him to visit Jerusalem, and to 
preach to the vast throngs from every climate 
and country who were congregated at its 
yearly festivals, yet He seems to have retired 
on every possible occasion beyond its gates, 
partly it may be for safety — partly from pov- 
erty — partly because He loved that sweet 
home at Bethany — and partly, too, perhaps, 
because He felt the peaceful joy of treading 
the grass that groweth on the mountains rather 
than the city stones, and could hold gladder 
communion with His Father in heaven under 
the shadow of the olive-trees, where, far from 
all disturbing sights and sounds, He could 
watch the splendor of the sunset and the 
falling of the dew, and feel the awful hush be- 
fore the coming storm. 

And surely that last evening walk to Bethany 
on that evening in Passion week must have 
breathed deep calm into His soul. The 
thought, indeed, of the bitter cup which He 
was so soon to drink was doubtless present to 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



537 



Him, but present only in its aspect of exalted I victory — the full, perfect, and sufficient atone- 
sacrifice, and the highest purpose of love ful- 1 ment — these we may well, though reverently. 




filled. Not the pangs which he would suffer, 
but the pangs from which He would save ; not 
the power of darkness which would seem to 
win a short-lived triumph, but the redeeming 



believe to have been the subjects which domi- 
nated in His thoughts. 

The exquisite beauty of the Syrian evening, 
the tender colors of the spring grass and 



538 



A MOUNT OF SORROW. 



flowers, the ravines around Him paling into 
solemn gray, the distant hills bathed in the 
primrose light of sunset, the coolness and balm 
of the breeze after the burning glare — what 
must these have been to Him to whose eye 
the world of nature was an open book, on 
every page of which He read His Father's 
name ! 

And this was His native land. Bethany 
was almost to Him a second Nazareth ; those 
whom He loved were around Him, and He 
was going to those whom He loved. Can we 
not imagine Him walking on in silence too 
deep for words — His disciples beside Him or 
following Him — the gibbous moon beginning 
to rise and gild the twinkling foliage of the 
olive-trees with richer silver, and moonlight 
and twilight blending at each step insensibly 
with the garish hues of day, like that solemn 
twilight-purple of coming agony into which 
the noonday of His happier ministry had long 
since begun to fade? 

The Mount of Olives. 

Of the many scenes connected with the 
early life of Jesus, there is none more sacred 
to the Christian mind than the Mount of 
Olives. The Lake of Galilee may be said to 
be next in point of interest, but the associa- 
tions connected with the two places are alto- 
gether different. The shores of the lake wit- 
nessed the first events in the ministry of Christ, 
but the Mount of Olives belongs to its close. 
The one speaks of Jesus as full of gladness, 
the other speaks of Him in the days of His 
sorrow and tribulation. Gennesareth belongs 
to joyous Galilee, but Olivet is associated with 
dark Gethsemane. The first sermons of Jesus 
— those preached by the lake — arc redolent of 
nature; they flowed like streams of pure water 
from His yet untroubled soul; but His last 
words and His last actions — those connected 
with Olivet — have more of anguish and sorrow. 

The Mount of Olives is west of Jerusalem. 
The ascent begins as soon as the traveller has 
crossed the brook Kidron. the top is two 
hundred feet higher than Mount Moriah, so 
that it commands a complete view of Jeru- 



salem. The first mention of Olivet in the 
Bible is when David heard of the conspiracy 
of Absalom. It is recorded that he fled from 
Jerusalem, and " went up by the ascent of 
Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and 
had his head covered, and he went barefoot; 
and all the people that was with him covered 
every man his head, and they went up, weep- 
ing as they went up." It was a mount of 
sorrow to David as well as to David's greater 
Son. He too wept over Jerusalem, and in a 
sense suffered for the sins of its children. 

A Historic Spot. 

Only once again is Olivet mentioned by 
name in the Old Testament. In the Book of 
Zechariah there is a prophecy of the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, which is spoken of as con- 
temporaneous with a coming of the Lord. 
It is said, " His feet shall stand in that day 
upon the Mount of Olives, which is before 
Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of 
Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof to- 
ward the east and toward the west, and 
there shall be a very great valley; and half 
of the mountain shall remove toward the 
north, and half of it toward the south." 
There are, however, several indirect allusions 
to the Mount of Olives. It is said of king 
Solomon, when his wives turned away his 
heart after other gods, that he built " an high 
place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, 
in the hill that is before Jerusalem." Because 
of these high places it was called " the mount 
of corruption." In Ezekiel it is said that 
" the glory of the Lord went up from the 
midst of the city, and stood upon the moun- 
tain which is on the east side of the city." 
In the Book of Nehcmiah, the people were 
instructed to keep the feast of Tabernacles 
with olive, and pine, and myrtle, and palm 
branches, brought from the Mount of Olives. 
Jesus loved the country. The simplicity 
of nature accorded with His spirit. It was 
His Father's work — or, rather, the sphere of 

! His Father's working. Everywhere God was 
present to Him : all scenes in nature, all 

| sounds, all forms, ever spoke to Him of His 



DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. 



539 



Father. The town was the abode of sin. 
There men festered in moral corruption : the 
atmosphere was impure ; but in the green 
fields, on the hill-sides, and in quiet hamlets, 
Jesus found the purity of God. 

It was on Olivet that Jesus wept for Jeru- 
salem. He knew its impending doom. This 
lamentation over the great city seems to have 
intervened during the great triumphal proces- 
sion towards the city. Jesus was going to 
His cross; but He was also going to His 
kingdom. He could rejoice, for He saw 
before Him His final victory; but He wept 
for those who were not to share it, those who 
had rejected Him, and were soon to be His 
murderers. 

It is in the last scene of the life of Jesus 
that the Mount of Olives occupies the most 
conspicuous place in the Gospel history. 
After the Paschal supper, " He came out, and 
went, as He was wont," Luke says, " to the 
Mount of Olives." John says that He went 
" over the brook Kidron, where was a garden." 
This was Gethsemane, at the foot of Olivet, the 
scene of His agonies in the prospect of cruci- 
fixion. Into this garden His disciples are not 
permitted to enter, except the chosen three, 
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. But even 
they had to stand at a distance in the moments 
of His wrestling with God. Three times did 



He utter the prayer, " Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup pass from me;" and twice He ex- 
pressed submission to the Divine will. 

The Christian traveller in the Holy Land 
can gaze on no spot with more interest than 
on the green slopes of Olivet. The olive- 
trees are now but few in number, and the 
aspect of Jerusalem from its summit is not 
what it was when the Holy City was in its 
splendor. Gethsemane is now enclosed by 
the wall of a monastery. It contains eight 
large and venerable olive-trees, so old that 
the imagination may not be wrong in sup- 
posing them the very trees under which Jesus 
knelt when His soul was exceeding sorrowful 
even unto death. 

Dean Stanley says: "They are now, indeed, 
less striking in the modern garden enclosure, 
built round them by the Franciscan monks, 
than when they stood free and unprotected on 
the rough hill-side; but they will remain, as 
long as their already protracted life is spared, 
the most remarkable of their race on the sur- 
face of the earth. Their gnarled trunks and 
scanty foliage will always be regarded as the 
most affecting of the sacred memories in or 
about Jerusalem ; the most nearly approach- 
ing to the everlasting hills themselves in the' 
force with which they carry us back to the 
events of the Gospel history." 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 




AVING determined to 
put Jesus to death, the 
Sanhedrin held a pri- 
vate sitting in the 
house of the high- 
priest, Caiaphas, 
where they deliber- 
ated on the best means 
of apprehending Him 
with the least danger of creating an 
uproar among the people. 

Unhappily, they found one willing 
to assist them. This was Judas Iscar- 
iot, who came to them, and agreed, 
for thirty pieces of silver, to seek an oppor- 
tunity far betraying Him into their hands. 
The motive of this wretched man has been 
very much disputed. The more simple and 
harsh view is that which holds that he be- 
trayed his Master to death for this sum of 
money; but this has been judged incon- 
sistent with the fact of his repentance so 
soon as he saw that Jesus was actually con- 
demned. This seems to show that he expected 
a different result, and the paltry sum of money 
might easily have been acquired by one who 
had charge of the bag, without staining his 
soul with so black a crime. 

Upon the whole, we may readily believe 
that Judas was a man whose character was of 
less unmixed evil than the popular judgment 
deems ; although it will always be difficult to 
determine the precise considerations by which 
his conduct was influenced. It has been 
supposed by some, that in the conviction that 
Christ could and would, as on former oc- 
casions, deliver Himself out of their hands, 
he intended merely to trifle with the priests in 
making this offer to them. But others think 
the whole proceeding best accounted for by 
supposing that Judas, annoyed at the tardi- 
(540) 



ness of Jesus in openly avowing Himself to 
be the Messiah, and of taking upon Him the 
great power which belonged to Him in that 
character, was solicitous to place Him 'in a 
position which would compel Him to declare 
Himself, and by that act commence His reign 
on the earth. 

Thursday at length arrived, when all the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem prepared to celebrate 
the Passover. At this feast strangers from all 
parts of the land flocked to Jerusalem, and the 
residents felt themselves bound to set apart and 
make ready all the spare rooms in their houses, 
for the use of the strangers in celebrating the 
Passover. The ceremony itself consisted in 
eating a lamb with particular ceremonies, in 
commemoration of the deliverance from Egypt. 
As it was necessary that a lamb should be 
eaten and that none of it should be left, parties 
sufficiently large for the purpose were usually 
formed. The number who sat at the table 
was usually from twelve to fifteen ; and as 
Jesus and His apostles were thirteen, they 
were enabled to take this last and solemn 
meal by themselves, without the presence of 
strangers. 

The time being fully come, Jesus sent 
Peter and John into the city, and told them 
that they would meet a man bearing a pitcher 
of water whom they were to follow, and make 
ready the Passover in the house to which he 
went. It so happened: and on asking the 
master of the house to show them the chamber 
he had prepared for strangers, they were con- 
ducted to " a large upper chamber, ready 
furnished and prepared " with the requisite 
seats, table, and utensils. Here the Passover 
was made ready by the disciples, and in the 
evening Jesus came and sat down with them 
to eat of it. 

Rising from the couch, and girding Him- 



542 



AN ACT OF HUMILITY. 



self with a towel, like a slave, after laying 
aside His upper garments, He poured water 
into a basin, and began to wash the feet of 
His disciples. Pride and selfish ambition 
could not be more strikingly and touchingly 
reproved, than by such an act on the part of 
one so exalted. 

No greater proof could be shown of His 
love, than that such an act of humility should 
be its natural expression. Had they all been 
true-hearted, it would have been amazing in 
one so transcendently above them, but it was 
still more so, when He knew that one of them 
was already a traitor. He had proclaimed 
Himself the Son of God, the future judge of 
the world, the Messiah in whose gift were the 
honors of heaven, and whose voice was to 
raise the dead, and they were simple Galilsean 
fishermen. There could be no commentary on 
His demand for lowliness, as the true ground 
of advancement in His kingdom, more vivid 
than His voluntarily performing the lowliest 
act of personal service to them all. 

Peter's Rash Refusal. 

He seems to have begun with Simon Peter, 
His chief apostle, but the warm heart and the 
impulsive nature of the rock-like man shrank 
from letting his Master humble Himself thus. 
" Lord," said he, " dost Thou wash my feet ! " 
He had not realized the meaning of an act 
intended as symbolical. " What I do," replied 
Jesus, " thou understandest not now, but wilt 
know hereafter." " Thou shalt never wash 
my feet, Lord," reiterated the apostle. " If I 
do not wash thee," said Jesus, " thou hast no 
part with Me." " Lord, if that be the case," 
broke out Peter, " wash not my feet only, but 
my hands and my head." " It is not neces- 
sary," said Jesus. " He who, according to 
Jewish ways, has taken a bath before his meal, 
needs no more than to cleanse the dust from 
his feet, which has clung to them on the way 
from the bath. Except this, he is clean, and 
it is the same with you, except him who in- 
tends to betray Me. 

" By My word, which I have spoken to you, 
and the faith waked in you by it, you are al- 



ready clean in the sense I mean — right in the 
desire of your heart towards Me. Yet, though 
thus clean, the dust of earth still clings to you 
in part, and makes a last washing needful." 
The hour was at hand for this last crowning- 
act of love, and He would now prepare them 
for it by this tender symbol, for it taught not 
only humility, but that He alone could take 
away sin. Having washed their feet and re- 
sumed His garments, He once more took His 
place on the couch. 

A Startling Announcement. 

" Do you know," He asked, as He did so, 
" the meaning of what I have now done to 
you ? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and 
you are right, for I am both. Learn, then, 
that, if I, your Master and Lord, wash your 
feet, you, also, ought to wash one another's 
feet, for I have done this as an example to 
you, that you should do to each other as I 
have done to you. You know, and I would 
have you remember it, that a servant is not 
greater than his lord, nor an apostle than He 
who sent him forth, so that you may well imi- 
tate Me, your superior, in My humility. If 
you understand what I say, it will be well for 
you if you act on My teaching." 

It was just after this that Jesus took occa- 
sion to intimate that among the trusted dis- 
ciples then present there was one who would 
betray Him to His enemies. This gave them 
great concern ; and, after a pause, they began 
to ask Him severally, " Lord, is it I?" At 
this time they were seated, or rather reclining, 
on the bench, or triclinium, which enclosed 
the table; and they were placed in such a man- 
ner that the "beloved disciple," John, lay with 
his head towards his Master's bosom ; and to 
him Peter beckoned that he should put the 
question more distinctly. 

He did so, by asking, probably in a low 
voice, " Lord, who is it ? " To which Jesus 
answered, probably also in a subdued voice, 
" He to whom I shall give the sop when I 
have dipped it ; " and immediately He dipped 
the sop and gave it to Judas. It was usual 
after the second cup of wine at the Paschal 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIEE OF CHRIST. 



543 



meal for the father of the house, or head of the 
party, to take a piece of unleavened bread, 
break it in pieces and give a bit to each of 
those present, most commonly after having 
dipped it in the broth. This was probably 
the " sop " in question, and we may suppose 
that it was the turn of Judas to receive it. 

On this Judas, who, as being near enough 
to receive this, had probably overheard John's 
question, asked, in a low voice, " Lord, is it 



very night, in completion of the engagement 
into which he had already entered. 

As the Passover repast began late in the 
evening, and it was now already more than 
half completed, the night must then have al- 
ready set in when the traitor separated him- 
self from this circle of humility and love, and 
hastened through the lonesome darkness to 
the enemies of Jesus. 

When Judas had actually withdrawn, and 




JESUS WASHING PETER 

I?" and was answered in an undertone, " It 
is thou," by Jesus, who then added, aloud, 
" What thou doest, do quickly : " on which 
Judas immediately left the place. The dis- 
ciples generally had evidently not caught this 
conversation, for they supposed that he had 
gone forth on some charge connected with the 
distribution of alms from the common purse, 
with which he was intrusted. But in fact he 
went to the priests to arrange the plan of 
operation for betraying his Lord to them that 



s feet. — John xiii. 5. 

with that the certainty of his horrible deed 
was fully determined, the consciousness of 
victory over sin and death rose triumphant to 
the mind of the Saviour, and absorbed for the 
moment all other considerations ; and He said, 
" Now the Son of man is glorified, and God is 
glorified in Him." He then intimated to the 
apostles that the time was near in which He 
was to be taken from them, and added, "A 
new commandment I give unto you, that ye 
love one another as I have loved you." 



544 



THE SIFTING OF SATAN. 



Although Jesus had more than once ex- 
pressed Himself with sufficient accuracy and 
plainness respecting His approaching death, 
and even the manner of it, the disciples, still 
warped by their early notions respecting the 
Messiah and His reign, could not understand 
His words in the sense lie intended to convey. 
Possibly they thought only of a temporary 
removal of the Redeemer, through which He 
might escape from treason and from the plots 
of I lis enemies. 

Therefore the ardent Peter endeavored to 
lead Him to a more definite explanation — 
" Lord, whither gocst Thou ? " Jesus answered, 
" Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now ; 
but thou shalt follow Me afterwards." Gath- 
ering from this, perhaps, that some danger was 
connected with the removal of his beloved 
Master, Peter rejoined, " Why cannot I follow 
thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy 
sake." But Jesus, looking through the soul, 
perceived that this declaration arose more from 
a swell of generous feeling, than from a firmly- 
unded purpose; and therefore warned him 
to look well to his own heart. The idea of 
forsaking his Master, whom he loved so dearly, 
was too inconceivable, however, to Peter, in 
the self-confidence of his affection, to allow 
him to accept it as possible. "Other men 
may, perhaps, be offended on account of Thee, 
I I," said lie, " but if all the world were to 
be so, there is no fear of my failing. I, at any 
rate, will never leave Thee." 

Peter Warned. 

"Simon, Simon," replied Jesus, using the 
old name by which He had known him long 
ago — " take care. Self-confidence will be your 
undoing. Satan has seen it, and has sought 
to get God to give you over into his power, 
as he once did Job, and he has got you for the 
time, to sift you as wheat is sifted. He would 
fain have it that your professions are only 
chaff, and he will shake and test you by temp- 
tations, dangers, and troubles, to try to make 
you turn against Me, and thus prove that it 
is so. 

"But I am mightier than your enemy, and I 



! have prayed for you that, though you fall, you 
\ may rise again, and that your faith in Me may 
not give way altogether, and separate you en- 
tirely from Me. Though you will assuredly fall, 
yet you will repent, and when you have done 
so, see that you strengthen the faith of your 
fellow-disciples, and become their helper, to 
support and confirm them, if they, like you, 
waver." This warning was as kind as it was 
faithful, and was deeply impressive. 

The Base Denial. 

Peter was sorely distressed at such words. 
Conscious of his honest love and fidelity, it 
seemed as if Jesus doubted both. His warm 
Galilaean heart was full. He felt as if his 
Master spoke of his acting in a way of which 
he could not believe himself capable. "Lord," 
said he, " I care not what happens to Thee. I 
am ready to go with Thee to prison, or to die 
with Thee, but I will never leave Thee, nor be 
untrue to Thee." " Do you think so, Peter ? " 
replied Jesus, with a voice full of tenderness — 
" I tell you that this very night, before the cock 
crow the second time, you will thrice deny that 
you know Me." " If I were to die for it," an- 
swered the apostle, " no one will ever hear me 
deny Thee." " I can say the same," added all 
the other apostles. 

There was now a pause for a short time in 
the conversation. Presently Jesus recom- 
menced it. " You may wonder at My speaking 
as I have done to-night," said He, "but there 
are good grounds for it. Your circumstances 
will be entirely different, henceforth, from what 
I they have been in the past. A time of care 
I and struggle lies before you. When I sent 
J you to travel through the country, preaching 
I the kingdom, and y©u had neither purse, nor 
1 bag for food, nor sandals — did you miss any 
] of these, or want for anything ? " " Nothing, 
Lord," said all the eleven. 

" It will be very different now," replied 

Jesus. " Whoever has money, let him take it, 

and let him take provisions for the way, as 

well ; and let him that has no sword sell his 

J coat to buy one, to defend himself. He who 

I has money and provisions can help himself on 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



545 



by them in his journeys, but he who has none 
will need to ask hospitality, and, as he need 
not hope to receive it, let him, at least, have 
the means of protection. I speak in a figure, 
for I do not really mean you to fight, or to 
carry or use a sword, but I wish to impress on 
you how hostile the world will, henceforth, be 
to you, as you go on your journeys as my 
apostles ; and what earnest energy and struggle 
will be needful, on your part, while you are 
thus carrying the news of the kingdom through 
the world. For I tell you, solemnly, that the 
words of Isaiah, 'And He was reckoned among 
transgressors,' must be fulfilled in Me, for that 
which has been written of Me in Scripture is 
about to be accomplished." 

This was the picture, tinged with gloom and 
deeply shadowed by sorrow, which He painted. 
Jesus plainly told His disciples that they 
would share His sufferings, and also that 
their reward was sure, both for their toils and 
pains and their deeds of charity. This thought 
is beautifully expressed by the poet Mont- 
gomery in his pathetic poem entitled " The 
Stranger and His Friend:" 

A poor wayfaring man of grief 

Hath often crossed me on my way, 
Who sued so humbly for relief 

That I could never answer " Nay." 
I had not power to ask His name, 
Whither He went, or whence He cams; 
Yet there was something in His eye 
That won my love — I knew not why. 

Once, when my scanty meal was spread, 
He entered. Not a word He spake. 

Just perishing for want of bread, 

I gave Him all; He blessed it, brake, 

And ate; — but gave me part again. 

Mine was an angel's portion then ; 

For while I fed with eager haste, 

That crust was manna to my taste. 

I spied Him where a fountain burst 

Clear from the rock ; His strength was gone; 

The heedless water mocked His thirst; 
He heard it, saw it hurrying on. 

I ran to raise the sufferer up; 

Thrice from the stream He drained my cup, 

Dipped, and returned it running o'er; — 

I drank and never thirsted more. 
35 



'Twas night ; the floods were out — it blew 

A winter hurricane aloof; 
I heard His voice abroad, and flew 

To bid Him welcome to my roof; 
I warmed, I clothed, I cheered my guest — • 
Laid Him on my own couch to rest ; 
Then made the earth my bed, and seemed 
In Eden's garden while I dreamed. 

Stripped, wounded, beaten nigh to death, 

I found Him by the highway side; 
I roused His pulse, brought back His breath, 

Revived His spirit, and supplied 
Wine, oil, refreshment; He was healed. 
I had, myself, a wound concealed — 
But from that hour forgot the smart, 
And peace bound up my broken heart. 

In prison I saw Him next, condemned 

To meet a traitor's doom at morn; 
The tide of lying tongues I stemmed, 

And honored Him 'midst shame and scorn. 
My friendship's utmost zeal to try, 
He asked if I for Him would die; 
The flesh was weak, my blood ran chill, 
But the free spirit cried, " I will." 

Then in a moment, to my view, 

The stranger darted from disguise; 
The tokens in His hands I knew — 

My Saviour stood before mine eyes. 
He spake ; and my poor name he named—. 
" Of Me thou hast not been ashamed ; 
These deeds shall thy memorial be ; 
Fear not! thou didst them unto Me." 

The wine-cup was repeatedly handed round 
during the Paschal suppers, and the Jewish 
writers inform us that the wine was mixed 
with water; although, indeed, this would be 
scarcely needed with such weak wines as are 
used at meal-times in the East. When they 
had come to the last of the wine-cups usually 
taken, Jesus proceeded to institute the Sacra- 
ment of His Supper, in the well-known words 
which implied that the drinking of the cup 
and eating of the bread was henceforth to be 
taken as an act commemorative of Him — the 
wine of His blood shed, and the bread of His 
body given up for the sins of the world. By 
this act, He in fact formally established a new 
religion, to be ratified by His outpoured blood 
and wounded body, of which ratification the 
wine and bread were to become the symbols. 



546 



A BEAUTIFUL DISCOURSE. 



After this, Jesus perceiving that the dis-| 
ciples were still very much distressed at what . 
lie had before said, confirmed as it was by ^ 
the solemn intimations of the rite which had 
been just established, proceeded to console | 
them in the beautiful discourse which occupies 
the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel, be- 
ginning " Let not your heart be troubled." In 
this He first consoles them by the considera- 
tion, that by going from them (that is, by His 
death and passion), mansions on high would 
be prepared for them ; but being interrupted 
by Thomas with a remark which showed that 
he was still thinking of an earthly palace, 
Jesus proceeded to explain that He was Him- 
self the way to this high heritage, and that 
only through faith could it be secured. 

The Heavenly Comforter. 

This faith they were to manifest by acts of 
obedience to what they had already heard 
from Him, or might hereafter be taught; a.id 
especially by obedience to His new command- 
ment of mutual love. Then, to excite them 
to the fulfilment of His commands, He added 
a new promise, that of a Helper. During 
His stay among them, their weakness and 
faithlessness had been so great, that they had 
never been able to dispense with Him as a 
stay and support ; and now that He was about 
to leave them, " another Comforter " would 
come to them, from Him and from the Father, 
" even the Spirit of Truth," by whom they 
should be guided aright, and be taught much 
which had hitherto been purposely left ob- 
scure and unexplained. 

Jesus then arose as if to depart, saying, 
" Arise, let us go hence ; " but the importance 
of these last precious moments, and His love 
to I lis disciples, constrained Him, and He sat 
down again. That He abides with them al- 
though He departs, then became the theme 
of His discourse; and He warned them that 
adhesion to Him in faith, and to each other 
in brotherly love, was the only way in which 
they could prosper. That this might be the 
better understood, He employed a similitude 
derived from a well-known object, namely, a 



vine and its branches — which has suggested 
to some the probability that the tendrils of a 
vine had climbed up the wall and grown in 
through 'die window of the room in which 
they were sitting. 

Tlie Cross and Crown. 

He then proceeded to explain that it was 
not for them to expect prosperity and enjoy- 
ment in this life. Far otherwise : He warned 
them that many calamities, trials, and persecu- 
tions awaited them, arising from the world's 
hatred of those principles which it would be 
their privilege and duty to promulgate. Being 
thus forewarned, they would know, when 
these things befel them, that the high purpose 
of God was not frustrated by the sufferings to 
which they were exposed, but accomplished ; 
and that they did not come to them merely 
as unforeseen misfortunes and accidents. 

Jesus had now spoken a long time, and 
He at length wished for some reply, to the 
end that He might, as His custom was, add 
thereupon new instructions. But perceiving 
the disciples around Him in silence, surrender- 
ing themselves up in sorrow at the idea of 
that separation which He had brought so dis- 
tinctly before them, He proceeded to animate 
and encourage them by bringing before their 
minds once more the great consequences 
which would follow His departure, especially 
as regarded the manifestation of the Comforter, 
and the high teachings, powers, and succors 
which He would impart. He added that 
although He was Himself to be taken from 
them, it was but to the end that He might 
soon, in a more perfect and glorious manner, 
be restored to them. Much of what He said 
to them on this point they appear not then 
to have understood; and perceiving this, 
Christ admitted that He had often spoken to 
them in such sayings, but the time was near 
at hand in which all things would be made 
plain to them. 

An Impressive Prayer. 

The hour of His passion was drawing on 
now with rapid pace, and Jesus, having before 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



547 



His eyes a distinct perception of the depress- 
ing influence which it would exercise upon the 
disciples, proceeded to offer up on their behalf 
the earnest and beautiful prayer contained 
in the seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel. 
Nor was it for them only, for in this most im- 
pressive and comprehensive address He con- 
templated with satisfaction His almost finished 
work : — " I have glorified Thee on earth ; I 
have finished the work which Thou gavest 
Me to do." He then prayed for the disciples, 
" those whom He had chosen out of the 
world ; " and for the Church to be formed 
through their teaching. 

Not unworthy of remark are the words of 
Tholuck, who, in reference to this striking ad- 
dress, states : " Before the happy Spener left 
the world, he caused this address to be read 
to him three times. ' In which we are to 
suppose,' says his biographer, ' that he loved 
this chapter with a peculiar affection, though 
he was never willing to preach on it, with the 
protestation that he did not understand it, 
and that a correct understanding of the same 
transcended the measure of faith which the 
Lord is accustomed to communicate to his 
followers in their pilgrimage.' " 

In describing this marvelous exhibition of 
Christ's love to His disciples, Keble refers to 
the touching story of Andromache in Homer's 
"Iliad," and then finely depicts the Saviour's 
ardent passion : 

" Father to me thou art and mother dear, 

And brother too, kind husband of my heart " — 

So speaks Andromache in boding fear, 

Ere from her last embrace her hero part — 

So evermore, by faith's undying glow, 

We own the Crucified in weal or woe. 

Strange to our ears the church-bells of our home, 

The fragrance of our old paternal fields 
May be forgotten ; and the time may come 

When the babe's kiss no sense of pleasure yields 
Even to the doting mother ; but Thine own 
Thou never canst forget or leave alone. 

We are as much His care, as if beside 

Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth ; 

Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide 
To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth ; 



They shine and shine with unexhausted store — 
Thou art thy Saviour's darling — seek no more. 

Ye vaulted cells where martyred seers of old 

Far in the rocky wails of Sion sleep, 
Green terraces and arched fountains cold, 

Where lies the cypress shade so still and deep, 
Dear sacred haunts of glory and of woe, 
Help us, one hour, to trace His musings high and low : 

One heart-ennobling hour ! It may not be. 

Th' unearthly thoughts have passed from earth away, 
And fast as evening sunbeams from the sea < 

Thy footsteps all in Sion's deep decay 
Were blotted from the holy ground ; yet dear 
Is every stone of hers; for Thou wast surely here. 

There is a spot within this sacred dale 

That felt Thee kneeling — touched thy prostrate brow: 
One angel knows it. O might prayer avail 

To win that knowledge ! sure each holy vow 
Less quickly from th' unstable soul would fade, 
Offered where Christ in agony was laid. 

Might tear of ours once mingle with the blood 
That from His aching brow by moonlight fell, 

Over the mournful joy our thoughts would brood, 
Till they had framed within a guardian spell 

To chase repining fancies, as they rise, 

Like birds of evil wing, to mar our sacrifice. 

So dreams the heart self-flattering, fondly dreams; — 
Else wherefore, when the bitter waves o'erflow, 

Miss we the light, Gethsemane, that streams 

From thy dear name, where in His page of woe 

It shines, a pale kind star in winter's sky? 

Who vainly reads it there, in vain had seen Him die. 

Jesus at length went forth from the house, 
and proceeded across the valley of the Kidron 
to a garden near the foot of the Mount of 
Olives. The garden was called Gethsemane, 
which name it derived from the oil-presses 
which were or had been there. Arrived in 
this place, Jesus desired the apostles to re- 
main, while He Himself retired to some dis- 
tance, attended only by His favored disciples, 
Peter, James, and John. Then " He began to 
be sorrowful and very heavy ; " and turning to 
His disciples, who now- witnessed the deep 
distress of Him whom they had seen glorified 
on the Mount of Transfiguration, He declared 
to them His anguish, and desired them to 
tarry there in watchfulness and prayer, while 
He withdrew to a more retired part of the 



548 



JESUS BETRAYED. 



garden, about a stone's-throw distance from 
them. 

Here He underwent that terrible and mys- 
terious agony of soul which made Him cry, 
" O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me;" but He humbly added, 
"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou 
wilt." He then rose and went over to the 
three disciples, and found them all asleep. 
He chid them gently, " What, could ye not 
watch with Me one hour?" but kindly ad- 
mitted that in them the spirit indeed was will- 
ing, though the flesh was weak. 

Agony in the Garden. 

He then returned to the place he had quitted, 
and again poured out the anguish of his soul 
before God : — " O, my Father, if this cup may 
not pass from Me without My drinking it, Thy 
will be done." Returning to His disciples, He 
found them again asleep; and, after rousing 
them, went back again to the former place. 
This time His agony became more intense, and 
his prayer more fervent; so dreadful were His 
sufferings, that, " as He prayed, His sweat was 
as it were great drops of blood falling down to 
the ground," although He was then in the open 
air, and in the cool of the night. Then, in that 
awful moment, there appeared an angel from 
heaven standing near Him in a visible form, 
strengthening Him by that sensible token of 
the Father's favor, and suggesting such holy 
consolations as were suitable to animate His 
soul in such a struggle. 

Rising after this dreadful mental conflict, 
Jesus repaired once more to His disciples, and 
found them again "sleeping for sorrow." 
Knowing that His enemies had already en- 
tered the garden, He said, " Sleep on now and 
take your rest; behold, the hour is come, and 
the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of 
sinners." This roused them effectually: but 
they had scarcely risen to their feet when a 
band of armed men appeared with lanterns and 
torches, sent by the Sanhedrin to apprehend 
Him. They were led on by Judas, who was 
well acquainted with this favorite resort of His 
Master, and had given them the token that the 



man whom they should see him kiss was the 
one they were to apprehend. 

Accordingly the traitor went up straight to 
Jesus, saying, "Hail, Master!" and kissed 
Him. Jesus said, "Judas, betrayest thou the 
Son of man with a kiss?" and, immediately 
advancing to the armed men, asked them, 
"Whom seek ye?" With that misgiving 
which accompanies an evil conscience, asso- 
ciated in their case with a vague impression of 
the dignity of the person they came to seize, 
they answered, " Jesus of Nazareth." He an- 
swered, "I am He;" on which the Divinity 
flashed through their darkened consciences, 
which had been already roused, and they fell 
to the ground. 

The abettors, meanwhile, as is customary in 
such cases, seeing that those to whom the affair 
was properly intrusted did not immediately 
press forward, seem themselves to have laid 
hands upon Jesus. Enraged at this, the ever 
ardent Peter drew his sword, and the stroke 
which he gave with it cut off the right ear of 
one of the most forward of the number, a 
servant of the high-priest, named Malchus. 
On this Jesus commanded him to sheathe his 
sword, saying, " The cup which my Father 
hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" He 
then put forth His hand and healed the wound 
of His bitterest assailant, thus affording a 
splendid example of that return of good for 
evil which He so constantly enjoined. 

The House of the High-Priest. 

When the immediate impression upon the 
minds of the band by the Divinity in Jesus 
had passed away, and when they had once 
more succeeded in silencing the voice of con- 
science, they seized the Saviour, and led Him 
back to the city, to the house of the high-priest, 
in which a sufficient number of the Sanhe- 
drin had already assembled for the occasion. 
This was illegal, as the law then in operation 
is known to have enjoined that all judicial 
proceedings before that body should take 
place in the day-time, and in the usual hall of 
assembly. 

When the apostles saw that Jesus was led 




(549) 



550 



CHARGED WITH BLASPHEMY. 



away by his enemies, they dispersed in differ- 
ent directions, as Christ had foretold, appre- 
hensive of being involved in His peril. Peter 
and John, however, followed at a distance, 
and, after a brief interval, the latter, who was 
personally known at the house of the high- 
priest, applied for admittance, and was allowed 
by the portress to enter. Knowing that Peter 
was outisde, John then sought admission for 
him, and obtained it. 

The woman who kept the gate, seeing him 
with John, concluded that he also was a dis- 
ciple of Christ, and made a remark to that 
effect. She seems to have done so without 
any particular meaning or ill intention, but 
Peter, being thoroughly alarmed, denied the 
charge with some vehemence. On entering 
the court they found themselves in front of the 
public-room, or hall of audience, open in front 
where sat the Sanhcdrin, before which Jesus 
then stood. The apostles remained in the 
court, and joined the party of officers of the 
high-priest and others, who were gathered 
round a fire which they had kindled in the 
open air; for although at the time of the Pass- 
over the days were warm in Judaea, the nights 
were cool. They thus became witnesses of the 
transactions which then took place. 

False Witnesses. 

The high-priest at first attempted to draw 
from Christ such admissions as would afford 
easy ground for proceedings against Him. 
But Jesus, knowing that the high-priest had 
predetermined to condemn Him, and that His 
answers were only sought as a ground and 
support to that determination, appealed to 
His public teachings, and declined to give any 
specific response toan examination soinvidious. 

Failing in the design of condemning Him 
from His own mouth, false witnesses were 
produced against Him, whose testimony was, 
however, found to be of little importance, till 
two of them avowed that they heard Him say 
that He was able to overthrow the Temple of 
God, and in three days rear it up again. This 
was, according to existing views, an accusation 
of blasphemy against God, conformably with 



which the religious tribunals of the Jews could' 
lawfully condemn Him. It was, therefore,, 
eagerly taken hold of, and He was asked if 
He admitted this charge. He was silent. 

The high-priest then asked Him plainly 
whether He was actually the Messiah. Christ, 
who knew his disposition, answered, " If I 
should tell you, you would not believe Me." 
But on being pressed for a definite answer, 
"Art Thou then the Messiah ? " He answered, 
" Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man in His 
glory at the right hand of God." They were 
incapable of understanding the expression of 
the Divine consciousness which was contained 
in this answer, but they understood it as con- 
veying the admission which they sought; and 
they, therefore, rent their clothes as at some 
horrid blasphemy, and, declaring that no 
further evidence was required, they hastened 
to procure His final condemnation from the 
Roman governor, by whom alone it could be 
granted. 

Peter's Denial. 

While these transactions were taking place, 
Peter, peceiving that he began to be eyed with 
suspicion by the party around the fire, with- 
drew towards the gate. Here he was again 
charged by the portress as being " one of 
them ; " which he again peremptorily denied, 
and then went back to the group around the 
fire. Here he was soon again accused of being 
one of the followers of Christ. One, a relative 
of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off, be- 
gan to recollect that he had seen him in the 
garden ; another alleged his Galilaean dialect 
as a proof of the fact. 

The fear of man prevailed. Peter again 
most solemnly denied that he knew " the man 
of whom they spoke," and while he was con- 
firming this protestation with many oaths, the 
crowing of the cock rang through the court 
and struck him dumb. At the same moment 
Jesus turned and looked upon Peter. That 
sorrowful look, so full of tender reproach, 
smote the apostle to the soul. He went out 
and wept bitterly. 

After He had been condemned by the high- 
priest, Jesus was exposed to the insults and 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



551 



maltreatment of the servants and officers while 
waiting till the morning should be far enough 
advanced to take Him before the Roman gov- 
ernor. He was buffeted and spit upon ; and 
they even went so far as to blindfold Him, and 
then to smite Him, asking, derisively, " Pro- 
phesy who is it that smote thee ? " "All 
which injuries might have been greater than 
His patience," remarks Jeremy Taylor, " had 
His patience been less than infinite." 

Remorse of Judas. 

When the wretched and mistaken traitor 
Judas, who had been anxiously watching the 
result of these proceedings, saw that Jesus was 
condemned— that His acknowledgment that 
He was the Messiah had not been attended 
with the expected effects — and that Christ 
Himself had not exerted the Divine powers 
which rested in Him for the maintenance of 
His claim — he was conscience-stricken and 
terrified at the part he had himself taken. 

He went forthwith to the council, and, cast- 
ing down the silver he had received, cried, "I 
have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent 
blood." But they dismissed him with the cool 
assurance that this was not their affair, but his; 
upon which the miserable man went away and 
hanged himself. The money which he had 
left with them could not be put into the treas- 
ury, because it was " the price of blood ; " and 
they therefore bought with it a field in the 
neighborhood of Jerusalem, called the Potter's 
Field, and set that field apart as aburying-place 
for strangers. 

Although the Jewish council had in fact 
condemned Jesus to death as a false prophet 
and a blasphemer, the sentence could not be 
carried into effect without being confirmed by 
the Roman procurator, the power of life and 
death having already been taken away from 
the Jewish tribunals. The procurator was al- 
ways present in Jerusalem with a strong force 
at the Passover, to repress any disturbances 
which might arise among the vast numbers of 
people whom this festival never failed to bring 
to the Holy City. The actual procurator was 
named Pontius Pilate, who had already held 



the office for six years, during which he had 
made himself so odious to the Jews by his 
venality, exactions and severities, that he be- 
gan to be alarmed lest they should forward 
complaints of his government to Rome, and 
thus bring him into disgrace with the Emperor 
Tiberius, who was known to be very attentive 
to complaints against the provincial governors. 
He was, therefore, at this time in a frame of 
mind not further to disoblige the Jewish au- 
thorities, but rather to take the line of con- 
duct which he supposed would give them pleas- 
ure. To this person Jesus was hurried away in 
the early morning, that his confirmation of the 
judgment passed by the Sanhedrin might be 
obtained. The public business was transacted 
in the Praetorium, which had formerly been 
Herod's palace, and to this place Christ was 
taken. The Jews could not enter the Praeto- 
rium, lest they should contract defilement in 
the house of a heathen ; and therefore Pilate 
caused his seat to be set in the Gabbatha, or 
Pavement, in front of the porch, where on 
such occasions he was wont to hear the mat- 
ters that were brought before him. 

Accused of Sedition. 

In order rather to determine the governor 
to confirm their sentence, the accusers sank 
as much as possible the religious point, which 
was uppermost in their own minds, and strove 
to give prominence and coloring to the po- 
litical aspect of the accusation, alleging that 
Christ wished to excite a tumult, and to es- 
tablish an earthly kingdom. Pilate had al- 
ready, without doubt, heard some things re- 
specting Jesus, for he would seem from the 
beginning to have formed a definite view with 
regard to Him, as being a well-meaning en- 
thusiast. 

Entertaining this view, and being well aware 
how prone the Jewish ecclesiastics were to 
act upon the impulses of private hatred, he 
commenced the proceedings by putting ques- 
tions with the view of ascertaining whether 
these fanatical persons had really just cause 
for condemning to death the man they had 
brought before him. The members of the 



552 



JESUS BEFORE PILATE. 



Sanhedrin, who had been accustomed to see 
the governor generally give a simple assent to 
their decisions, were obviously unprepared for 
any such investigation ; and they answered, 
somewhat impertinently, " If this fellow were 
not a malefactor, we would not have delivered 
Him up unto thee." 

Pilate, however, obviously considering that 
there was nothing in the case to bring it under 
his jurisdiction, told tliem to go and put in 
force the enactments of their own law against 
I lim — implying that he considered the punish- 
ment of scourging, or of expulsion from the 



sy 



nacronue. 



mite sufficient for the occasion. 



"Art Thou the Ivinar of the Jews? : 



Their quiet answer, " It is not lawful for us 
to put any man to death," gave him very 
plainly to understand that no less punishment 
would satisfy them. Then seeing clearly that 
Pilate, who had so often been compelled to 
listen to their religious disputes, would not 
take up the case on such grounds, they pressed 
more strongly the charge of treason against 
the Roman government, alleging that He had 
forbidden tribute to be paid to Caesar, saying, 
that " He Himself was Christ, a King." 

On hearing this, Pilate went into the porch, 
where Jesus stood in custody of the guard, 
and asked, " Art Thou the king of the Jews ? " 
To this Jesus, as if to ascertain the sense in 
which he asked the question, whether in the 
earthly sense which it must have had among 
the Romans, or in the higher spiritual sense 
which it had or should have had among the 
Jews, asked, " Sayest thou this of thyself, or 
did others tell thee of it?" Pilate answered 
with some heat, "Am I a Jew? Thine own 
nation and the chief priests have brought Thee 
unto me: what hast Thou done?" — which 
seems to imply that he desired his question to 
be understood in the sense which the term 
commonly bore among the Jews. 

Jesus then readily replied, that His kingdom 
was not of this world: adding, that He who 
had permitted Himself to be apprehended by 
His enemies, and brought before his tribunal 
without resistance, could have no political de- 



signs. Still desirous of adhering to a point 
which was necessary for a judicial opinion, 
without troubling himself with other matters, 
Pilate asked, " But dost Thou still claim to be 
a king ? " Jesus denied not that He was a King, 
but He guarded the admission by intimating 
that His kingdom was not earthly — its subjects 
being such as sought after and loved the 
truth. 

Pilate's Great Question. 

Pilate, with all the contempt of a superficial 
man of the world towards the higher objects 
of existence, exclaimed, "What is truth?" 
and, without waiting for an answer, went out to 
the accusers, confirmed in his first notion, that 
Christ was merely a well-meaning enthusiast, 
whom, as innocent of the designs laid to His 
charge, he felt some sympathy for, and wished 
to deliver from His malignant persecutors. 

He declared to the excited assembly that 
he could not find any crime in Him. On this 
the accusers vehemently answered that He 
had set the whole country in an uproar from 
Judaea even unto Galilee. The mention of 
Galilee, which was not in his jurisdiction, but 
under the notorious Herod Antipas, suggested 
to Pilate a means of getting rid of this affair 
— without, on the one hand, shedding innocent 
blood, or, on the other, offending the San- 
hedrin — by sending the prisoner to Herod, 
who was then in Jerusalem. The doubts 
which Herod entertained respecting Jesus 
have already been indicated. He was, there- 
fore, glad to have Him before him, in the hope 
of seeing some miracle performed by Him. 

But Jesus was not minded to use His high 
powers for the mere purpose of gratifying an 
idle curiosity. Not only so, but when He 
saw the empty and vain reasons of the world- 
ling before whom He stood, He remained 
silent while questioned by him. Provoked at 
the indignity which he fancied to be thus 
offered to him, the tetrarch abandoned Jesus 
to the scornful treatment of his soldiers. It 
was a matter of unconcern to him what fate 
befell Jesus of Nazareth. 

Clothed in a bright-colored robe, as a mark 
of contempt in regard to the Messianic dig- 




(553) 



554 



BARABBAS RELEASED. 



nity which He assumed, Herod sent Christ 
back again to the Roman governor. The 
latter, finding the case thus returned upon his 
hands, had again to contend with the embar- 
rassment between his fear of man and his dis- 
like to abandon a person so clearly innocent 
to His fate. One further alternative then oc- 
curred to his mind. It was a custom at this 
feast that the governor should set free a pris- 
oner; and there happened to be then in prison 
a notorious robber and murderer named Bar- 
abbas, whom he supposed the Jews would 
not willingly liberate. He' therefore proposed 
to them the choice between this man and " the 
king of the Jews," as he denominated Jesus. 

Jesus Scourged. 

The members of the Sanhedrin then present 
forthwith exerted themselves to induce the 
crowd to call for the release of Barabbas. It 
was at this stage of the proceedings that 
Pilate received a message from his wife, en- 
treating him to deal justly with the person 
now before him, on whose account she had 
been visited with painful dreams that night. 
This had some effect upon Pilate, but not 
enough to induce him to stem that strong 
current of popular clamor which, contrary to 
his expectation, was expressed in the loud cry 
of " Not this man, but Barabbas." 

Yet the governor was willing to try one 
last resource. He resolved to scourge Jesus, 
in the hope that this might suffice to appease 
the madness of the people ; and he had the 
more reason to hope this, as the Roman 
scourging was very far more severe than the 
flagellation in use among the Jews themselves. 
It was inflicted by a scourge of thongs twisted 
together; and sometimes, in order to increase 
the severity of the lash, small cubic pieces of 
bone were woven into it. It is described, by 
those who witnessed its effects, as lacerating 
the flesh, and laying bare the veins and 
arteries. 

To this terrible punishment was Christ sub- 
jected ; and the soldiery, not satisfied with 
inflicting the agonies of the scourge, but 
taking the hint from the treatment He had 



already received from Herod, proceeded to 
invest Him with the mock insignia of royalty. 
They set a diadem of sharp thorns upon His 
head, they placed in His hands a reed for a 
sceptre, and they cast over His bleeding 
shoulders a purple robe. Then they scorn- 
fully greeted Him with the salutation which 
was commonly bestowed upon the emperor, 
and smote Him with their rods upon the head, 
causing the thorny diadem to tear his sacred 
brows. At length Pilate bade them give over 
their cruel sport, and bring forth their prisoner 
to the people. Pilate preceded them, and said 
to the Sanhedrin, " I have brought Him forth 
that ye may know I find no fault in Him; 
and pointing to the pale and bleeding figure 
which then appeared arrayed in the robes of 
mockery, he cried, ' Behold the man ! ' " And 
were they not touched with compassion now? 
Was not their vengeance now satisfied? No; 
they no sooner saw Him than they cried with 
one voice, " Crucify Him ! crucify Him ! " 

Pilate Alarmed. 

Pilate seems to have been appalled at the 
mad fury which he witnessed ; and he told 
them to crucify Him themselves, for he would 
himself have no hand in an act so un- 
righteous. This, however, conveyed no formal 
permission ; and, accordingly, the Jews pro- 
ceeded to urge their demand for the death of 
Christ as a matter of right. At first they had 
not wished to found their accusation against 
Jesus upon His alleged violation of their re- 
ligious laws, concluding that they might bring 
the affair more quickly to a close by investing 
it with a political aspect. But when they saw 
that the governor did not take it up as they 
had expected, they reverted to their religious 
accusation. They cried, " We have a law, 
and by our law He ought to die, because He 
hath made Himself the Son of God." 

When Pilate heard this, he feared still more. 
He had already observed something extraor- 
dinary in the conduct of Christ ; and when to 
this was added the dream of his wife, a sort 
of shuddering apprehension came upon him, 
that there might possibly be something super- 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



555 



natural in this Jesus, and that He might be I hence the question was whether he claimed 
the son of some heathen god. He therefore I to derive His origin from heaven. Knowing 




CHRIST CARRYING HIS CROSS. John XIX. IJ. 

turned to Himand asked, "Whence art Thou?" I that a further discussion would be vain and 
He already knew He was from Galilee, and I idle, Jesus was silent. 



556 



LINGERING TORTURE. 



Thus left to his own impressions and pre- 
sentiments, which had become painful, the 
governor endeavored to compel an answer by 
threats. " Speakest Thou not to me ? Know- 
est Thou not that I have power to crucify 
Thee, and have power to release Thee ? " 
Perceiving the inward anguish which Pilate 
felt in his judgment concerning Him, Jesus 
strengthened this impression by awakening in 
him the consciousness of his dependence upon 
a higher power; but knowing far better than 
His judge the awful significance attached to 
his judgment upon the Son of God, He added 
that the great guilt contained in it attached 
less to him than to the accusers. The more 
this expression of Jesus showed that He was 
free from every feeling of personal hostility, 
the more heavily did His case press upon the 
mind of Pilate, and he wished with the more 
sincerity to be able to release him. He 
seems to have expressed himself to this effect 
to the people. 

" They Cried, Crucify Him ! " 

They were therefore full of fury at the pros- 
pect that their prey might be torn from them ; 
and delayed not to discharge the last arrow 
in their quiver ; and it was effectual. They 
had recourse to the means which they knew 
would work most effectually upon Pilate. 
"" If thou lettest this man go, thou art not 
Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself 
a king, speaketh against Caesar." Knowing 
how easy it was to awaken suspicion in the 
mind of the Emperor Tiberius against the 
governors of distant provinces, this expression 
was full of terror to Pilate, who was conscious 
of acts in his government which would not 
bear examination, if the Jews should be so 
far influenced against him as to denounce him 
to the emperor. Regard for his own personal 
safety prevailed over every higher considera- 
tion, and he sought to suppress the loud voice 
of conscience within. 

He ascended the judgment-scat, and, caus- 
ing Jesus once more to be led out before the 
palace, said sarcastically," Behold your king! " 
Then arose the rabid- cry of " Crucify Him ! 



crucify Him!" Rut Pilate asked, "Shall I 
crucify your king?" To which the Jews, 
who had in fact no desire more intense than 
to separate themselves from the Romans, 
answered by hypocritically pretending the ut- 
most attachment to them : " We have no 
king but Caesar." Still torn between the 
reproofs of his conscience and the fear of man, 
the governor sought to allay the former by 
calling for water, in which he washed his 
hands before the multitude, intending by this 
symbolical act to express that he wished to 
have no part in this unrighteous condemna- 
tion ; " I am innocent," he said, " of the blood 
of this righteous person : see ye to it." With 
one voice they answered, " His blood be on 
us and on our children ! " — a most fatal im- 
precation, and most dreadfully fulfilled upon 
them at the siege and destruction of Jeru- 
salem. 

The struggle was now over ; the deep 
malice of the many had prevailed, and the 
judge had abandoned Jesus to their rage, 
while believing Him to be innocent. The 
place of execution was near the city. In 
other cases it was not usual among the Jews 
to carry into effect sentences of execution 
immediately after they were pronounced ; but 
in this case the popular madness would suffer 
no procrastination. Having been condemned 
by the Roman tribunal, the execution itself 
took place after the Roman manner, and by 
the hands of Roman soldiers. Under the 
Jewish law the death would have been by 
stoning, but Jesus Himself had long before, 
predicted that the lingering torture of cruci- 
fixion was the death appointed for Him. 

Among the Romans it was common for the 
condemned to carry their own cross to the 
place of execution. Jesus carried His through 
the city itself; but having been exhausted by 
His previous sufferings, when He arrived at 
the gate the soldiers placed the cross upon a 
certain Jew of Cyrene, named Simon, who 
had probably manifested some sympathy for 
Christ, and who with his family was attached 
to Him. As the sad procession thus moved 
on. it was followed bv a lar^e number of 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



557 



people, particularly women, who, in the ful- 
ness of their sympathy, wept and lamented 
for Him greatly. Touched by their grief, the 
Saviour turned and said to them, " Daughters 
of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for 
yourselves and for your children! " which He 
said in reference to the calamities which, as 
He had already declared, were to befall the 
city and nation before that generation had 
passed away, and which were sadly fulfilled. 

The Cross and its Victim. 

On arriving at a place called Calvary, other- 
wise Golgotha (" skull-place "), the cross was 
planted in the earth. The form of the cross 
and the mode of execution upon it are too 
well, and in the main correctly, known from 
paintings to require particular description. It 
may suffice to mention that the cross consisted 
of a piece of wood erected perpendicularly, 
and intersected by another at right angles 
near the top, so as to resemble the letter T. 
There is no mention in ancient writers of 
anything on which the feet of the crucified 
person rested ; but near the middle of the 
perpendicular beam there projected a piece 
of wood, on which he partly sat, and which 
served as a support to the body, the weight of 
which might otherwise have torn the hands 
from the nails driven through them. 

The naked victim was first elevated to this 
small projection, and the hands were then tied 
with a rope to the transverse beam, and nailed 
through the palm. The feet were then nailed 
to the perpendicular beam, not, as some allege, 
by one nail through both feet, but by two 
nails or spikes being driven one through each 
foot. 

The Romans were in the habit of affixing 
to all criminals a roll containing a record of 
the crimes for which they were punished, 
which was by them denominated " tituius " 
(title). Pilate manifested his sarcastic con- 
tempt of the Jews by causing the title upon 
the cross of Jesus to bear the inscription of 
"Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," 
in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Sorely an- 
noyed at this, the Jews endeavored to get it 



altered to "Jesus of Nazareth, who said, I am 
the King of the Jews ; " but the governor 
seems to have found enjoyment in their mor- 
tification, and sent them away with the an- 
swer, " What I have written I have written." 

Those who were condemned to the cross 
were crucified naked ; and their clothes al- 
ways became the portion of the soldiers to 
whom the completion of the punishment was 
intrusted. It would appear that Christ's cruci- 
fixion was performed by four soldiers, and 
they divided His clothes among them ; but 
finding the outer garment woven of one piece,, 
and consequently without seam, they cast lots 
for the possession of it, thus unwittingly ful- 
filling a prophecy of David in one of the Mes- 
sianic Psalms : " They parted My raiment 
among them, and for My vesture they did 
cast lots." Thus history confirms prophecy. 

Devoted Women. 

Many Jewish women, who had attached 
themselves to Christ as His disciples, and had 
followed Him from Galilee, were now, in this 
hour of agony, assembled around the cross 
of their beloved Teacher. Among them were 
the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the 
sisters of Jesus's mother, the wife of Cleopas, 
and Salome, the mother of John the evangelist. 
Consideration of this last circumstance, the 
presence of John's own mother, will give an 
increased interest to the touching incident 
which followed. Although suffering under 
the burden of His own intense anguish, and 
borne down with the feeling of the guilt of 
sinful humanity, Jesus had still an affectionate 
remembrance of those whom He left behind. 
He perceived the presence of John, the dis- 
ciple who was honored with His special at- 
tachment, and, referring to His own mother, 
Mary, He said to him, " Behold thy mother;" 
which was as much as to say, Be a son to her,, 
even as to thine own mother now present. 
John understood Him, and from that hour 
made his house the home of the bereaved 
Mary. From the circumstance that we find 
John at Jerusalem a long time after the ascen- 
sion, it would seem that he had a dwelling in 



558 



JESUS PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES. 



that city ; and the fact that he alone was per- 
sonally known to the people connected with 
the high-priest, affords much corroboration to 
this conclusion. 

Christ was now upon the cross, undergoing 
«>nc of the severest deaths which the cruel in- 
genuities of men ever invented ; and surely 
now the malice of His enemies was satiated ? 
Scarcely so. Even on the cross He was ex- 
posed to their insults and mockeries. " They 
that passed by reviled Him, wagging their 
heads and saving, Thou that destroyest the 
temple, and buildest it in three days, save 
Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come 
down from the cross." The chief priests, with 
the scribes and elders, also repeated the bitter 
scoff at One who, after having delivered others, 
proved unable, as they supposed, to deliver 
Himself. " He saved others, Himself He can- 
not save." To all this, and even with regard 
to the sufferings and death to which they had 
brought Him, Jesus only answered, " Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do." 

The Two Thieves. 

Christ suffered not alone : two robbers were 
crucified, one on each side of Him. One of 
these two men, in the bitterness of his suffer- 
ings, railed at Him, saying, " If Thou be the 
Son of God, save Thyself — and us." But his 
companion rebuked him, by reminding him 
that they were suffering the just penalty of 
their transgressions, whereas Jesus had been 
convicted of no wrong-doing: and this man 
then said to Jesus, " Lord, remember me when 
Thou comest into Thy kingdom." The sense 
in which the man made this wish may be 
doubted ; but Christ was touched by it, and 
answered it in that sense by which the sup- 
pliant might best realize the benefit he desired: 
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt 
thou be with Me in Paradise!" We may be 
sure that, after that, this man's agonies fell 
lightly on him. What mattered the fleeting 
sufferings of noon, to one who, before the 
setting sun, was to taste the joys of Paradise ? 

By this time it was high noon, and nature 
refused any longer to withhold her dread 



sympathies — the sympathies which man de- 
nied. Darkness overspread the land from 

! that time till three o'clock, the ninth hour, 
when Christ cried out, " My God ! my God! 

' why hast Thou forsakem Me ? " 

The conflict was soon ended, and Jesus 
called for something to revive Him, in the 
words " I thirst;" which thirst has been shown 
to be the natural result of the manner in which 
this kind of capital punishment acted upon the 
physical system of those who underwent it. 
It was customary at the commencement of a 
crucifixion to offer spiced wine to those who 
were to be executed, for the purpose of stun- 
ning them and of deadening their sensibilities. 
This the soldiers had offered to Christ, but He 
refused it, as He desired to go through these 
last sufferings with a clear and perfect con- 
sciousness. The soldiers had afterwards, in 
contemptuous sport, offered Him sour wine to 
drink ; and now a Jew, hearing His words, 
raised a sponge dipped in vinegar, on a hys- 
sop stem, to His mouth. 

When Jesus had received this, He said, " It 
is finished ! " — the great work He came to do 
was accomplished ; the dread penalties which 
He had incurred had been paid — all was 
finished ; and " He bowed His head and gave 
up the ghost." 

Startling Phenomena. 

At that greatest event which had ever hap- 
pened in the world of spirits the irrepressible 
sympathies of nature were again manifested. 
The earth trembled. And now the curtain of 
rich tapestry, which in the Temple separated 
the sanctuary from the Temple wall, was rent 
in twain, signifying that, by the death of Christ, 
the human race were admitted to behold, with- 
out veil, the mysteries which had from the be- 
ginning of the world been hid with God. 

Among the Romans the bodies of the cruci- 
fied commonly hung upon the cross a con- 
siderable time, although in many cases they 
may have been given over to the friends of 
the deceased for the purpose of burial. But 
the Jewish law prescribed that criminals who 
were hanged up should be taken down on the 



560 



AN HONORABLE GRAVE. 



same day. It was in particular deemed highly 
improper that the corpse of a criminal should 
be exposed to the eye upon a feast-day ; and 
as, in this case, the Sabbath would commence 
at sunset, it became important that the bodies 
of those who had been crucified should be 
disposed of early. The soldiers, therefore, 
came to the crucified men in order to dispatch 
them, for it was not usual to find them dead 
so soon. The two robbers were still alive, 
and their legs were broken with heavy blows 
to end their lives. 

But when they came to Jesus for the same 
purpose, they found that He was already dead, 
and forbore. Thus in the true Lamb of God 
was accomplished a fact typified in the 
Paschal lamb, of which it was directed that 
" a bone of Him should not be broken." A 
soldier, however, either to assure himself that 
he was indeed dead, or to destroy Him in 
case there should still be life in Him, thrust 
his spear into His side. Blood and water 
flowed from the wound, which seems to be 
mentioned by the evangelist to show that He 
was already dead, and that if He had not been 
so, the wound would have sufficed to ext ; n- 
guish whatever remained of life. 

Burial in Joseph's Tomb. 

It now became an object of solicitude to the 
disciples of Jesus that the body of their Divine 
Master should not be treated with disrespect. 
Among these disciples were several persons 
of consideration and influence ; one of them, 
called Joseph, a native of the town of Arima- 
thea (supposed to be the present Ramleh). 
He was one of those Jews who, like old 
Simeon, " waited for the kingdom of God ; " 
and hence had a living desire for the com- 
mencement of the Messianic period, and had 
already enrolled himself among the disciples 
of Jesus. 

He was a member of the Sanhedrin, and, 
as we may be sure, one of those who, as else- 
where mentioned, had opposed the madness 
of that assembly. His rank among the Jews 
assured him attention from Pilate, to whom 
he forthwith applied that the body might be 



given up to him. Notwithstanding the hours 
which had passed since the commencement 
of the crucifixion, Pilate manifested some 
surprise at hearing that Jesus was already 
dead, and sent for the centurion who had 
charge of the execution to assure himself of 
the fact. He then freely placed the corpse at 
the disposal of Joseph, without requiring the 
money which the greedy Roman governors, 
usually exacted for such a favor. 

As the Jews were very anxious in matters 
of sepulture, and desired beyond most things 
an honorable grave for those they loved, this 
concession must have been regarded with 
great triumph by Joseph and the other friends 
of himself and of the crucified Saviour, who 
awaited the result of his application. Among 
these was Nicodemus, another member of the 
Sanhedrin, and the same who had come to 
Jesus by night at the commencement of his 
ministry. 

He had provided a large quantity — not less 
than a hundred pounds weight — of myrrh and 
aloes ; costly articles, in which the body 
might be laid, and which evinces at once the 
wealth of Nicodemus and his veneration for 
Christ. The body was then taken down from 
the cross and wrapped up in linen clothes with 
the spices ; and as the time was but short, 
they hastened, without completing the opera- 
tions usually observed on such occasions, to 
lay the corps in the new sepulchre, hewn in a 
rock, which Joseph had prepared for himself 
in a garden belonging to him, which was 
hard by the place of crucifixion. 

The Sepulchre Guarded. 

The body of Jesus being thus decently and 
even honorably deposited in the sepulchre, 
His enemies, the priests and Pharisees, finding 
that the corpse had been given up to His 
friends, called to mind the words of Christ 
concerning his rising from the dead : and in 
fear of the consequences which might ensue, 
they repaired to Pilate, requesting him to set 
a guard over the sepulchre to prevent the 
disciples from stealing away the body, and 
afterwards saying that their Lord had risen 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



561 



from the dead ; " which last error," they said, 
" would be worse than the first." Pilate told 
them that they had a military guard at their 
disposal, and that they might, if they pleased, 
employ it on that service. 

The sepulchre being thus given up to their 
custody, they sealed up the door, that they 
might know if it had been opened ; they then 
rolled a large stone to the entrance to render 
the opening difficult ; and, to crown all, a guard 
of soldiers was set to watch and keep the sep- 
ulchre. Thus it was providentially ordered 
that the custody of the tomb should be in the 
hands of the bitterest enemies of Christ, who 
had brought Him to an ignominious death, to 
render it impossible that they, or any doubters 
after them, should, with any show of reason, 
be able to allege that deception had been prac- 
tised by the friends of Jesus. 

The Sabbath passed with the usual ob- 
servances, and then came the first day of the 
week, when the faithful disciples of Jesus could 
finish the decent observances towards the body, 
which on the Friday evening they had been 
constrained to leave incomplete. Many dis- 
ciples were waiting for the morning, that they 
might hasten to the tomb ; but, as usual in all 
cases where the finer, feelings and inner senti- 
ments are engaged, the women were foremost 
in their attentions and their cares. 

" Love," says good Bishop Hall, "is restless 
and fearless. In the dark of night these good 
women go to buy their spices, and ere the day 
break are gone from their own houses towards 
the tomb of Christ to bestow them. This sex 
is commonly fearful : it was much for them to 
walk alone in that unsafe season ; yet, as de- 
spising all fears and dangers, they thus spent 
the night after their Sabbath. Might they 
have been allowed to buy their perfumes on 
the Sabbath, or to have visited that holy tomb 
sooner, can we think they would have stayed 
so long ? Can we suppose that they would 
have cared more for the Sabbath than for the 
4 Lord of the Sabbath,' who now keeps His 
Sabbath in the grave ? Sooner they could 
not come, later they would not, to present 
their last homage to their dead Saviour." 

36 



On the way to the garden, they talked of the 
difficulty of getting access to the tomb, on ac- 
count of the stone at its mouth, which was far 
too great for their united strength to move. 

The lively sorrow of Mary Magdalene led 
her, as they approached the sepulchre, to hurry 
on before the other women. She saw the 
great stone which had been placed at the 
mouth of the cave rolled aside and the tomb 
open. Terrified at the sight, she hastened 
away to impart the tidings to the male dis- 
ciples of Jesus. When the other women drew 
nigh, they also were astonished to find that 
the sepulchre was open. Tremblingly they 
saw at once that the body had disappeared. 

The White Messenger. 

Much were they alarmed at this, and not 
less alarmed to perceive an angelic youth, 
vested all in white, who was seated on the 
right side of the tomb. On seeing him, they 
bowed their faces to the earth ; and the angel 
said to them, " Be not affrighted : for I know 
that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. Why 
seek ye the living among the dead ? He is 
not here, but is risen." He also reminded 
them how distinctly this had been foretold by 
Jesus Himself; and after showing them the 
place where the Lord had lain, he enjoined 
them to go and declare these matters to Peter 
and the other disciples. They then hastened 
from the sepulchre " trembling and amazed," 
and hurried, with feet winged by joy, back to 
the city with their glad tidings. 

And how had all these things come to pass, 
and what had become of the guard appointed 
to watch the tomb ? There had been, at the 
first dawn of that morning, a great earthquake, 
in the midst of which the keepers of the tomb 
beheld an angel descend from heaven and roll 
back the stone from the door and seat himself 
thereon. " His countenance was like light- 
ning, and his raiment white as snow; and 
through fear of him the keepers did shake and 
become as dead men." 

When they had sufficiently recovered, they 
sped away to the chief priests and rendered an 
account of what they had seen. This at first 



562 



FIRST AT THE SEPULCHRE. 



confounded them ; but a council having been 
called, it was concluded to give money to the 
soldiers to induce them to say that the dis- 
ciples of Jesus had come and taken away the 
body of their Lord while they were asleep. 



proceeding to the sepulchre. She, not having 
heard the communication of the angel to the 
other women, or indeed having seen the angel, 
eagerly stated what she herself inferred from 
the stone being rolled away and the door being 




THE ANGEL AT THE TOMB. Mark Xvi 



This was accordingly the story which they 
thenceforth promulgated, and which, the evan- 
gelist states, was " commonly reported among 
the Jews unto this day." Thus they would 
account for His disappearance. 

Meanwhile Mary Magdalene in her way to 
the city met with Peter and John, who were 



open : " They have taken away the Lord out 
of the sepulchre, and we know not where they 
have laid Him," the answer indicating her dis- 
appointment and grief. 

Cn hearing this, both the disciples began to 
run off to the sepulchre; and the enthusiasm 
of the " disciples whom Jesus loved" urged 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



563 



him on, so that he outran Peter and arrived 
first at the tomb. Stooping down at the en- 
trance, he perceived that the body of Jesus 
was indeed absent, and that the grave-clothes 
in which He had been wrapped were left 
behind ; but he went not into the tomb, being 
perhaps overcome by a natural aversion, or 
being unwilling to incur without reason the 
seven days' uncleanness which entrance into a 
tomb involved. 

By this time Peter also had come up, and 
being desirous of more exact information, went 
at once into the tomb, where he perceived that 
the napkin which had enveloped the head was 
not lying with the other linen clothes, but lay 
wrapped up by itself. On reporting this fact 
to his companion, John also went in to assure 
himself of it. From the importance attached 
to this circumstance, it would appear that they 
gathered from it that the body had not been 
stolen away. Had this been the case, the rob- 
bers would not first have carefully taken off the 
bandages, and have placed each one in a par- 
ticular place ; and hence it was natural for 
them to infer that He had risen from the dead. 
They therefore hastened away to impart these 
tidings to the other apostles. 

Two White-Robed Angels. 

Mary Magdalene, who had turned back with 
them to the sepulchre, remained behind after 
they had departed. She had not been aware 
■of this new evidence, perhaps from not having 
arrived at the garden till Peter and John had 
gone away ; or being aware of it, she had not 
drawn from it the same conviction which it 
brought to them. Full of anxious solicitude, 
Mary looked once more into the sepulchre, 
and beheld two angels in white, sitting the one 
at the head and the other at the feet where the 
body of Jesus had lain. 

They said to her, " Woman, why weepest 
thou ?" In the simplicity of her heart, she 
told them in plain words the cause of her 
grief, without immediately thinking on super- 
natural aid. " They have taken away my 
Lord," she said, " and I know not where they 
have laid him." When she had said this, a 



voice close behind her asked, " Whom seekest 
thou ?" Taking the person who thus accosted 
her to be the gardener, and only half turning to 
him, she said in her usual simple and childlike 
manner, without any transport of fancy — "Sir, 
if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where 
thou has laid Him, and I will take Him away." 
On this the person to whom she had been 
speaking pronounced her name, " Mary ! " in 
that dear and well-remembered voice, whose 
accents had more than once brought peace to 
her soul. On hearing it, she responded, 
" Rabboni ! " and turning quickly round, fell 
at the feet of her risen Lord. Imagining that 
she now beheld Him in His higher being, she 
would have rendered Him such homage as 
He had never yet received on earth ; but He 
prevented her by intimating that his glorification 
was still future : " Touch Me not, for I am not 
yet ascended to my Father." 

The Walk to Emmaus. 

He then sent her away to impart the fact of 
His resurrection to the apostles, and make 
known to them that He intended to meet them 
in Galilee. This was the same commission 
which the other women had received from the 
angel, and they were earlier than Mary in their 
intelligence. The disciples received their ac- 
count with a kind of doubting confidence; 
some believed less and some more ; but as a 
body they were left in a state of mind to re- 
quire further evidence of a fact so strange and 
unexampled. 

The same evening, two men who had been 
disciples of Jesus and whom many suppose to 
have been among the seventy, were returning 
to Emmaus, where they lived, from Jerusalem, 
where they had probably been attending the 
Passover. Emmaus was a small village dis- 
tant about eight miles north-west of Jerusalem. 
On the way they were talking earnestly of the 
circumstances attending the death of Christ, 
and of the strange report which the women 
who went into the sepulchre had that morning 
brought to the disciples. 

These men, after the death of Christ, seem 
I no longer to have regarded Him as the Mes- 



564 



JESUS REAPPEARS. 



siah ; nor had they any faith in the accounts ibility, and hesitating to give credence to them, 
given by the women, though their minds had | since the disciples had not themselves seen 




he is risen.'' — Mark xvi. 6. 



been so far struck with those accounts, that I Jesus. As they were thus communing together, 
they were, it seems, discussing their proba- 1 they were joined by a stranger, who entered 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



565 



into conversation with them. This was Jesus 
Himself But, probably through Divine in- 
fluence in connection with the difference in his 
dress and the absence of any expectation of 
such a circumstance, He was not recognized 
by them. 

He asked them, " What manner of com- 
munications are these which ye have one to 
another as ye walk, and are sad ? " In an- 
swer they expressed their surprise that any 
one coming from Jerusalem could be ignorant 
of things which had for some days been the 
common talk of the Holy City. Jesus still 
asked, "What things?" Then they briefly 
recited how that Jesus of Nazareth, " a prophet 
mighty in word and deed before God and all 
the people, had been delivered unto death by 
the chief priests and rulers;" and this put an 
end to the hopes which they and many others 
had cherished, for they had, they said, trusted 
that " this was He who should have delivered 
Israel." 

And besides this, some of their women had 
thrown them into amazement by asserting 
what seemed incredible — that they had been 
told by angels that Jesus was still alive. 
Then Christ broke forth, "O misjudging! and 
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suf- 
fered these things, and to enter into His 
glory ? " Then beginning at Moses, and so 
down through all the prophets, He opened to 
them the Scriptures concerning Himself, show- 
ing how the ancient purposes of God had 
been accomplished, and salvation brought to 
mankind by those very things which appeared 
to them so mysterious and dark. 

A Joyful Revelation. 

By the time He had ended His discourse, 
the party had arrived near Emmaus, when 
perceiving that the instructive companion of 
their walk made a motion as if intending to 
proceed farther, they urged Him to accom- 
pany them to their home in the village, and 
remain with them for the night, as the day 
■was drawing towards its close. He yielded 
to their friendly importunities, and went. 



What further passed until supper-time we 
know not; but at that meal the peculiar 
manner in which Jesus took and blessed the 
bread, and gave it to them — which besides 
was an unusual thing for a guest to do — re- 
vealed Him to their knowledge. But before 
they could express their delight or reverence, 
He disappeared from their view. 

On this, although it was night, they girded 
up their loins and hastened back to Jerusalem, 
to make known to the apostles that the Lord 
had indeed risen. On the way they had new 
and higher matter for discourse, and they said 
to each other, " Did not our hearts burn within 
us while He talked with us by the way, and 
opened to us the Scriptures?" On their 
arrival at Jerusalem, they found the apostles 
and chosen disciples of Christ assembled to- 
gether, and already well assured, from the 
evidence of Peter, that their Lord had risen 
from the dead. 

A Gracious Blessing-. 

While they were talking of these matters, 
Jesus Himself appeared unexpectedly and 
suddenly among them, and saluted them in 
His usual manner — "Peace be unto you!" 
They were at first terrified at His appearance; 
for although they believed He was risen, the 
first appearance of one who had been dead, 
and had lain in the grave, suggested to their 
imagination the idea of a disembodied spirit. 
To disabuse them of this impression, He 
called their attention to the scars which the 
nails had left upon His hands and feet ; and 
to feel that He still possessed a material body. 

The apostle Thomas was not present at the 
time, and when told by the others that they 
had seen the Lord, he immediately expressed 
a strong doubt of the fact. They assured him 
that they had seen the marks of His wounds ; 
and he then declared that he must not only 
see, but put his finger into the prints of the 
nails, and his hand into the wounded side, 
before he could believe. Eight days after, 
Jesus again appeared to the disciples, when 
Thomas was among them. He addressed 
himself directly to the incredulous apostle^ 



566 



TOILING AND CATCHING NOTHING. 



saying, " Reach hither thy finger, and behold 
My hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and 
thrust it into My side : and be not faithless, 
but believing." On this the rebuked apostle 
was seized with a full and overflowing feeling 
of the supernatural in the fact which his cool 
mind had been disposed to distrust, and with 
intense acknowledgment he exclaimed, " My 
Lord, and my God ! " 

After this, the apostles, who were all of 
Galilee, returned to their own province and to 
their friends, because Jesus had told them 
beforehand that they might there expect to 
hold further intercourse with Him. 

The apostles at once returned to their 
usual occupations ; which does not, however, 
imply that they had abandoned the expecta- 
tion of being employed in preaching the doc- 
trine of Christ, since among the Jews the 
office of a teacher seldom excluded the prose- 
cution of some trade, but, on the contrary, the 
two were frequently combined. Seven of the 
disciples, all fishermen, were by the lake of 
Tiberias, and launched forth one evening to 
catch fish. They toiled all the night, and 
caught nothing. 

Jesus on the Shore of Galilee. 

When the morning broke, Jesus stood upon 
the shore, but in the dusk of the morning the 
fishermen knew not their Master. He called 
to them, to ask if they had any fish. They 
still knew Him not by His voice, but probably 
supposed Him one who wished to purchase 
fish. They answered that they had none ; on 
which He told them to cast their nets in on 
the right side of the ship, and they would find 
enough. Supposing that He might from the 
shore have observed something which led 
Him to conclude that there were fish in that 
place, they followed the directions of the sup- 
posed stranger, and then they were unable to 
draw the net, from the multitude of fishes 
which it enclosed. 

This miraculous draught immediately sug- 
gested to John that the stranger upon the 
shore was no other than Christ, and he men- 
tioned this to Peter, who no sooner heard it 



than he cast himself into the sea and swam to 
the land. The others came in their boat, 
dragging after them the net, which contained 
not fewer than one hundred and fifty large 
fishes, and, although there were so many, the 
net was not broken. On landing, the disciples 
found a fire already kindled, with fish broiling 
thereon, with bread provided for their refresh- 
ment, and after some of the fish just caught 
had been added, Jesus said unto them, " Come 
and dine," an invitation at once accepted. 

Peter Questioned. 

After He had assured their minds, by this 
act of confidential intercourse, Christ ad- 
dressed Himself in a very pointed manner to 
Peter, who must be supposed in a peculiar 
state of mind with reference to the recent denial 
of his Lord, and asked him whether he now, 
according to his former declaration, loved 
Him with more entire devotedness than others, 
in the words, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou Me more than these ? " Peter dared not 
again make a bold promise. He mistrusted 
his own knowledge of himself, and answered 
only by a touching appeal to the conscious- 
ness of Christ — " Yea, Lord, thou knowest 
that I love thee." 

Then Christ called upon him to prove his 
words by his actions, in the emphatic words, 
"Feed my lambs!" After a while Jesus 
repeated the question, and having received the 
same answer, charged him — " Feed my sheep." 
Once more he pronounced the question ; and 
although Peter was distressed at the doubt 
implied in the repetition of the question, the 
feeling of inward attachment was now so strong 
within him that he appealed with entire con- 
fidence to the high knowledge of the heart 
which his Divine Master possessed : " Lord, 
Thou knowest all things ; Thou knowest that 
I love Thee." To this Christ repeated the 
same significant charge; and then at once 
proceeded to apprise Him, in language not to 
be mistaken, of the testimony of love to Christ 
which would thereafter, in his old age, be re- 
quired from him, by the violent death which 
he would then be called upon to suffer. 



CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



567 



John, who had always been present at con- 
fidential conversations, also joined them here. 
Peter, actuated more by idle curiosity than by 
real solicitude for John, was led by this to ask 
what was to be his future lot ; but Jesus, who 
in His answers had always regard to the moral 
condition of the questioner, answered evasively: 
"If I will that he tarry till I come, what is 
that to thee ? Follow thou Me." This doubt- 
less refers to the time of the destruction of the 
Hebrew polity and Temple, which John sur- 
vived ; but some were led to conceive by this 
that the beloved disciple would never die, and 
the curious inquirer into ecclesiastical history 
meets with many traces of this opinion. 

" Sick o- healthful, slave or free, 
Wealthy, or despised and poor — 
What is that to him or thee 

So his love to Christ endure? 
When the shore is won at last, 
Who will count the billows past? " 

The Great Commission. 

Forty days after the Passover came the 
feast of Pentecost ; and some days before this 
the disciples returned to Jerusalem to cele- 
brate the feast. There they were again met 
by Jesus, who gave them His last and most 
important charge, enjoining them to remain at 
Jerusalem till they were gifted with powers 
from on high, after which they were to go 
abroad among the nations, " preaching the 
Gospel to every creature." 

He then led them forth to the Mount of 
Olives as far as Bethany, where He lifted up 
His hands to bestow on them His last solemn 
blessing; and while His hands were still out- 
spread as in the act of blessing, He arose 
gradually from among them, and disappeared 
in the heavens — " where he sitteth on the 
right hand of God." The disciples then 
returned with joyful hearts to Jerusalem, 
where they were constantly in the Temple 
praising and blessing God. 

The graphic lines of Alexander Pope, com- 
memorating the sublime scenes in the life of 
Christ, which were antecedent to His peaceful, 
beneficent reign on earth, mav well close this 



description of the most momentous events in 
the world's history : 

From Jesse's root behold a branch arise, 

Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies : 

The ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move, 

And on its lop descends the mystic dove. 

Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour, 

And in soft silence shed the kindly shower! 

The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, 

From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. 

All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail; 

Returning justice lift aloft her scale; 

Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, 

And white-robed innocence from heaven descend. 

Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn! 
Oh spring of light, auspicious Babe, be born ! 
See nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring, 
With all the incense of the breathing spring: 
See lofty Lebanon his head advance, 
See nodding forests on the mountains dance : 
See spicy clouds from lowly Saion rise, 
And CarmePs flowery top perfumes the skies! 
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers; 
Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears : 
A God, a God ! the vocal hills reply, 
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity. 

Lo, earth receives Him from the bending skies! 
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rise; 
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay ; 
Be smooth, ye rocks : ye rapid floods, give way; 
The Saviour comes ! by ancient bards foretold! 
Hear him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold ! 
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, 
And on the sightless eyeball pour the day : 
'Tis He the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, 
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear; 
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, 
And leap exulting like the bounding roe. 
No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, 
From every face He wipes off every tear. 
In adamantine chains shall death be bound, 
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound. 

As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, 
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, 
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, 
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects, 
The tender lambs he raises in his arms, 
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms; 
Thus shall mankind His guardian care engage, 
The promised Father of the future age. 

No more shall nation against nation rise, 
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, 



568 



SALEM'S GLORY. 



Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er, 
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more ; 
But useless lances into scythes shall bend, 
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. 
Then palaces shall rise; t+ie joyful son 
Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun ; 
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, 
And the same hand that sowed shall reap the field. 
The swain, in barren deserts with surprise 
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise ; 
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear 
New falls of water murmuring in his ear. 
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, 
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods. 
A'aste sandy valleys, once perplexed with thorn, 
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn ; 
To leafless shrub, the flowering palms succeed, 
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed. 

The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, 

And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead; 

The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, 

And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet. 

The smiling infant in his hand shall take 

The crested basilisk and speckled snake, 

Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey, 



And with their forky tongue shall innocently play. 

Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise! 

Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes ! 

See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn ; 

See future sons, and daughters yet unborn, 

In crowding ranks on every side arise, 

Demanding life, impatient for the skies ! 

See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, 

Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend ; 

See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate kings, 

And heaped with products of Sabean springs; 

For thee Idume's spicy forests blow, 

And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. 

See heaven its sparkling portals wide display, 

And break upon thee in a flood of day. 

No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, 
Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn ; 
But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, 
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze 
O'erflow thy courts; the Light Himself shall shir.*. 
Revealed, and God*s eternal day be thine ! 
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, 
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away; 
But fixed His word, His saving power remains; 
Thy realm forever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns ! 




CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



THE APOSTLES AT JERUSALEM. 




HE apostles had been 
instructed by their 
Lord to remain to- 
gether at Jerusalem 
till they should be en- 
dued with power and 
enlightenment from 
on high, in preparation for the 
great work to which they 
were appointed. 

After having witnessed the 
ascension of their risen 
Lord into the heaven of 
heavens, they therefore re- 
[)ly(\ turned into the city and has- 
tened to the privacy of the 
upper chamber in some pri- 
'g) v "*' vate house (perhaps that 
which John occupied), where they might pray 
together and discourse with one another with- 
out restraint. In the houses both of the Greeks 
and Orientals there were certain upper apart- 
ments, usually so constructed as to serve for 
the purpose of dining-rooms, parlors, apart- 
ments for taking exercise, and so forth ; and 
from their stillness and privacy were often 
appropriated as oratories for the purposes of 
united and family worship, or religious retire- 
ment and prayer. In such a chamber the 
apostles, and those of the immediate disciples 
of Christ who had witnessed the ascension, to 
the number of one hundred and twenty, ap- 
pear to have spent most of their time together 
in this place during the few days which were 
still to elapse before the feast of Pentecost. 

On one of these intervening days Peter 
stood up and urged upon the brethren then 
present the expediency of appointing someone 
to fill the place among the twelve apostles 
which had been, left vacant by the treason and 
death of Judas. It was judged important that 



the person who might succeed to this office 
should be one who had from the first been a 
witness of the life and works of Jesus : and 
among those then present there were two who 
seemed so equal in claims and qualifications 
that it was found difficult to determine which 
of them was the best fitted for the office. 

One of these was Joseph surnamed Barsa- 
bas ; and the other was called Matthias, both 
of whom are, with good reasons, supposed to 
have been among the number of the seventy 
disciples. As there- was some doubt in the 
choice between persons whose claims were so 
nearly balanced, the apostles invoked in solemn 
prayer the direction of God upon their choice, 
and then cast lots between them. The lot fell 
upon Matthias, and he was thenceforth num- 
bered with the eleven apostles. 

The mode in which the lot was in this in- 
stance cast cannot be determined, the ancient 
methods of doing this being various. The 
most usual mode, however, was to cast the 
names written on equal substances, into an urn, 
and decide the question by the act of drawing 
them forth ; and this is generally supposed to 
have been the plan adopted in this choice of 
an apostle. 

Forty-nine days since the Passover had at 
length elapsed, and the fiftieth day, being the 
Feast of Pentecost, had fully come, when the 
one hundred and twenty disciples (or, as some 
suppose, the apostles only) were assembled" in 
one place," which we may conceive to have 
been the same place which has already been 
mentioned. They are supposed by some to 
have assembled on this occasion with some 
expectation that on the very day on which the 
memory of the promulgation of the law on 
Mount Sinai was celebrated, the promise of 
Christ respecting the Holy Spirit to be sent 
from heaven would have its completion ; and 

[569) 



570 



THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 



that God would, by some sign striking to the 
senses, declare that the religion of Christ was 
now to be more widely promulgated through 
them. 

But although thc\- were thus waiting ap- 
parently for the manifestation of the Spirit, 
they were wholly unprepared for the sudden 
and very remarkable manner in which He came 
upon them. At once the house was filled 
with the sound as of a might)- wind sweeping 
along like a tempest, and at the same instant 
there appeared upon the head of every one of 
them a lambent flame, described as " cloven 
tongues of fire," from the resemblance of a 
pointed flame to a tongue; and this was an 
external sign or symbol of the mighty change 
which at the same instant took place within 
them, for " the}- were filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak- with other tongues 
as the Spirit gave them utterance." 

From that time they became as new men. 
All their previous misconceptions concerning 
the nature of Christ's kingdom passed away, 
and the whole plan of the Divine economy of 
man's redemption was open to them. They 
were thus qualified to declare to others those 
great mysteries of God ; and seeing that they 
would have to declare them to many nations 
whose languages they understood not, they 
were enabled to speak at once in any human 
tongue the great message intrusted to them. 

Throe Thousand Converts. 

There were at this time in Jerusalem Jews 
from almost all the known countries of the 
world — countries in which they were born, and 
whose languages were their mother-tongues. 
When the news of this strange event was 
noised abroad, many of them, with others, 
hurried to the spot; and great was their 
amazement when they heard the uninstructed 
disciples of Christ, most of them natives of 
Galilee, speak to them in all their different 
languages. Some of those who were thus 
drawn together hesitated what judgment to 
form, but others hastily concluded that they 
were under the influence of wine. 

This dishonor to the great gift of God 



roused Peter, who, courageously standing up> 
with the eleven, that the multitude might be- 
hold in them the chief of Christ's followers, 
refuted the calumny by calling attention to the 
early time of the morning, the third hour, or 
nine o'clock, being the time of morning prayer, 
before which those who had any regard for 
religion among the Hebrews never took food 
or drink. 

Not content with this, the earnest apostle 
proceeded to show how the ancient prophecies 
were accomplished by this event, as well as in 
the death and resurrection of Christ, whom 
he proved to be the Messiah promised to the 
fathers. Under the Divine blessing, the effect 
of this calm, resolute, and well-reasoned dis- 
course — this first Christian sermon — was most 
wonderful. A great part of the audience were 
smitten to the heart, and three thousand of 
their number were that very day received by 
baptism into the infant church. These, from 
that hour, frequented the society of the 
apostles, and joined in their holy feast and. 
devotions, showing a commendable zeal. 

A United Band. 

Most of them were strangers in Jerusalem,, 
and, probably, on publicly professing them- 
selves as the disciples of Jesus and remaining 
in the city longer than they had at first in- 
tended, had become excluded from the hospi- 
tality and kindness which the Jews commonly 
exercised. This would all the more unite 
them to the other disciples; and now regard- 
ing themselves as one family, having common 
wants and interests, without any separate ob- 
jects in life, they threw their possessions into 
a common stock, " and parted them to all 
men, as every man had need." This was not 
compulsory upon them — it was the spontan- 
eous act of their own minds, suited to the 
circumstances of these first converts and to 
the peculiar necessities of the infant Church. 

Being thus disencumbered of the cares of 

life "they continued daily with one accord in 

I the Temple (at the stated hours of prayer), 

I and breaking bread from house to house, did 

|eat their meat with gladness and singleness 



THE APOSTLES AT JERUSALEM. 



571 



of heart, praising God, and having favor with 
all the people." Had then the mass of the 
people become favorable to the doctrines of 
the cross ? This is not implied ; but it is 
understood that the humble, serious, and 
devoted lives of the converts, disarmed for a 
time the enemies of Christ, and won for them 
a degree of tolerance and favor which secured 
for the infant days of the Church a brief in- 
terval of repose, needful to strengthen the 
arms which were destined to overturn the 
rank idolatries and dark systems of the world. 

It is clear that the disciples continued to 
resort to the Temple for devotion at the custom- 
ary hours of prayer. Whether they joined in 
the sacrifices of the Temple is not said, but it 
is by no means improbable that they did ; as 
they did not yet clearly understand the great 
truth that the whole system of sacrificial 
worship was, in fact, abolished by the death 
of Christ, seeing that there remained "no 
more sacrifice for sin " when He, in whom all 
the sacrificial types were accomplished, was 
offered up, " once for all," for the sins of the 
world. The Temple was the place, and its 
ritual service the manner, in which they and 
their fathers had worshipped, and they came 
very slowly to the conclusion that they were 
to abandon this sacred place and its services, 
as things which had become old and had 
passed away. 

We are told in general terms that, after the 
outpouring of the Divine Spirit, many signs 
and wonders were wrought by the apostles. 
Of these wonders one is selected by the 
sacred historian as an example of the others ; 
and it is well suited to convey a distinct im- 
pression of the great powers with which the 
apostles were now vested ; and to convince us 
that they were adequate to the great services 
for the glory of God and the benefit of man- 
kind which they were called to perform. It is 
of much importance for the confirmation of the 
truth that this narrative has been given to us ; 
and the evangelist, instead of contenting him- 
self with the general statement that much was 
done, proceeds to say in one marked instance 
what was done, and in relation to whom and 



under what circumstances a great miracle was 
performed. By the Jews, and the ancients 
generally, no provision was made in hospitals 
for the afflicted, or in almshouses for the poor. 
They were, therefore, dependent upon the 
charitable feelings of those who were in better 
circumstances. It thus became important that 
they should be placed where they could see 
many people ; and hence it was customary to 
place them at the gates of rich men ; and they 
also sat by the side of the highway to beg 
where many persons would pass. 

Under such circumstances the entrance to 
the Temple became a favorite station for beg- 
ging, not only from the great numbers of 
people who resorted thither, but because that, 
going up for the purposes of religion, they 
would be more disposed to give alms than at 
other times : and this was particularly true of 
the Pharisees, who, beyond all men, did their 
alms " to be seen of men." 

"Rise Up and Walk!" 

Peter and John went up together to prayer 
at the Temple, at the hour of afternoon prayer,, 
being the ninth hour, or three o'clock. They 
entered by that large and splendid gate, made 
of Corinthian brass, near Solomon's porch r 
which bore the name of Beautiful. Here they 
observed a most afflicted creature, who had 
been lame from his birth, and who had for 
many years been carried daily to the Beautiful 
Gate, to ask alms of those that entered in at 
the Temple. From this circumstance his 
person and condition were well known to the 
Jews, not only of Jerusalem, but of the 
country, who constantly attended the sacred 
services of the Temple during their periodical 
visits to Jerusalem. 

Perceiving that he had attracted the notice 
of the apostles, the man asked alms of them. 
Peter said to him, " Look on us," with the 
view of drawing his attention to the act he 
was about to execute, so that the man might 
know him as the doer, and know that the 
benefit he was about to receive came from 
him. The beggar, expecting to receive some 
large alms, failed not to take heed to the 



572 



THE CRIPPLE HEALED. 



apostle ; but Peter, looking earnestly upon 
him, said, " Silver and gold have I none; but 
such as I have, give I thee: In the name of 
Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk! " 

Then, to show him that he was sincere in 
this strange command, and to induce him to 
make the required effort, he took the poor 
man by the right hand and assisted him to 
Immediately his feet and ankle-bones 
received strength, and the man, who had never 
stood, walked — he who had never walked, ran 



The abounding gratitude of the man failed 
not to point out his benefactors; and Peter, 
finding that he and his companion had thus 
become objects of marked attention, took occa- 
sion to proclaim aloud, that it was not by 
any power or virtue in themselves, but through 
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they 
had slain, but whom God had raised from the 
dead, that this man had been healed. He ad- 
mitted, however, that to a certain extent they 
had done this through ignorance, and assured 




I'll Ik AND John 

— and not only ran, but leaped in the fulness 
of his joy, exulting and praising God. 

The amazed and thankful man followed the 
apostles into the magnificent covered way or 
passage on the east side of the Temple, which 
bore the name of Solomon's porch. Here a 

wondering crowd soon gathered around them, 
the people being greatly astonished to see the 
lame beggar whom they knew so well, and 
had just beheld lying at the Temple gate, 
walking with so much agility among them. 



fHE BEAUTIFUL GATE. Acts iii. 



them that the door of repentance was still 
open, and exhorted them to enter therein. 
To induce them to this, he went :>n 1.0 prove 
that this Jesus was the Messiah promised to 
the fathers — the seed of Abraham, in whom 
all the families of men were to be blessed. 

His discourse was interrupted by the chief 
priests, who had required the assistance of the 
guard in the tower of Antonia in dispersing 
the crowd. This guard was stationed there to 
preserve order and repress disturbances ; and 






THE APOSTLES AT JERUSALEM. 



573 



the priests resorted to this summary mode of 
arresting the impressions which seemed likely 
to be made by the discourse of Peter, taken in 
connection with the signal miracle which had 
been performed. The more effectually to se- 
cure their object, they seized the apostles and 
consigned them to the custody of the guard, 
till the next day ; for it was now evening, and 
the council, before which the matter was to be 
brought, was not then sitting. When the con- 
spiracy was against the Lord Himself, the 
council could meet irregularly in the dead of 
the night ; but this less important matter could 
abide the usual hours. 

Peter and John Arrested. 

When Peter and John were the next day 
brought before the council and asked, " By 
what power or in what name have ye done 
this?" Peter, who, when his Master had 
lately stood on his trial before this very tribu- 
nal, had shrunk with shameful timidity from 
his duty, was now filled with the Holy Spirit, 
and undauntedly seized the opportunity which 
the question offered, of declaring the truth, 
and of stating the evidence for the doctrine of 
Christ. 

The council was much struck by the bold- 
ness of the apostles, as well as by the matter 
of their address, especially as they perceived 
that they were uneducated and illiterate men. 
Certain members of the council then recol- 
lected that Peter and John were among those 
who had usually been seen in the company of 
Jesus, and knew that what was said by them 
concerning their Master was a matter of author- 
ity, and would have weight with the people. 

It was also perceived that the man who had 
been healed was in attendance, ready to attest 
and extol his miraculous cure. Therefore, 
after some consultation, it was deemed prudent 
to let the matter drop, and to dismiss the 
apostles with an injunction not in future "to 
speak at all, or preach in the name of Jesus." 
But the apostles resolutely declined to give any 
such pledge, and were at length discharged 
with a warning as to their future course of 
proceedings. That they thus escaped was not 



owing to any want of inclination in the council 
to inflict punishment ; but they knew that the 
popular feeling was in favor of the apostles, in 
consequence of the great and benevolent act 
which they had performed : " for all men glori- 
fied God for that which was done." 

The liberated apostles returned to their com- 
panions, who received with joy the account of 
what had passed, and lifted up their voices in 
praise to God, who by the mouth of David 
had foretold the things which had now come 
to pass : " And now, Lord," they concluded, 
"behold their threatenings ; and grant unto 
thy servants that with all boldness they may 
speak Thy word, by stretching forth Thine hand 
to heal, and that signs and wonders may be 
done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus." 
When they had concluded, the place in which 
they sat was violently shaken, and as they 
were all at the same time filled with the Holy 
Ghost, they received this as a favorable answer 
to their prayer, and were greatly cheered. 

A Generous Giver. 

It has already been mentioned that there 
was a great anxiety among the more wealthy 
of the new converts to prevent their poorer 
brethren from feeling the pressure of want. 
They therefore sent in plentiful contributions, 
and selling their possessions, gave the price 
they brought to the apostles, who received it 
of them for the public use, and distributed it 
to every one as his necessities required. 

Among these benevolent and faithful men, 
none distinguished himself more than one 
Joses, a Jew of Cyprus, of Levitical descent, 
who received from the apostles the appropriate 
surname of Barnabas (Son of Consolation), 
who sold a piece of land which formed his- 
private property, and brought the full price of 
it to the apostle, that they might dispose of 
it according to their discretion. This man 
afterwards became eminent — second only to 
an apostle, and sometimes called an apostle, 
in the Church. His conduct in this matter ap- 
pears to be mentioned for the sake of painting 
the contrast which was offered by the conduct 
of another disciple, whose name was Ananias. 



r,74 



THE EVENING AT BETHANY. 



The following exquisite poem by one of our 
modern poets is an appropriate eulogy upon 
the benevolent spirit so beautifully exem- 
plified in Barnabas : 

The world's • room of sickness, where each heart 

,\ n anguish and unrest ; 
The truest wisdom there, and noblest art, 
■.\ho skills of comfort best ; 
m by the softest step and gentlest tone 

W II, 

And love to r.ii-e the languid eye. 
When, like an angel's wing, they feel him fleeting by: — 

nly — for in silence gently gliding 

both ear and sight, 
; and watchful love his heart dividing, 
A nursing father day and night. 

wre the tender arms, where cradled lay 
In 1. day 

»us; such the love 
I lis chosen taught fur His dear widowed Dove. 

Warmed underneath 'he Comforter's safe wing 

th' endearing warmth around: 
Mourners, speed here your broken hearts to bring, 
II' r< healing dews and balms abound: 

i hands that cannot bless in vain, 
.: your pain : 
Hi re loving hearts, that daily know 

ationi they on you bestow. 

thoughts are theirs, that breathe serenest calms, 
< )f holy offerings timely paid, 

from Heaven to bless their votive alms 
And pa I I Is altar laid. 

world to them is closed and now they shine 
With rays of love Divine, 
Through darkest nooks of this dull earth 
ig, in showery times, their glow of " quiet mirth." 

< I happy spirits, marked by Cod and man 

Their messages of love to bear, 

\\ hat though long since in heaven your brows began 
I DC genial ainarant wreath to wear, 

Ami in th' eternal leisure of calm Love 
\ e banqui t there above, 
Vet in your sympathetic heart 

We and our earthly griefs may ask and hope a part. 

< bmfort's true sons ! amid the thoughts of down 

That strew your pillow ol repose, 

Sure 'tis one joy to muse, how ye unknown 
By sweet remembrance soothe our woes, 
And how the spark ye lit, of heavenly cheer, 
Lives in our embers here, 



Where'er the cross is borne with smiles, 
Or lightened secretly by love's endearing wiles: 

Where'er one Levite in the Temple keeps 
The watch-fire of his midnight prayer, 
Or issuing thence, the eyes of mourners steeps 

In heavenly balm, fresh gathered there; 
Thus saints, that seem to die in earth's rude strife, 
Only win double life : 
They have but left our weary ways 
To live in memory here, in heaven by love and praise. 

These glowing words are none too warm in 
praise for such as Barnabas, but Ananias pre- 
sented a different character. 

This man was no doubt sincere in his con- 
victions of the truth of the Christian religion ; 
for the condition of the early Church offered 
no inducement to a worldly man, and least of 
all to a Jew in good circumstances, to embrace 
its doctrines. Having joined himself to the 
disciples, he was not willing to appear behind 
the foremost in liberality and zeal : and yet his 
heart grudged the sacrifice which he had made 
from regard to appearances ; and therefore, 
instead of bringing to the apostles the whole 
price of the land which he had sold, he kept 
back a considerable portion, and presented the 
remainder as if it had been the whole. 

Lying Punished. 

How greatly was this man surprised and 
confounded when Peter, instead of receiving 
this offering with the expected approbation, 
plainly charged him with the fact, in terms of 
severe reprehension. The enormity of the 
offence was indeed very great ; the meanness, 
the hypocrisy, the worldliness of the whole 
affair, is almost without known parallel, and 
had it been allowed to pass unpunished, the 
purity of the infant Church could not long have 
remained free from the stain of worldly influ- 
ences. 

That the act of selling the land was entirely 
voluntary on his part, and that even when sold 
the whole sum rested entirely at his disposal, 
were strongly urged upon him by Peter, to 
point out the enormity of an offence com- 
mitted solely with a view to the praise of men, 
through an imposition upon the disciples and 



THE APOSTLES AT JERUSALEM. 



575 



upon God. " Thou hast not lied," said the in- 
dignant apostle, " unto men, but unto God." 
This denouncement and exposure were in- 
stantly fatal to one so covetous of human 
praise. It came upon him with all the sud- 
denness and effect of a thunderbolt, and he 
'fell down and gave up the ghost. 

Death of Sapphira. 

Sapphira, the wife of Ananias, entered the 
place about three hours afterwards, before the 
meeting had separated. She was ignorant of 
what had happened, but appears to have taken 
afn active part, if her suggestions did not origi- 1 
nate the infamous transaction. Of her, Peter, I 
with marked emphasis, asked whether the land 
had been sold for the sum which Ananias had 
named : she readily and unhesitatingly an- 
swered in the affirmative, on which Peter, with 
the sternness of a judge, said : " How is it that 
ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of 
the Lord ? Behold, the feet of them who have 
buried thy husband are at the door — and shall 
carry thee out." 

On hearing these terrible words, she also fell 
to the ground and died : on which the young 
men who had just returned from burying her 
husband, carried her also away. The manner 
of the death of Sapphira was even more strik- 
ing than that of Ananias. Peter had not dis- 
tinctly doomed him to death ; and he might be 
supposed to have died from the stroke of an 
over-burdened conscience ; but in the other 
case the direct judgment of God is brought 
out more distinctly. Sapphira dies at the word 
of Peter, and falls down death-struck at his 
command. 

This signal judgment made a profound im- 
pression upon the Church. It tended to purge 
away all low and selfish motives : to urge great 
singleness of purpose, and to induce that re- 
spect for the power and authority of the apostles 
which was essential to their influence. It seems 
however to have tended for a time to prevent 
other men of substance from joining the apos- 
tles : but, it is added with strong emphasis — 
""but the people magnified them." 

Many miracles were also wrought by them ; 



and their reputation became so high " that 
they brought forth the sick into the streets, 
and laid them on beds and couches, that at the 
least the shadow of Peter passing by might 
overshadow some of them." Whether they 
were by this means healed is not stated, and is 
left for us to conjecture. The news of this 
even spread to the neighboring towns, whence 
the diseased were brought in great numbers to 
Jerusalem to be cured by the apostles. 

The sensation which was thus excited at- 
tracted the attention of the high-priest and 
others, and by their orders the apostles were 
apprehended and cast into the common prison. 
But the night following they were delivered 
by an angel of God, who opened the prison- 
doors and brought them forth, with a charge 
to proceed in their high course, speaking 
boldly to the people in the very Temple the 
words of eternal life. Next morning the 
Sanhedrin assembled to examine the prisoners, 
and officers were sent to bring them forth. 
But they soon returned, stating that the pris- 
oners had- disappeared, although the prison- 
doors were still closed, and the keepers care- 
fully upon guard. 

Escape from Prison. 

While they were confounded at this, a mes- 
senger arrived with the intelligence that the 
men whom they had cast into prison were 
then actually in the Temple exhorting the 
people. The officers then went and brought 
them thence before the council ; but they did 
this without disrespect or violence, as they 
feared to excite a tumult among the people, 
who were, as we have seen, favorable to the 
apostles, and had probably just heard from 
them how marvelously they had been de- 
livered. 

On their appearance before the council, the 
high-priest taxed them with disobedience to 
the positive order they had received no more 
to preach in the name of Jesus: " But, behold," 
said the pontiff, "ye have filled Jerusalem with 
your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's 
blood upon us." To this Peter, in the name 
of all the apostles, quietly answered, " We 




THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. STEPHEN. 



(676) 



THE APOSTLES AT JERUSALEM. 



577 



ought to obey God rather than men ; " and 
forthwith, in a few cogent words, stated with- 
out reserve or qualification the great doctrine 
which they, as chosen witnesses, felt bound to 
testify. They were then taken outside for a 
time, while the council deliberated on the 
matter. 

Some of the more violent were for putting 
them to death ; but there was among them a 
renowned teacher and expounder of the law, 
named Gamaliel, who urged more prudent 
counsels. He sagaciously observed, that if 
this doctrine were of God they could not and 
ought not to interfere to suppress it, and if it 
were not of God it would certainly without 
their interference come to nothing. He there- 
fore counselled, the great " let alone " policy ; 
and his high reputation and influence gained 
so much attention for it, that, after they had 
scourged the apostles, they allowed them to 
depart with an injunction that they should not 
again speak in the name of Jesus. 

But the apostles, rejoicing that they were 
deemed worthy to suffer shame for the name 
of Jesus, ceased not to preach Christ crucified 
in the Temple and in every house they en- 
tered. And their labors were blessed : for the 
number of the disciples daily increased, and 
the funds which their liberality and confidence 
placed in the hands of the apostles were so 
large, that the distribution became a matter of 
great anxiety and labor to them, and there was 
danger that this business would so take up 
their time as to prevent the due discharge of 
more important duties. 

Choosing- Deacons. 

A dispute which arose between the Greek 
and Hebrew converts, the former alleging that 
their widows were comparatively neglected in 
the daily ministrations, convinced the apostles 
that it was time for them to seek relief from 
such comparatively secular charges. " It is 
not meet," said they, " that we should leave 
the word of God and serve tables." They 
therefore recommended the brethren to look 
out seven men in whom they could confide, 
to have the management of this department. 
37 



Seven such persons were accordingly nomi- 
nated by the disciples, and were instituted by 
the apostles in this important office by prayer 
and the imposition of hands. These were the 
first deacons. One of them, named Stephen, 
was so active and so devoted, so powerful in 
speech, and so mighty in deeds, that he 
speedily attracted the attention of the Hellen- 
istic and African Jews in Jerusalem : and in 
their frequent disputations he so foiled them 
in argument that they became exasperated 
and determined to get rid of him. Despairing 
to do this in the ordinary course of affairs, as 
then conducted under the cognizance of the 
Romans, they suborned false witnesses to tes- 
tify that they had heard him speak blasphem- 
ous words against Moses and against God. 

The First Christian Martyr. 

On this allegation they excited the people 
against him, and then the chief men ventured 
to seize him and to bring him before the coun- 
cil. The charge was there more formally 
urged ; and when the council turned their 
attention to the man against whom such hein- 
ous things were urged, they beheld a man 
whose countenance was radiant with holiness 
and peace — " as the face of an angel." 

To the question of the high-priest, "Are 
these things so?" Stephen answered by taking 
a rapid view of the dispensations of God's 
providence towards His people, with an ap- 
parent view to the development of the Mes- 
sianic character of Christ as foreshown in these 
dispensations. We say apparent, for, as his 
address was interrupted by the excited pas- 
sions of the audience, its entire scope is not 
clearly manifested. He had reached so far in 
his illustrative exposition as to the building of 
the Temple by Solomon, when he was much 
interrupted by the angry clamor of the audi- 
ence, and was provoked to exclaim : " Ye stiff- 
necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, 
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost ; as your 
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets 
have not your fathers persecuted ? And they 
have slain those who showed before the com- 
ing of the Just One, of whom ye have now 



578 



STEPHEN'S VISION. 



been the betrayers and murderers. Who have 
received the law by the disposition of angels, 
and have not kept it." 

When the audience had heard thus far, their 
rage and indignation passed all bounds, and 
they even gnashed on him with their teeth. 
Then, foreseeing his danger, and feeling that 
there was no safety even in the great council 
of the nation, nor any prospect of justice at its 
hands, the holy man cast his eyes towards 
heaven, and there beheld "the glory of God." 
This phrase usually denotes the visible sym- 
bols of the Divine Presence in some magnifi- 
cent representation, or some resplendence — 
such as that which in the old Temple abode 
between the cherubim. 

Stephen Assailed. 

In Stephen's case there is every indication 
of a vision representing what was most likely 
I ourage him in that perilous moment, " the 
heavens opened, and the Son of man standing 
on the right hand of God." He declared what 
he beheld ; and on hearing this the auditors 
cried out with one voice, and stopped their 
ears as against the pollution of some horrid 
blasphemy, and ran upon him with one accord. 
He was hurried outside the city, and there in 
the madness of that hour stoned to death as a 
blasphemer. He died calling upon God, and 
saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and 
praying that this act might not be laid to the 
charge of his murderers. Thus worthily died 
the first of the noble army of martyrs, who have 
sealed with their blood the testimony of Jesus. 

The council had no power to inflict death, 
as we have already seen ; and although this 
proceeding could not have been displeasing to 
them, it had not their formal sanction ; but 
was entirely the ebullition of popular feeling, 
which would not and could not abide the re- 
sult of judicial movements. In this case the 
witnesses, as was usual, took the first and 
most active part in the execution ; and casting 
off their outer robes for vigorous exertion. 



they placed them in charge of a young man 
named Saul, who had manifested much zeal 
against the new doctrines, and on the present 
occasion against Stephen. 

Saul must have been impressed with the 
calm dignity of the Christian martyr, the 
peaceful resignation which he exhibited in the 
presence of his enemies, that wonderful seren- 
ity which stood in such striking contrast to 
the madness of his foes; and, more than all, 
he must have been impressed with the Christ- 
like spirit of the martyr, showing itself in his 
heartfelt prayer for those who were so cruelly 
taking his life. Here was a proof of the self- 
sacrifice inspired by the Christianity, the hero- 
ism that endures to the end, and the lofty 
faith which sees the invisible and hears the 
unutterable. 

It is not strange that the Christian Church 
made such rapid progress as it did immedi- 
ately after that period, for that is a true saying 
concerning the blood of the martyrs : As 
the drops of rain come from the clouds and 
bring summer to the earth, so the baptism of 
blood renews the Christian spirit and the gen- 
eration of those who endure and serve is born 
from the generation of those who perish. Very 
rapidly Christianity advanced. When histories 
are unfolded, and secret causes are traced, it will 
undoubtedly be seen that the martyr spirit of 
that early period has had much to do with the 
existence and success of the Church of Christ, 
which is now changing the face of the earth, 
and " making the wilderness to blossom as 
the rose." 

If it appears strange -that one of such faith, 
courage, self-denial and excellence of charac- 
ter should be left, as Stephen was, to the cold 
mercy of a Jewish mob, it would be well to 
remember that although the road he travelled 
was rough, the end of it was glory. He 
passed through storm and conflict, yet came 
to his rest as sweetly as if his death-bed had 
been made of down, and his attendants had 
been ministering angels. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 




AUL was a native of Tar- 
sus, in Asia Minor, where 
many Jews were settled, 
and enjoyed, by his birth, 
there, of free parents, the 
privileges of a Roman citi- 
zen. His education in his 
native city was necessarily 
less exclusive — more 
Greek — than that which prevailed 
among the Jews in Palestine. But as 
the exclusive Jewish learning, in the 
law, was supposed to be best taught in 
Jerusalem, it was usual to send young 
Jews, born in foreign lands, thither, to com- j 
plete their education. 

Saul was accordingly sent to the Holy City, I 
where he studied the law with great diligence 
and much distinction under its most eminent 
living teacher, Gamaliel. This fiery youth 
threw all the ardor of his soul into the move- 
ment against the innovating disciples of Jesus, 
which was commenced by the death of Stephen; 
for the popular rage was too thoroughly ex- 
cited to be satiated with the blood of that holy 
man, but sought new objects for its fury. A 
great part of the converts fled before the 
storm into other parts of the country, and 
many returned to their houses in Asia Minor, 
Cyprus, and other places, where they had made 
known the Gospel they had received. 

Philip, one of the seven deacons, left Jeru- 
salem about this time to preach the Gospel in 
Samaria. He was heard with great attention; 
and the miracles of benevolence which he per- 
formed, in casting forth evil spirits and in 
healing the diseased, were witnessed with joy 
and conviction by the right-minded. Among 
those who were converted and baptized was a 
man named Simon, who had acquired much 
influence over the people by his skill in the | 



magic arts, and by impressing upon them that 
he was in truth some great and mysterious 
personage. 

This man, when Peter and John had been 
brought down to Samaria by the tidings of 
Philip's success, saw the new converts receive 
the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost at the 
prayer of the apostles and the imposition of 
their hands. Still really unconverted, and 
perhaps regarding the holy apostles as only 
greater masters of the art in which he was an 
adept, Simon had the temerity to offer them 
money if they would impart to him the power 
which they possessed of conferring the gifts of 
the Holy Ghost by the imposition of their 
hands. This brought down upon him a severe 
rebuke from Peter, who plainly told him that 
" his heart was not right with God." 

Philip and the Ethiopian. 

After the apostles had by their labors con- 
firmed and extended the work of God in Sa- 
maria, they returned to Jerusalem ; but Philip 
was directed by a Divine impulse to proceed 
southward into the country lying towards 
Gaza on the road to Jerusalem. In this quar- 
ter, which was the usual route from Jerusalem 
to Egypt, Philip encountered a great man of 
Ethiopia, who was returning home in his 
chariot from Jerusalem, where he had been to 
attend the Passover. 

Whether this personage was a Hebrew, who 
had been raised to high office in Ethiopia — 
like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and 
Mordecai in Persia ; or was a native of Ethi- 
opia, in which distant country it has been al- 
leged that Judaism had made considerable 
progress — cannot with any certainty be deter- 
mined. He was, however, treasurer to Can- 
dace, queen of the Ethiopians ; and Philip 
perceived that, as he rode, he was reading in a 

(579) 



580 



BAPTISM OF THE EUNUCH. 



book ; and as the Orientals always read aloud, 
he found that his attention was engaged by the 
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Philip then saw 
the purpose for which he had been sent into 
this remote quarter, and he accosted the reader 
with "Understandest thou what thou readest?" 
The eunuch candidly replied, '* How can I, ex- 
cept some man should guide me ? " And then 
he desired Philip to come and sit with him in 
the chariot, for his question implied that he 
could give the instruction desired. 

What perplexed the eunuch was to know 
whether the very striking words of the passage 
of Scripture which engaged his attention ap- 
plied to the prophet himself or to some other 
person. It was easy for Philip to show that 
they applied to Jesus, the mysteries of whose 
Gospel he fully opened to the astonished Ethi- 
opian, who received them with the most sincere 
conviction. Being thus instructed, he asked, 
on coming to some water, " What doth hinder 
me to be baptized ? " Philip answered, " If 
thou believest with all thine heart, thou 
mayest; " and on his replying " I believe that 
Jesus is the Son of God," he consented to bap- 
tize him. The chariot was then stopped, and 
they went down together into the water, where 
the Ethiopian was baptized in the name of 
Christ. Philip then left him, and the eunuch 
" went on his way rejoicing, even as one who 
had found a pearl of great price." 

Saul Struck Blind. 

Meanwhile the zeal of Saul against the fol- 
lowers of Jesus had not escaped the notice and 
approval of the Sanhedrin, from which he was 
intrusted with a commission to proceed to 
Damascus, where the Jews were settled in 
great numbers, and, with the co-operation of 
the synagogues in that place, to apprehend and 
bring to Jerusalem those who had become fol- 
lowers of Christ. He proceeded on his way 
with a suitable escort, full of the conviction 
that he was doing God service, and his heart 
overflowing with bitterness and wrath against 
the believers in a crucified Messiah. 

He had already nearly reached Damascus, 
when he was suddenly blinded and struck to 



the ground by the excess of light which fell 
upon him, while a voice was heard from 
heaven, saying, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou Me ? " He then naturally asked, " Who 
art Thou, Lord? " and was answered, " I am 
Jesus whom thou persecutest." On hearing 
this, all the proud confidences of this man 
broke suddenly from him ; his fierceness 
passed away, and he became gentle and sub- 
missive. Trembling and astonished, his only 
question was, " Lord, what wilt Thou have 
me to do ? " and he was told to proceed to 
Damascus, and wait further directions in that 
city, which would be furnished him. 

Saul Visited by Ananias. 

The attendants had seen the light, and had 
heard the sound of a voice without distinguish- 
ing the words. Saul had not only seen that 
light, but had seen in it the glory of Jesus, 
who had been the object of his contempt and 
hate. He had instinctively closed his eyes 
when that effulgence beamed upon him. Now 
he opened them, but saw not : he was blind ; 
and his attendants had to lead him by the hand 
to Damascus. There he remained three days 
without sight, and during those days he par- 
took not of meat or drink — his absorbing 
thoughts and new convictions being food 
enough for him. 

At the end of that time, a disciple of Da- 
mascus, named Ananias, was instructed in a 
vision to go to him. Having heard of his 
character and his mission to Damascus, Ananias 
was astonished at this charge : but the Lord 
said unto him, " Go thy way, for he is a chosen 
vessel unto Me, to bear thy name before the 
Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. 
For I will show him how great things he must 
suffer for My name's sake." 

Thus encouraged, Ananias went to the 
house where Saul lodged, and putting his 
hands upon him, he said, in terms which rec- 
ognized him as a fellow-Christian, " Brother 
Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto 
thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, 
that thou mightest receive thy sight and be 
filled with the Holy Ghost." On this his 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



581 



sight was on the instant restored to him, and 
immediately after he joined himself by baptism 
to the Church of Christ. 

Thus marvelously was the most determined 
enemy of the truth in Jesus struck down " in 
his pride of place," and humbled to the very 
feet of Him whose servants he had so relent- 
lessly pursued : and thus were all his high 
talents and the indomitable energies of his 
character, forcibly and against all probable 
circumstances, enlisted into the service of that 
great cause which he had so zealously labored 
to destroy. 

The reader will be interested in the poem of 
Keble, finely descriptive of the conversion 
of Saul, and picturing the remarkable scene in 
vivid colors : 

The midday sun, with fiercest glare, 
Broods o'er the hazy, twinkling air; 

Along the level sand 
The palm-tree's shade unwavering lies, 
Just as thy towers, Damascus, rise 

To greet yon wearied band. 

The leader of that martial crew 
Seems bent some mighty deed to do, 

So steadily he speeds, 
With lips firm closed and glaring eye, 
Like warrior when the fight is nigh, 

Nor talk nor landscape heeds. 

What sudden blaze is round him poured, 
As though all heaven's refulgent hoard 

In one rich glory shone ? 
One moment — and to earth he falls : 
What voice his inmost heart appals? 

Voice heard by him alone. 

For to the rest both words and form 
Seem lost in lightning and in storm, 

While Saul, in wakeful trance, 
Sees deep within that dazzling field 
His persecuted Lord revealed 

With keen yet pitying glance : 

And hears the meek upbraiding call 
As gently on his spirit fall 
As if th' Almighty Son 
Were prisoner yet in this dark earth, 
Nor had proclaimed His royal birth, 
Nor His great power begun. 

** Ah wherefore persecut'st thou Me ? " 
He heard and saw, and sought to free 



His strained eye from the sight; 
But Heaven's high magic bound it there, 
Still gazing, though untaught to bear 

Th' insufferable light. 

" Who art Thou, Lord ? " he falters forth : 
So shall sin ask of heaven and earth 

At the last awful day. 
" When did we see Thee suffering nigh, 
And passed Thee with unheeding eye? 

Great God of judgment, say ! " 

Ah ! little dream our listless eyes 
What glorious presence they despise, 

While in our noon of life, 
To power or fame we rudely press — 
Christ is at hand, to scorn or bless, 

Christ suffers in our strife. 

Though heavenly gates long since have closed, 
And our dear Lord in bliss reposed 

High above mortal ken, 
To every ear in every land 
(Though meek ears only understand) 

He speaks as He did then. 

" Ah wherefore persecute ye Me ? 
'Tis hard, ye so in love should be 

With your own bitter woe. 
Know, though at God's right hand I live, 
I feel each wound ye reckless give 

To the least saint below. 

" I in your care My brethren left, 
Not willing ye should be bereft 

Of waiting on your Lord. 
The meanest offering ye can make — 
A drop of water — for love's sake, 

In Heaven, be sure, is stored." 

O by those gentle tones and dear, 
When Thou hast stayed our wild career, 

Thou only hope of souls, 
Ne'er let us cast one look behind, 
But in the thought of Jesus find 

What every thought controls. 

As to Thy last apostle's heart 

Thy lightning glance did then impart 

Zeal's never-dying fire, 
So teach us on Thy shrine to lay 
Our hearts, and let them day by day 

Intenser blaze and higher. 

And as each mild and winning note 
(Like pulses that round harp-strings float, 




THE CONVERSION OF SAUL. Acts ix. 3-7. 



(582J 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



583 



When the full strain is o'er) 
Left lingering on his inward ear 
Music, that taught, as death drew near, 

Love's lesson more and more: 

So, as we walk our earthly round, 
Still may the echo of that sound 

Be in our memory stored : 
" Christians! behold your happy state; 
Christ is in these, who round you wait; 

Make much of your dear Lord ! " 

After having continued for some time in 
daily intercourse with the disciples at Damas- 
cus, Saul began to declare in the synagogues 
that Jesus was the Son of God. This excited 
a profound sensation among the Jews of that 
city, who were well acquainted with the nature 
of the business which he came to transact 
with those very synagogues in which he now 
preached the name of Jesus. But he daily 
wielded with increasing power the weapons 
which God had placed in his hands, proving 
by irrefragable arguments that Jesus of Naz- 
areth was indeed the Messiah. 

Saul's Life in Danger. 

After this Saul withdrew for a time into 
Arabia, we know not for what purpose, and 
then returned to Damascus, where he for a 
long while pursued his evangelical labors with 
success, till the Jews became so highly exas- 
perated against him that they watched the 
gates of the city day and night to slay him in 
his going forth. Being apprised of this, the 
disciples let him down in a basket over the 
wall and he proceeded to Jerusalem, which he 
entered a very different man from the Saul 
who had set forth, three years before, on his 
persecuting mission to Damascus. 

The disciples at Jerusalem, better informed 
of his original character than of his conversion 
and subsequent proceedings, were at first afraid 
to admit him into their societies. But Barna- 
bas, who had probably been intimate with him 
in former times, was convinced of his sincerity, 
and introduced him to the apostles, describing 
to them the remarkable circumstances of his 
conversion, and how boldly he had preached 
Jesus in the synagogues of Damascus. 



The doctrine of Christ was daily advocated 
by Saul in public during his stay in Jerusalem, 
especially among those foreign Jews, speaking 
the Greek language, who had come to the 
Holy City. These became at last so exasper- 
ated against one who had lately been so dis- 
tinguished a member of their own body that 
they formed a plan for causing him to be put 
to death as an apostate. 

Saul at Tarsus. 

On the other hand, the prospect opened to 
him of a wider sphere of action among heathen 
nations. As he was one day in the Temple, 
and by prayer lifting up his soul to the Lord, 
he was borne aloft from earthly things. In a 
vision he received an assurance from the Lord, 
that although he would be able to effect 
nothing in Jerusalem, through the animosity 
of the Jews; he was destined to carry the doc- 
trine of salvation to other nations and to re- 
mote regions. 

Accordingly, after a stay of only a fortnight 
at Jerusalem, he was obliged to leave it through 
the machinations of the Jews. He now re- 
turned to Tarsus, his native place, where he 
spent several years, certainly not inactively, 
for by his labors the gospel was spread both 
among Jews and Gentiles in Tarsus and 
throughout Cilicia ; and there is good reason 
for believing that to him the Gentile Churches, 
which in a short time we find in Cilicia, owed 
their origin. 

During this interval the turn of public affairs 
in Judsea became, upon the accession of the 
Emperor Caligula, so critical and exciting to 
the Jews, that it engaged all their interest and 
attention. Under this influence the persecu- 
tion of the followers of Jesus abated, and the 
Churches thus obtained an interval of rest, by 
which they were strengthened for new con- 
flicts. Peter availed himself of this to make 
a tour through the country, to visit and 
strengthen the communities of believers. In 
the course of this journey he came to Lydda, 
a town six miles inland from Joppa, on the 
road from Jerusalem. 

Here his attention was directed to a man 



584 



DORCAS. 



named Eneas, who, from his Greek name, was 
probably a Hellenist Jew, and had been for 
eight years kept to his bed with the palsy. 
Him Peter cured; commanding him to arise 
from the bed on which he had lain so long, in 
words carefully framed to refer all the power 
and glory of the act to Jesus. He said, 
" Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole ; 
arise and make thy bed." This signal miracle 



the disciples sent to him tidings of this heavy 
loss to the Church, and desired his presence to 
sustain and comfort them in their affliction. 
The apostle immediately obeyed the call, and 
went over to Joppa. He was, by his own desire, 
conducted to the chamber where the corpse 
lay, and was much moved when he witnessed 
the lamentations of the poor widowed women 
who had been supported by her beneficence, 




made a strong and convincing impression 
upon the minds of many persons in that 
neighborhood, who thereupon " turned to the 
Lord." 

At Joppa there was among the believers an 
excellent woman named Tabitha (in Greek, 
Dorcas), who " was full of good works and 
almsdeeds which she did." This woman was 
taken ill and died, and the body was prepared 
in the usual manner for interment, and laid out 
in an upper chamber. As Lydda, where Peter 
was known then to be, was not far from Joppa, 



ANANIAS AND SAUL. Acts ix. IJ. 

and who recounted to one another the chari- 



table deeds of their benefactress. 

Peter desired to be left alone with the body ; 
and then he kneeled down and prayed, prob 
ably with more agonizing fervor than he de- 
sired that they should witness. His faith being 
thus strengthened, he turned to the body, and 
cried, " Tabitha, arise ! " She then opened her 
eyes, as qne awakening from sleep, and when 
she saw Peter, she sat up. He then presented 
her his hand, and she arose, and was presented 
alive to those who had so latelv bewailed her 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



585 



dead. This was the first miracle of the kind I 
which was performed by the apostles, and it i 
produced an impression fully corresponding to 
its importance. 

After this Peter remained some time in 
Joppa, dwelling with one Simon, a tanner, 
whose house was by the sea-shore. 

A Remarkable Vision. 

Joppa was but a few miles south from Caesa- 
rea, which was the seat of the Roman gover- 
nor, and the political metropolis of Judaea. In 
the Roman cohort which formed the garrison 
of that place was a centurion named Cornelius, 
a Gentile, who, dissatisfied with the old popular 
religion, and seeking after one which would 
•tranquillize his mind, had been led to Judaism, 
and had become a proselyte of the gate. 
Having with his whole family professed the 
worship of Jehovah, he testified by his bene- 
factions the sympathy which he felt with his 
fellow-worshippers of the Jewish nation, and 
observed the hour of prayer customary among . 
the Jews. 

It was customary with the Jews, and became 
so with the early Christians, to devote them- 
selves to fasting and prayer when, in any 
emergency from inward or outward distress, 
they sought relief and illumination from God. 
In some such emergency Cornelius had for some 
days fasted and prayed before God. What was 
it that troubled him ? It may be supposed 
that he was disturbed by the various opinions 
which he heard respecting the doctrines of 
Christ, and his only object and interest being 
to find in the truth rest to his soul, he sought 
in earnest prayer, accompanied by fasting, 
guidance in the right way. 

While he was thus engaged, he beheld an 
angel, who was sent to apprise him that his 
abundant alms were accepted as an evidence 
of piety towards God, and he was enjoined to 
send to Joppa for Peter, who was able to in- 
struct him in all truth. No sooner had Cor- 
nelius received this gladdening intimation, than 
he sent two slaves, and a soldier who waited 
on him, to solicit the presence of the long- 
wished-for teacher and guide. 



But it was necessary that Peter himself 
should be prepared for a call so unexpected, 
and so adverse to the notions which still filled 
his mind, that the blessings and promises of 
the Gospel were limited to the seed of Abra- 
ham. 

It was about noon the next day when Peter 
withdrew to the flat roof of the house in which 
he lodged, in order to offer up his midday 
devotions. He then beheld, as in a vision, 
a multitude of various beasts collected to- 
gether, and a voice was heard, "Arise, Peter; 
slay and eat." At this, although hungry, he 
demurred, seeing that most of the beasts were 
such as the Jewish law declared unfit for food. 
He said, therefore, " Not so, Lord ; for I have . 
never eaten anything that is common or un- 
clean." The voice answered, " What God 
hath cleansed, that call not thou common." 

Peter at Csesarea. 

While Peter mused as to the purport of this 
vision, the messengers from Cornelius came 
inquiring for him and the mystery on which he 
pondered was unravelled when the voice en- 
joined him to go with them " nothing doubt- 
ing." He accordingly departed on the following 
day, accompanied by six other disciples, to 
whom he had imparted the matter, and who 
awaited the result with eager expectation. As 
the distance was too great for one day's 
journey, they made two of it, and it was not 
until the fourth day from the departure of the 
messengers that they arrived at Caesarea. 
When at length the centurion saw the holy 
man cross his threshold, he fell down at the 
feet of one whom, after what had passed, he 
was disposed to regard as a super-earthly 
being. Peter, however, raised him with the 
words, " Stand up, I myself also am a man." 

Cornelius, in expectation of the arrival of 
the divinely appointed teacher, had assembled 
his household and friends to meet him, form- 
ing, with those who accompanied Peter, a con- 
siderable audience, to which he proceeded to 
explain how he had been taught to disregard 
the common scruples of the Jews respecting 
intercourse with heathens, which would have 



586 



PKTER AND CORNELIUS. 



precluded him from attending to the call, or 
from coming under that roof. Cornelius in 
like manner explained how he had been in- 
duced to send for Peter, and concluded with 
expressing an anxious desire to hear the 
things which God had commissioned him to 
speak. 

Peter was affected and astonished ; his per- 
ceptions were enlarged in witnessing this 
anxiety for Divine truth in one who had been 
born and brought up in the midst of heathen 
abominations ; and he expressed his conviction 
in the remarkable words, " Of a truth, I per- 
ceive that God is no respecter of persons." 
He proceeded to preach to them the doctrine 
of Christ. His words fell like dew from 
heaven upon their thirsty souls, and as he 
proceeded they were impelled to express their 
feelings in inspired praises to God. 

<;<kmI n>ws for all Men. 

This prevented any of the Jewish Christians 
present from urging objections when Peter 
proposed that these Gentiles should be bap- 
tized into the Church of Christ; and the 
same facts furnished Peter with unanswerable 
grounds of justification, when his conduct, in 
thus unclosing the gates of hope to the Gen- 
tiles, was shortly afterward called in question. 

"Go up and watch the new-horn rill 
|u>t trickling from its mossy bed, 
Streaking the heath-clad hill 
With a bright emerald thread. 

"Canst thou her bold career foretell, 

What rocks sin- shall o'erleap or rend, 
How far in ocean's swell 
1 ler refreshing billows send ? 

" Perchance that little brook shall flow 
The bulwark of some mighty realm, 
Bear navies to and fro 

With monarchs at their helm. 

" Even so, the course of prayer who knows? 
It springs in silence where it will. 
Springs out of sight, and flows 
At first a lonely rill : 

" But streams shall meet it by and by 
From thousand sympathetic hearts, 



Together swelling high 

Their chant of many parts. 

" Unheard by all but angel ears 

The good Cornelius knelt alone, 
Nor dreamed his prayers and tears 
Would help a world undone. 

" The while upon his terraced roof, 
The loved apostle to his Lord 
In silent thought aloof, 

For heavenly vision soared. 

" Far o'er the glowing western main 

His wistful brow was upward raised, 
Where, like an angel's train, 
The burnished water blazed. 

" The saint beside the ocean prayed, 
The soldier in his chosen bower, 
Where all his eye surveyed 
Seemed sacred in that hour. 

" To each unknown his brother's prayer, 
Yet brethren true in dearest love 
Were they — and now they share 
Fraternal joys above. 

" There daily through the open gate 
They see the Gentile spirits press. 
Brightening their high estate 
With dearer happiness. 

" What civic wreath for comrades saved 
Shone ever with such deathless gleam ? 
Or when did perils braved 
So sweet to veterans seem ? " 

Peter, on his return to Jerusalem, found that 
his having admitted Gentiles to the privileges 
of the Gospel was little relished by the Jewish 
converts, who had hitherto not apprehended 
that such privileges were other than the pecu- 
liar heritage of the seed of Abraham. They 
were not, however, selfishly desirous of en- 
grossing these privileges ; for when they under- 
stood, from the plain account of the matter 
which the apostle gave them, that such was 
the will of God, " They held their peace, and 
glorified God, saying, Then hath also God 
granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life." 

In their convictions on this subject they 
were confirmed by hearing that some of the 
disciples who had dispersed during the perse- 
cution, had ventured to preach the Lord Jesus 
to Gentiles as well as Jews at Antioch, and 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



687 



that their labors had been attended with the 
most signal success. Whether or not the dis- 
ciples at Antioch had been encouraged to this 
step by having heard of the proceedings of 
Peter cannot be known ; but the manifest 
blessing from heaven upon it abundantly jus- 
tified the disciples in the eyes of the Church at 
Jerusalem, which forthwith despatched Bar- 
nabas to carry on the work which had been 
thus auspiciously commenced. 

Saul's Name Changed to Paul. 

That good man, on his arrival, was glad- 
dened to witness the progress which the Gospel 
had made in the metropolis of the East, and 
employed his most ardent exertions to advance 
the work. The extensive prospect of efficient 
labor in the cause of Christ which was here 
opened led him to invite Saul, who had been 
active among the Gentiles in Cilicia, to become 
his fellow-laborer. 

From this point in the history the Hebrew 
name of Saul is exchanged for the correspond- 
ing one of Paul, a common Roman name, by 
which he had been known among his Gentile 
neighbors. 

An evidence of the power with which the 
doctrine of Christ spread itself in an inde- 
pendent manner among the Gentiles was the 
new name of " Christians," which was at 
Antioch first given to believers ; among them- 
selves they were called the Disciples of the 
Lord, the Brethren, the Believers. By the 
Jews, names were imposed upon them which 
implied undervaluation or contempt, such as 
the Galileans, the Nazarenes, the Paupers, and 
so forth, and they of course would not give 
them a name literally meaning the Adherents 
of the Messiah. The Gentiles had hitherto, 
on account of their observance of the ceremo- 
nial law, been unable to distinguish them from 
Jews. But now, when Christianity was spread 
among the Gentiles unconnected with the ob- 
servance of the law, its professors appeared as 
an entirely new religious sect ; and as the term 
| Christ " was held to be a proper name, the 
adherents of the new religion were distin- 
guished by a word formed from it, as the 



adherents of any school of philosophy were 
wont to be named after its founder. 

From that time forth Antioch occupied a 
most important place in the propagation of 
Christianity, for which there were now two 
central points ; what Jerusalem had hitherto 
been for this purpose among the Jews, that 
Antioch now became among the Gentiles. As 
there grew up considerable intercourse between 
the two Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch, 
Christian teachers frequently came from the 
former to the latter. Among these was a 
prophet named Agabus, who prophesied an 
approaching famine, which would be felt 
severely by a great number of the poor Chris- 
tians in Jerusalem, and he called upon the be- 
lievers at Antioch to assist their poor brethren. 
This famine actually occurred in the year 
44 A. D. 

The Church at Antioch cheerfully responded 
to this call, and sent their contributions, before 
the beginning of the famine, to Jerusalem by 
the hands of Paul and Barnabas. 

A Storm of Persecution. 

The Church at Jerusalem had enjoyed eight 
years of repose since the persecution which 
commenced with the martyrdom of Stephen, 
but was now assailed by a violent though 
transitory tempest. King Herod Agrippa — a 
grandson of Herod the Great, who had been 
brought up at Rome — to whom the Emperor 
Claudius, in whose favor he stood high, had 
granted the government of Judaea, deemed it 
prudent to affect great zeal for the strict ob- 
servance of the ancient ritual, in order to in- 
gratiate himself with his subjects. He there- 
fore manifested great animosity against the 
teachers of the new doctrine, concerning whom, 
indeed, none but unfavorable reports had 
gained access to him. 

He caused James, the son of Zebedee, and 
brother to John, who probably by some act 
or discourse had excited the anger of the 
Jewish zealots, to be put to the sword ; and 
finding that this act was highly pleasing to 
the Jews, he, during the Passover of the year 
44, cast Peter into prison, intending that after 



588 



BROKEN CHAINS. 



the feast he also should suffer death. Shut 
up in prison, in charge of four quaternions 
(or sixteen) soldiers, to two of whom he was 
fastened by chains, one on each side, and sub- 
ject to the fell purposes of an unscrupulous 
tyrant — there seemed no human hope of 
escape for the apostle. 



he had been aroused, and passing safely be- 
tween the first and second guards who were 
fixed in preternatural sleep, he reached the 
iron gate leading to the city. This opened 
of its own accord before the angel, who con- 
ducted him beyond the reach of immediate 
pursuit, and then departed from him. 




But the Church, which knew that all things 
were possible with God, despaired not, but 
offered up most fervent prayers on his behalf. 
And God, who had yet great services for this 
his servant to accomplish, heard their prayer. 
It was the night immediately preceding the 
day on which Herod intended to bring forth 
the apostle to his death, and Peter lay fast 
asleep between the two soldiers to whom he 
was chained, when he was smitten on the side, 
and a voice urged him to rise up quickly and 
go forth. As he arose, the chains fell from 
his hands ; and hastily casting his garments 
about him, he followed the angel by whom 



ROM prison. — Acts xii. 7. 

Touched by a strange hand, he started up ; 
his chains were unbound ; the breath of free- 
dom floated through the old dungeon, and he 
stepped out, a free man. 

Overcome by amazement, the apostle 
deemed all that passed a vision, and in the 
suddenness and rapidity with which it was 
done, he had no time for cool reflection. But 
when the angel had left him, he became alive 
to his real position, and hastened to the house 
of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname 
was Mark. Many of the disciples, knowing the 
danger that awaited him on the morrow, were 
at that moment, and in that house, engaged 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



,589 



in prayer on his behalf. Having with some 
difficulty obtained admittance to them, he 
briefly reported to them all that had passed be- 
tween him and the angel, and taking leave of 
them, withdrew to a place of greater safety. 

Herod Smitten with Death. 

The next morning there was no small stir 
in the palace of Herod and in the common 
prison ; for the prisoner, so securely guarded, 
was nowhere to be found. Vexed and disap- 
pointed, the tyrant ordered the keepers to be 
slain, and then departed to Caesarea ; where, 
in the excess of his pride, he, on some public 
occasion, not only did not repel, but received 
with complacency the Divine honors which 
were tendered to him. For this he was smitten 
of God with one of the most loathsome and 
terrible diseases with which the pride of man 
was ever humbled : " He was eaten of worms, 
and gave up the ghost." 

It seems to have been in the midst of the 
trouble occasioned by the measures of Herod 
Agrippa, that Paul and Barnabas arrived at 
Jerusalem with the benefactions of the Church 
at Antioch. It is probably for this reason 
that their stay was short, and that nothing of 
importance connected with their visit is re- 
corded ; although in the Epistle to the Gala- 
tians, Paul himself relates that he was well 
received by James, Peter, and John, who 
recognized him as an apostle specially ap- 
pointed to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, 
as they were, they believed, " to the circumci- 
sion," or to the seed of Abraham. 

Paul himself knew that he was not inferior 
in authority and power "to the very chiefest 
of the apostles," and this claim was now recog- 
nized by those who seemed to be regarded at 
Jerusalem as " the pillars of the Church." On 
their departure Paul and Barnabas took with 
them the above-named John, surnamed Mark, 
who was the nephew of Barnabas, and who is 
usually supposed to be the same with the 
evangelist Mark, but this is not certain. 

They first proceeded to Antioch, and were 
there soon joined by Peter, who appears to 
have proceeded thither after his deliverance. 



Peter at first freely associated himself, even in 
the eating of food, with the Gentile converts ; 
but when some came from Jerusalem who 
alleged that James had expressed an opinion 
unfavorable to this course he ceased to do so. 
Many other Jewish Christians, and even Bar- 
nabas, were carried away by this example ; 
and a marked line would thus have been 
drawn between the Jewish and Gentile con- 
verts had not Paul interposed and publicly re- 
buked Peter, in the presence of the congrega- 
tion, for the painful inconsistency and discour- 
aging effect of his proceedings. 

The Apostles at Cyprus. 

They first repaired to Cyprus, to which Bar- 
nabas belonged, and traversed the island from 
east to west, from Salamis to Paphos. In the 
latter place they found the proconsul, Sergius 
Paulus — a man dissatisfied with all that the 
popular religion and all that philosophy could 
offer for his religious wants, and anxious to 
avail himself of anything that might offer in 
the shape of a communication from heaven. 
In this frame of mind he had given ear to a 
Jewish impostor, Bar-Jesus, but better known 
by his foreign title of " Elymas," which means 
the same as Magian, or " wise man." 

Feeling that his influence and personal in- 
terests were in danger, this man vehemently 
opposed Paul and Barnabas in the presence 
of the proconsul. But Paul, being filled with 
holy indignation, declared that the Lord would 
punish him with the loss of his eyesight. The 
sentence was immediately fulfilled; the dark- 
ness of night came upon him, and he went 
about seeking some one to lead him by the 
hand. 

Paul and his companions, on quitting Cyprus,, 
passed over to Pamphylia in Asia Minor, and 
proceeding along the borders of Phrygia,. 
Isauria, and Pisidia, made some stay at the 
considerable city of Antioch, distinguished as 
Antioch in Pisidia. On the first Sabbath-day 
after their arrival in this place they repaired to 
the synagogue, and after the reading of the 
law they were asked by the rulers of the syna- 
gogue if they would address the people. 






590 



AN IMPRESSIVE ADDRESS. 



Paul gladly accepted the call, and his ad- 
dress, which is given in Acts xiii. 16 42, is 
an admirable specimen of the wonderful power 
which this extraordinary man possessed of 
adapting his discourse to the audience he ad- 
dressed, as well as of his peculiar antithetical 
mode of developing Christian truth. I'ttcred 
as it was, with all the impressiveness of firm 
conviction, and yet evincing great tenderness 
towards the Jews, it made at first a favorable 
impression upon the audience, and he was re- 
quested to expound the same doctrine more 
fully on the next Sabbath. 

This was the general feeling; but there were 
among them some, especially those who had 
been converted from paganism to the Jewish 
on, who were more deeply affected than 
the rest by the power of truth. These could 
not wait till the next Sabbath, but hast- 
ened after Paul, who had left the synagogue 
with Barnabas, and besought more ample in- 
struction. 

Paul and Barnabas gladly availed themselves 
<>f this opening, and employed themselves dur- 
ing the week in explaining the doctrine of 
Christ in private houses, and likewise in mak- 
ing it known to the Gentiles. Hence, by the 
next Sabbath, the new doctrine had acquired 
notoriety throughout the city, and a great num- 
ber of Gentiles flocked to the synagogue along 
with tlie Jews to hear Paul's discourse. But 
the temper of the Jewish audience had changed. 
Their spiritual pride was shocked to perceive 
that the redemption which Paul preached was 
n<>t to be regarded as the peculiar property of 
the seed of Abraham, but was freely offered, 
" without money and without price," to the 
Gentiles also. 

He was therefore interrupted by violent 
contradictious and reproaches; on which he- 
at length plainly told them th.it he had dis- 
charged the obligation he was under of de- 
claring to them the mercy of God in Christ, 
and that, since they rejected it, to their own 
condemnation, he would now turn to the Gen- 
tiles, who were more disposed to receive it, 
and were equally with them entitled to its ben- 
efits. 



Paul and Barnabas then left the synagogue, 
followed by the Gentile believers ; and a suit- 
able chamber in the house of one of them was 
probably the first place of assembly for the 
congregation which was now formed. Chris- 
tianity then spread with great rapidity through 
the city and the surrounding district. But the 
Jews were meanwhile not idle; they contrived, 
by means of the female proselytes to Judaism, 
belonging to the most respectable families of 
the city, and through their influence on their 
husbands, to raise so strong a persecution 
against Paul and Barnabas that they were 
obliged to leave the place. 

They repaired to a city about ten miles to 
the east, in Lycaonia, called Iconium (now 
Konich), where they had access to both Jews 
and Gentiles. The former, however, here 
proved quite as hostile as at Antioch, so that 
they were soon driven from this city also. 
They then repaired to other cities in the same 
province, and first tarried in the neighboring 
town of Lystra. 

Paul Heals a Cripple. 

Here there were few Jews and no syna- 
gogue; so that Paul and Barnabas could make 
known the Gospel only by entering into con- 
versation, in places of public resort, and thus 
leading persons to listen to their discourse 
on religious subjects : gradually small groups 
were formed, which were increased by many 
persons, who were attracted by curiosity to 
enter into the subject of conversation, and 
hear the new doctrines. 

One day, while Paul was thus occupied, he 
noticed a poor cripple, who had never walked, 
looking steadfastly on him, and drinking in 
with eager attention the precious words which 
fell from his inspired lips. The apostle called 
to him with a loud voice, " Stand upright on 
thy feet;" and he stood up and walked. This 
miracle, parallel to that which Peter and John 
had performed at the beautiful gate of the 
Temple in Jerusalem, attracted here at least 
equal attention with that which the earlier had 
done in the Holy City. The sight drew to- 
gether a vast crowd, and the credulous multi- 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



591 



tude took up the notion that the gods had 
come down to them in the likeness of men. 
Men have always been inclined to hero- 



very superior order. The unthinking multi- 
tude can deify a very poor god. There would 
have been less mistake in worshipping Paul 




PAUL COMMANDING THE CRIPPLE TO STAND UP. Acts xiv. IO. 

worship, and we have the authority of Mr. I and Barnabas than has often happened, yet 
Carlyle for saying that the hero idolized by they were not seeking homage of any kind. A 
the mad populace has not always been of a I most profound impression must have been pro- 



592 



OLYMPIAN JOVE. 



duced by them ; they were clothed with a mys- 
tery which had something unearthly about it. 
Now in this city, Zeus, or Jupiter, was wor- 
shipped as the tutelary god, and a temple 
dedicated t'> him stood near the gate. Accord- 
ingly the people supposed that their own tute- 
lary god Jupiter hail come down to them, and 
the>- identified him with Barnabas, probably 
from his grave manner and noble presence, 
while the eloquent and active Paul they took 
to be Hermes, or Mercury. The news of the 
appearance ol these supposed divinities soon 
reached the Temple, and the priests hastened 
with oxen and with garlands to adorn them, 
purposed to offer sacrifice to the descended 
gods for the welfare of the city. Paul and 
Barnabas were filled with consternation as soon 
as they discovered this design. They rent their 
clothes, and rushed among the crowd exclaim- 
ing, " Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also 
are men of like passions with you, and preach 
unto you, that ye should turn from these 
vanities to the living God." Even by this as- 
surance they scarcely prevailed upon them to 
delist from their purpose. 

Yet the impression which had been made, 
strong as it was, had no duration, being made 
rather upon the senses than the heart; and 
when, soon after, some Jews came to Lystra 
from [conium, they found little difficulty in hi- 
tting a large body of the people against 
Paul, whom they had lately been ready to 
worship. He was stoned in a popular tumult, 
and dragged out of the city for dead. But it 
seems that he had only been rendered insen- 
sible by one or more of the blows he had re- 
ceived ; and while tin: believers stood around 
him, he arose strengthened by the power of 
God, and returned with them to the city. 

He remained only for the rest of that day, 
and departed the next morning to the neigh- 
boring city of Derbe, with Barnabas. When 
they had for a time labored in that city, they 
had the Christian courage to return to the 
towns from which they had been driven by 
stoning and persecutions; the welfare of the 
infant Churches being of far more consequence 
to them than their own safety. After this 



they returned by their former route to Antioch 
in Syria. 

They remained "along time" at Antioch. 
In fact there is a period, variously computed 
from five to eight years, during which no ac- 
count of their movements is given by the sacred 
historian, and which would at the first view 
seem to measure the period of their stay at 
Antioch. It is certain, however, that Paul 
made several journeys, of which we have no 
particular account in the New Testament, and 
it is possible that some of these journeys oc- 
curred during this interval. Thus he preached 
the Gospel as far as Illyricum ; and there is an 
account of trials and persecutions, of many of 
which we have no distinct record, and which 
might have occurred during this period. 

Trials and Dissensions. 

While in this manner Christianity spread 
itself from Antioch, the parent Church of the 
Gentile world, a schism gradually arose be- 
tween it and the other parent Church at Jeru- 
salem, by which the cause of the Gospel 
seemed at first to be placed in great peril. 

There came to Antioch many strictly phari- 
saical-minded converts from Jerusalem, who 
took upon them to assure the Gentile converts 
that without circumcision they could obtain 
no part in the kingdom of God. These per- 
sons reproved Paul and Barnabas for their lax 
and unauthorized proceedings, in dispensing 
with the observances of the old covenant, and 
they raised so much dissension and contro- 
versy that it was at length determined that 
Paul and Barnabas, accompanied by certain 
leading men in the Church at Antioch, should 
proceed to Jerusalem, and confer with the other 
apostles in this great matter. 

The proposal of such a deputation probably 
originated with Paul himself; for he informs 
us, in the Epistle to the Galatians, that he 
knew, from Divine revelation, that an explana- 
tion on the subject had become essential to the 
well-being of the Church. He took with him 
a converted youth of Gentile descent, named 
Titus, who afterwards became his chief asso- 
ciate in preaching, in order to exhibit in his 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 






person a living example of the power of the 
Gospel among the heathen. 

Before a public consultation was held at 
Jerusalem, there were many private confer- 
ences among the apostles. The most important 
result was, that after Paul had given a full 
account to the apostles James, Peter, and John, 
of his course in publishing the Gospel among 
the heathen, and of the fruit of his labors 
among them, they acknowledged fully and 



Barnabas recounted what the Lord had effected 
through their preaching among the Gentiles, 
their accounts were received with much interest 
and satisfaction. But at length some converts, 
who had passed over from the school of the 
Pharisees, began to demur at the exemption 
of the Gentiles from circumcision, and hinted 
at the necessity of subjecting Titus to that 
rite. But Paul strenuously asserted the equal 
privileges of the Gentiles in the kingdom of 




PAUL AND BARNABAS AT ANTIOCH. Acts xiv. 27. 



unreservedly the divine origin of his apostle- 
ship, instead of presuming to dictate to him as 
superiors. They agreed that he should con- 
tinue to labor independently among the Gen- 
tiles, making only one stipulation, that the 
Gentile churches should continue to relieve out 
of their abundance the temporal wants of the 
poor brethren at Jerusalem. " The same which 
I also was forward to do," says Paul, in giving 
liis account of these transactions. 

In the private circles in which Paul and 



God, and affirmed that their faith placed them 
in the same position towards God as believing 
Jews. This controversy gave rise to so much 
vehement discussion, that it was thought nec- 
essary that the subject should be considered 
and settled in a convention of the whole 
Church ; but this was afterwards changed into 
a meeting of chosen delegates. 

In this first Council of the Christian Church, 
held in 52 A. d., Peter stood up and appealed 
to the testimony of his own experience in the 



594 



JAMES' PROPOSAL. 



matter of Cornelius, in favor of the view which 
Paul had taken. The weighty words in which 
he urged the conclusions derivable from this 
experience were heard with profound attention; 
and, as yo < me undertook to answer them, Paul, 
and after him Barnabas, rose to state the results 
of thru own experience to the same effect, and 
appealed with great force to the miracles by 
which God had been pleased to aid and sanction 
their labors. 

When the minds of the assembly had been 
thus prepared, James came forward with a 
sal suited to his own peculiar modera- 
tion, ami well suited to compose the existing 
lies was held in great respect 
by the Jews, from his strictness in observing 
the law, and therefore his words had the 
iter weight with the Jewish converts. 

\ >I« >sa«r«' to the Churches. 

Referring t<> the preceding statements, he 
skilfully demonstrated that in this admission 
of the Gentiles into the blessings of the Mes- 
siah's kingdom, the eternal purposes of God, 
nnounced in old time by the prophets, had 
been fulfilled ; and it behoved them to be care- 
ful not to obstruct or retard so great a work. 

He therefore proposed that they should en- 
join nothing further upon the converted Gen- 
than abstinence from meat offered to idols, 
or of animals strangled, from blood, and from 
unchastity. Most of these things belong to the 
precepts to which men were trained before 
the giving of the law ; and, therefore, although 
included in the law of Moses, were not pecu- 
liar to it. The observance of these offered a 
sort of common ground, in which the Jewish 
and Gentile converts could meet ; and the sug- 
gestions <>f James approved themselves to the 
good sense of the meeting, anil under the in- 
fluence of that higher spirit by which their 
councils were animated, were immediately 
adopted, and were forthwith carried into effect 
by being formally communicated to the Gen- 
tile Churches in Syria and Asia Minor, in an 
epistle drawn up in the name of the assembly. 

Two persons of high repute in the Church, 
Joses, surnamed Barabas, and Silas, were 



chosen to be the bearers of this important 
missive, and to accompany Paul and Barnabas, 
whose authority would be much supported by 
the presence and aid of persons known to be 
delegates from the Church at Jerusalem. A 
copy of the letter, the earliest public document 
of the Christian Church, is given in Acts xv. 

They were also accompanied by the nephew 
of Barnabas, John surnamed Mark, who had 
been the companion of the first journey of 
Paul and Barnabas into Asia, but who had left 
them when they entered Pamphylia, and re- 
turned to Jerusalem. Here Barnabas met him 
again, and having brought him to a sense of 
his former misconduct, induced him to become 
once more their companion. 

After Paul and Barnabas had spent some 
time with the Church at Antioch, they resolved 
to revisit the Churches which they had in their 
former journey into Asia Minor established, 
and to extend their operations still further in 
the same direction. Barnabas wished to take 
his nephew, Mark, again with them as a com- 
panion ; but Paul thought that his unfitness 
for this vocation was evinced by the lightness 
with which he had formerly cast off its obliga- 
tions, and refused his assent to the proposal. 

Young- Timothy. 

Barnabas took this so ill that he parted 
company from one with whom he had hitherto 
so diligently and affectionately labored. He 
struck out another sphere of action for him- 
self; and, taking Mark with him, departed for 
Cyprus, his native country. Paul then, on his 
part, adoped Silas for a companion, and pro- 
ceeded to work out the original plan of the 
journey. Good came out of this seeming 
evil ; for the sphere of labor was enlarged by 
this separation ; and Mark himself seems to 
have profited by this severity of Paul towards 
him, for he afterwards continued faithful in his 
vocation. 

On leaving Antioch, Paul travelled through 
the neighboring parts of Syria, to Cilicia, Pisi- 
dia, and the towns in which he had labored in 
his first journey. At Lystra — the town where 
he had been first worshipped and then stoned 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



595 



— he found a young man named Timothy, who, 
by the instructions of his mother — a pious 
Jewess, but married to a heathen — had received 
religious impressions which had an abiding 
effect. His mother was converted when the 
apostle first visited the town, and young 
Timothy also became a zealous confessor of 
the Gospel. 

Even at Iconium Paul heard of his Chris- 
tian zeal ; and the Church to which he be- 
longed entertained the belief that he was 
destined for great things in the Church of 
Christ. Paul heard this of his young convert 
with great joy, and gladly permitted him to 
accompany him in his travels, to render him 
the services which in those days disciples ren- 
dered to their teachers, and to witness and to 
take part in his labors and sufferings. 

After Paul had visited the Churches already 
founded in those districts, he proceeded to 
Phrygia. It was scarcely possible that he 
should visit all the large towns of this large 
and populous province ; and he therefore 
seems to have left much to be accomplished 
by his pupils, such, for instance, as by Epa- 
phras at Colosse, who afterwards founded a 
Church there, and in the towns of Hierapolis 
and Laodicea. It is evident that Paul took 
much interest in these Churches, to the first of 
which he wrote an invaluable epistle, in which 
the others are mentioned, and in which the 
name of. Epaphras repeatedly occurs ; and it 
seems most probable that the relation which he 
formed with them, and which led them to re- 
gard him as their spiritual father, took place 
during this journey in the way which has been 
indicated. 

From Phrygia Paul proceeded northward to 
Galatia, where his Divine message appears to 
have been well received. Some interesting 
particulars concerning this visit are preserved 
in the Epistle to the Galatians, which the Acts 
of the Apostles do not record. Paul often 
speaks of unusual affliction, which he calls "a 
thorn in his flesh — the messenger of Satan to 
buffet him," by which he was often humbled 
and brought low, and out of which Divine 
grace was magnified. 



What this was cannot be known. Some 
think it was a diminutive stature ; others, dis- 
eased eyes ; others, an imperfect utterance ; 
others, more probably, that it was some acute 
bodily pain, which gave to his person a wasted 
and wan, if not a distorted appearance. He 
was under the strong influence of this infirmity 
when he visited Galatia; but the Divine power 
of his word and his works contrasted so strik- 
ingly with the feebleness of the material organ, 
that the stronger impression was made. 

Paul's Infirmity. 

He mentions this very gratefully in his epis- 
tle to them : " My temptation which was in my 
flesh ye despised not, nor rejected ; but re- 
ceived me as an angel of God, even as Jesus 
Christ." He adds afterwards, " I bear you 
witness that, if it had been possible, ye would 
have plucked your own two eyes and have 
given them to me ; " and this is the passage 
which has chiefly led some to suppose that the 
"infirmity" of Paul lay in his eyesight. 

On leaving Galatia, Paul was at first uncer- 
tain in what direction to turn, since new fields 
of labor opened to him on different sides. At 
one time he contemplated going in a south- 
westerly direction, to Proconsular Asia, and 
afterwards of passing in a northerly direction 
into Mysia and Bithynia ; but either by an in- 
ward voice or a vision he received a monition 
from the Divine spirit which caused him to 
abandon both these plans. He then formed 
an intention of passing into Europe; but wait- 
ing to see whether he should be encouraged 
or withheld by a higher guidance, he betook 
himself to Troas ; and a nocturnal vision, in 
which he beheld a man in the garb of a Mace- 
donian calling to him for aid, confirmed his 
resolution to visit Macedonia. 

At Troas he met with Luke the physician, 
perhaps one of the proselytes who had been 
converted by him at Antioch, and who now 
joined the party of Paul, and remained at- 
tached to it in labor and travel till the inspired 
record terminates. That record, as contained 
in the Acts of the Apostles, is usually held to 
have been written by Luke ; and it would appear 



596 



PAUL AT ROME. 



that he wrote it at Rome during Paul's first 
imprisonment, ami while his cause, which lie 
had referred to the imperial tribunal, was still 
undecided. 

At least the narrative is, u> ue .^hall find, 
brought down to that point, and there stops 
with some abruptness — which is strongly in 



Luke was a faithful friend. He clung to 
Paul through all his varying fortunes, and was 
his companion in the old Roman dungeon. 
Others forsook the great hero, but Luke was 
not of the number. 

We have been accustomed to consider Paul 
as a rugged sort of man, one whose external 







PAUL wi:i l i:m, Ills EPISTLES 

favor of this conclusion. Henceforth Luke is 
t<> be regarded as a companion of Paul, except 
during a short interval, although he scarcely 
allows his own presence to be indicated in his 
narrative, otherwise than by the occasional use 
of the pronoun we, in recording the proceed- 
ings of the apostolic mission. 



in prison. — 2 Tim. iv. II. 

appearance was not very attractive; but, as 
when Moses smote the rock in the wilderness 
the sweet waters came forth, so there may be 
a rugged, rocky nature which contains foun- 
tains of deep feeling. Paul was not only re- 
markable for his intellectual endowments; he 
was equally remarkable in his emotional na- 



SAUL'S REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 



597 



ture, in the strong affections which he dis- 
played, which are brought to our notice in 
many parts of his history, and which come to 
us as a sudden, pleasant surprise. 

How strongly attached had he become to 
Luke! Think of his wonderful fondness for 
the young Timothy, whom he regarded almost 
as his son. This part of the history that we 
have just passed shows us the apostle in com- 
pany with Luke, the historian. There were 
those who clung to Paul even to the last, and 
if anyone did prove to be a heretic, it was on 
account of the doctrines which the apostle 
preached more than on account of any offen- 
sive traits that he possessed. 

His disposition was such as to draw people 
to himself. He was bold, he was magnetic, 
he was devout, he was a thousand men in one. 
Paul had something to do with empires. Paul 
had something to do with subsequent history. 
His life has entered into the life of the world, 
and he is one of those few men whom history 
does not dwarf. He is one of those majestic 
figures that look the more majestic through 
the backward vista of time. 

This much may be said of him as we see 
him for a moment in the old dungeon with his 
faithful companion by his side, the companion 
of his travels and the chronicler of his mar- 
velous deeds, making records that are des- 
tined to immortality. 



■ Look in, and see Christ's chosen saint 

In triumph wear his Christ-like chain; 
No fear lest he should swerve or faint; 
' His life is Christ, his death is gain.' 

' Two converts, watching by his side, 

Alike his love and greetings share; 
Luke the beloved, the sick soul's guide, 
And Uemas, named in faltering prayer. 

' Pass a few years — look in once more — 

The saint is in his bonds again ; 
Save that his hopes more boldly soar, 
He and his lot unchanged remain. 

' But only Luke is with him now ; — 
Alas! that even the martyr's cell, 
Heaven's very gate, should scope allow 
For the false world's seducing spell. 

Vainly before the shrine he bends, 

Who knows not the true pilgrim's part: 
The martyr's cell no safely lends 

To him, who wants the martyr's heart. 

' But if there be, who follows Paul 

As Paul his Lord, in life and death, 
Where'er an aching heart may call, 
Ready to speed and take no breath ; 

'■' Whose joy is, to the wandering sheep 
To tell of the Great Shepherd's love; 
To learn of mourners while they weep 
The music that makes mirth above ; 

" Who makes the Saviour all his theme, 
The Gospel all his pride and praise — 
Approach : for thou canst feel the gleam 
That round the martyr's death-bed plays. 




CHAPTER XL. 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 




EF< >RE making an 
extended tour 
through Macedonia, 
Paul remained a 
short time at Phil- 
ippi, an important 
place which derived 
its name from its 
founder, Philip, the 
father of Alexander 
the Great, and which 
acquired celebrity 
from several battles 
being fought there during the civil wars of the 
Romans, particularly the great battle between 
Brutus and Antony, which decided the fate of 
•nan empire. It was here that Brutus 
killed himself; and this is the Philippi to 
which Paul eventually wrote the epistle which 
its name. 
The number <>f Jews at this place was not 
sufficient to enable them to establish a syna- 
Probably they were only proselytes 
from heathenism ; and they had outside of the 
town, among the trees on the banks of the 
Strymon, a small place for prayer, such as 
were used in the absence of a synagogue, and 
which appears to have had much resemblance 
to tin- analogous prayer-places of the Moslems. 
Paul repaired to this place the first Sabbath 
after his arrival, and addressed the women 
whom he found assembled there, with his 
usual impressiven ting the things of 

Christ. His words strongly affected the heart 
of Lydia, a dealer in purple from the town of 
Thyatira, in Lydia; and at the conclusion of 
the day's service she and her whole family 
wen- baptized by him; and he and his com- 
panions were constrained by her hospitable 
importunities to take up their abode in her 
house. 

(598) 



There was in Philippi a female slave, who, 
in a state resembling somnambulism, was ac- 
customed to answer, unconsciously, questions 
proposed to her, and was regarded as possessed 
by the Pythian Apollo, or as a prophetess in- 
spired by him when the afflatus came upon 
her. She had then, and afterwards, frequent 
opportunities of hearing Paul, and his words 
made an impression upon her mind. In her 
convulsive fits these impressions were revived, 
and, mingling what she had heard from Paul 
with her own heathenish notions, she fre- 
quently followed him and his companions 
when on their way to the place of prayer, cry- 
ing out, " These men are the servants of the 
Most High God, who show unto us the way 
of salvation ! " 

This testimony from a woman supposed to 
be inspired was calculated to draw the atten- 
tion of the people to the new doctrine. But it 
was far from the temper of Paul to avail him- 
self, or even to endure, a testimony which, 
although true, was rendered impure by the 
medium through which it passed. At first he 
took no notice of her: but at length he turned 
to her, and in the name of Jesus commanded 
the spirit which held her powers in bondage 
to depart from her. 

The masters of the woman had driven a 
thriving trade by the fees which they received 
from those who desired to obtain the benefit 
of her oracular responses ; and seeing all their 
gains cut off by her cure, their rage against the 
strangers became boundless, and they seized 
upon Paul and Silas, and haled them before 
the magistrates of the place. Before this 
tribunal they accused them, not immediately 
of their own grievance, which would have ren- 
dered their motive too transparent, but as tur- 
bulent Jews, whose religious practices were 
contrary to the Roman laws. 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



599 



This charge .oused the multitude against 
these holy men ; and the magistrates, without 
hearing the matter further at present, directed 
them to be publicly scourged, and then sent 
them to the town prison, probably with the 
view of punishing them on a future day ac- 
cording to the forms of law. The smart of 
the lash, the gloom of the prison, the painful 
confinement of the stocks in which their feet 
were fastened, and the expectation of suffering 
and wrong which lay before them, could not 
depress their souls — nay, rather their hearts 
exulted in the consciousness that they suffered 
in the cause of Christ — and even at midnight 
they gave vent to their feelings in singing the 
praises of God. 

A Startling- Earthquake. 

As they were thus employed the place was 
shaken by an earthquake to its very founda- 
tion, so that every door was burst open and 
the bonds of every one fell from him. The 
governor of the prison being thus awakened 
suddenly from his sleep, and finding all the 
prison doors wide open, concluded that the 
prisoners, for whose safe keeping he was re- 
sponsible, had made their escape ; and, in his 
agitation and alarm, drew his sword with in- 
tent to destroy himself therewith. This re- 
source to a man from dangers which he could 
not escape was approved by the philosophy 
of the time, and was recommended to the 
heathen by many eminent examples ; but, 
happily, the jailor of Philippi was spared from 
it, for Paul and Silas calmed his fears by call- 
ing out, " Do thyself no harm, for we are all 
here ! " 

The earthquake, which gave them the op- 
portunity to escape, their neglect to avail 
themselves of the opportunity, made them ap- 
pear as something more than men to the re- 
lieved jailer. " He called for a light, and 
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down 
before Paul and Silas : and besought them and 
said, ' Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? ' " 
That momentous question was answered, " Be- 
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved, and thy house." Gladly did the 



apostles avail themselves of this opening to 
declare the great message with which they 
were charged, and to bring light and gladness 
to their prison walls. The jailer and his house- 
hold received that light into their souls, and 
were gladdened by it. They were baptized 
without delay ; and the jailer brought them to 
his private residence, bathed their wounds, 
and caused food to be placed before them. 

The next morning early the magistrates 
sent the lictors to the jailer, enjoining him to 
let his prisoners depart. But having been 
ignominiously whipped the preceding day, 
Paul thought that it beca>me him to assert the 
civil privileges which belonged to him as a 
citizen of Rome ; and he and Silas (who must 
also have been in possession of the Roman 
citizenship) refused to leave the prison unless 
the magistrates came in person to release 
them, in attestation of their innocence. 

Paul and Silas Released from Prison. 

So alarmed were the magistrates at having 
committed the high crime of subjecting Ro- 
man citizens to the scourge, that they came 
and conducted them out of the prison. They 
had intimated a wish that Paul and Silas 
should leave the city, with which they thought 
proper to comply after they had visited the 
house of Lydia, and imparted some final com- 
fort and encouragement to their friends. 

Luke and Timothy, who had not been in- 
volved in the recent tumult, remained behind, 
but afterwards rejoined their party — Timothy 
at Thessalonica, or Beraea, and Luke at a later 
period. The Church which was thus formed 
at Philippi continued to entertain the most 
affectionate attachment to Paul, which they 
evinced by bringing contributions for his 
maintenance, although he was by no means 
prone to seek such gifts from his converts, but 
often chose rather to labor with his hands 
for a subsistence than be suspected of inter- 
ested motives. 

From Philippi Paul and Silas proceeded to 
Thessalonica, about twenty miles distant, the 
largest city in Macedonia, and a place of con- 
siderable traffic, where many Jews resided. 




(600) 






PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



601 



Here they found a synagogue, which for 
three weeks Paul visited on the Sabbath-days. 
The Jews were obstinate, but many of the 
" devout Greeks " — who in dissatisfaction with 
their native idolatries had become proselytes 
to the Jewish religion — rejoiced in the glad 
tidings which he brought, and found in the 
doctrine of Christ a firmer and happier resting- 
point for their troubled minds than Judaism 
offered. 

" Chief women, not a few " — that is, women 
connected with families of rank and influence 
in the place — are specially mentioned among 
those who were favorably affected by the 
preaching of the apostle. The same had hap- 
pened on other occasions, as at Antioch in 
Pisidia, and, more recently, at Philippi ; and 
perhaps we may conclude from such instances, 
which are probably but examples of many 
other cases not specified, that women of this 
class and character bore a more important 
part and exercised a more important influ- 
ence in the early propagation of the Gospel 
than they have had credit for. At a subse- 
quent period Paul wrote two epistles to the 
Church which he founded in Thessalonica; and 
from that we learn that he was not long con- 
tent with addressing the proselytes only once 
a week at the meetings of the synagogue, 
where his preaching would have been confined 
to the small number of the Gentiles who had 
joined the Jews in their worship, and where 
also he was obliged to adopt such a method 
and form of address as was suited to the pecu- 
liar condition of the Jews. 

He availed himself of all openings and op- 
portunities for making the Gospel known in 
the city ; and ere long those Gentiles, whose 
attention had been awakened by the proselytes 
assembled in various places to hear the apostle, 
and from them chiefly was formed that body 
of Christians which, as Paul himself testifies, 
became " ensamples to all them that believe in 
Macedonia and Achaia." From the epistles 
another interesting point transpires. It was a 
custom among the Jews that all their sons 
should learn a manual craft of some kind or 
other. Even those whose circumstances 



suggested no probability that their sons 
would ever need this provision against the 
changes of life, deemed it criminal to neglect 
this mode of securing to them a means of 
support. 

Under this view Paul had been taught the 
trade of a tent-maker; and he now found good 
use of the attainment. Being now cut off 
from the resources which his birth and con- 
nections opened to him, he had but two alter- 
natives — either to subsist on the bounty of the 
converts, or to work for his maintenance. 

Paul Working at his Trade. 

Our apostle acted in this matter according 
to the circumstances. He accepted freely 
what was freely offered ; or if on any occasion 
he suspected that his motives might be mis- 
construed, he chose rather to work night and 
day, to provide not only for his own wants, 
but for those of his companions — availing 
himself of such opportunities of declaring the 
gospel as the incidents and intervals of labor 
offered. This he did at Thessalonica. " Ye 
remember, brethren," he says, " our labor 
and travail ; for, laboring night and day, be- 
cause we would be chargeable to any of you,, 
we preached unto you the Gospel of Christ." 

The speedy and cordial reception which the 
Gospel met with among the Gentiles of this 
place soon roused the indignation and anger 
of the Jews. They had themselves little 
power in a heathen city : but by their mis- 
representations of the character and objects of 
the apostolical party, they stirred up some of 
the common people, who forced their way into 
the house of Jason, a Christian, with whom 
Paul was staying. Not finding the apostle,, 
they dragged Jason himself and those who 
were with him before the judgment-seat. 

The accusation here rendered was different 
from the usual one, but was well calculated to 
gain the attention of the magistrates, and 
was chosen for that reason. Paul had spoken 
much of the future kingdom of Christ, and the 
accusers took hold of this to lay a charge of 
political delinquency against him. The terms 
of the accusation, indeed, convey a remark- 



602 



HANNAH MORES TRIBUTE TO PAUL. 



able intimation of the extent to which Chris- 
tianity had already become a matter of wide 
report among the nations, as well as of the 
vague notions which were entertained of it. 
" These that have turned the world upside 
;i,'' cried the mob, " are come hither also; 
'whom Jason has received: and these all do 
contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there 
is another king, one Jesus." But the authori- 
ties would not credit or entertain so vague a 
charge against the respectable and well-known 
citizens who were brought before them as 
being implicated in it; and after they had 
taken security from Jason that there should 
be no violation of the public peace, and that 
the parties whose proceedings were questioned 
should soon leave the city, the complaint was 

dismis 

\ Tumult at Beraea. 

The same evening Paul and Silas departed 
from the city — much sooner than they wished, 
or than they thought good for the Church 
they had been enabled to establish. Paul, 
however, formed the intention of returning as 
. a> the excitement against him should 
have subsided. 

Paul and Silas proceeded to Beraea, a town 
about ten miles distant ; and here they had 
the same pleasure of finding Jews open to 
conviction, and disposed to examine by the 
Scriptural tests to which they referred the 
trines which they advanced. Some un- 
ion was also made upon the Gentiles in 
this place; but the stay of Paul and Silas was 
but short, as some Jews from Thessalonica 
soon arrived at Beraea, and raised such a 
tumult against them that Paul was constrained 
to (juit the place, accompanied by some of 
the believers, leaving Silas and Timothy behind 
him. 

From Beraea, which was near the sea, Paul 
proceeded to Athens — a new and memorable 
scene for the labors of our great apostle. 
Hannah More, who in her very eloquent 
4t Essay on the Character of St. Paul," has put 
forth all her strength in describing his pro- 
ceedings at Athens, here remarks; — "Though 
the political and military splendor of Athens 



had declined, and the seat of government, 
after the conquest of Greece by the Romans, 
had been transferred to Corinth, yet the sun 
of her glory was not set. Philosophy and the 
liberal arts were still carefully cultivated; stu- 
dents in every department, and from every 
quarter, resorted thither for improvement ; 
and her streets were crowded by senators and 
rhetoricians, philosophers and statesmen. As 
Paul visited Athens with views which had in- 
stigated no preceding, and would probably be 
entertained by no succeeding traveller, so his 
attention in that most interesting city was at- 
tracted by objects far different from theirs. 

" He was in all probability qualified to range 
with a learned eye over the exquisite pieces 
of art, and to consult and enjoy the curious 
remains of literature — theatres and temples, 
and schools of philosophy, sepulchres and 
cenotaphs, statues of patriots and portraits of 
heroes — monuments by which the artist in- 
sured to himself the immortality he was con- 
ferring. Yet one edifice alone arrested the 
apostle's notice — an altar of the idolatrous 
worshippers. One record of antiquity alone 
invited his critical acumen — the inscription 
' To the Unknown God.' " 

Supreme Court of Athens. 

While Paul waited at Athens the arrival of 
his companions, " his spirit was stirred within 
him when he saw the city wholly given to 
idolatry;" or rather, "filled with temples, 
altars, and idols." He couid not withhold his 
testimony to the truth of God against these 
lying abominations. In the synagogues he 
debated with the Jews and proselytes, and in 
the market-places with the people who there 
congregated. A stranger with a new doctrine 
soon attracted the attention of the most idle, 
curious, and critical population in the world; 
for as the sacred writer, with characteristic 
accuracy, remarks, " All the Athenians and 
strangers which were there spent their time in 
nothing else but either to tell or to hear some 
new thing." 

Among the rest the apostle encountered 
some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers; and 



wmgiiim 







(603) 



604 



ADDRESS TO THE ATHENIANS. 



When they heard him speak of Jesus and the 
resurrection, some said, " What meaneth tins 
babbler to say?" Others. "He seetneth to 
be a setter forth of strange doctrines. The 
former were probably Epicureans, who denied 
the possibility of a future life, while tiny stig- 
matized the doctrine ..f the resurrection " the 
hope of worms;" and the hitter Stoics, who 
rded Jesus as some new demon or hero 
whom Paul recommended to their notice. 



Paul's Eloquent Discourse. 

By them the apostle was conducted to the 

rus, or Mars' Hill, which was the place 

ireopagites, the celebrated supreme 

judges of Athens, were wont to assemble. It 

a hill almost in the middle of the city, 

which is almost entirely a mass of stone, and 

,s not easily accessible, its sides hem- abrupt 

an ,l -a main- accounts this was the 

most celebrated tribunal in the ancient world. 

lecrees were distinguished for justice and 

correctness ; nor was there any court in Greece 

in which so much confidence was placed. 

It had cognizance of all kinds of offences 
against the public weal, and was particularly 
ntive to blasphemies against the gods, and 
to the due perf >rmance of tin- sacred mysteries 
of religion. It does not appeal', however, that 
this tribunal, which usually met by night, was 
at this time sitting, or that Paul was in any way 
brought to trial : there woe no accusations, no 
witnesses, hoik- of the forms of judgment. 
They seem to have resorted thither merely 
because it was the place where subjects of 
religion were usually discussed ; and because 

it was a place of concourse for the judges, 
philosophers, ami citizens of Athens. 

\ trial might, however, have been the ulti- 
mate result; and this contingency, together 
with the conflii tin- opinions and high educa- 
tion of the audience, made the occasion suf- 
ficiently solemn and trying, and called for all 
the fine tact ami ability with which the apostle 
was so eminently gifted. Nor did they fail 
him in this greal emergency: the consummate 
address with which Paul acquitted himself on 
this new and difficult occasion, and the readi- 



ness with which his opulent mind found re- 
sources equal to the demands upon him, have 
won the admiration and respect of all ages. 

The writer of the " Essay of the Character 
of St. Paul" has furnished an eloquent and 
discriminating account of this discourse, with 
some portions of which we may indulge the 
reader: 

" The disposition of this people, their pas- 
sion for disputation, their characteristic and 
proverbial love of novelty, had drawn together 
a vast assembly. Many of the philosophical 
sects eagerly joined the audience. Curiosity is 
called by an ancient writer the wantonness of 
knowledge. These critics came, it is likely, 
not as inquirers, but as spies. The grave Stoics 
probably expected to hear some new un- 
broached doctrine which they might over- 
throw by argument; the lively Epicureans, 
some fresh absurdity which would afford a 
new field for diversion; the citizens, perhaps, 
crowding and listening, from the mere motive 
that they might afterwards have to tell the new- 
thing they should hear. 



Ignorant Worship. 

" Paul took advantage of their curiosity, 
he habitually opened his discourse with great 
moderation, we are the less surprised at the 
measured censure, or rather, the implied 
civility of his introduction. The ambiguous 
term translated ' superstitious,' which he em- 
ployed, might be either construed into respect 
for their spirit of religious inquiry, or into dis- 
approbation of its unreasonable excess; at 
least he intimated that they were so far from 
not reverencing the acknowledged gods, that 
they worshipped one that was unknown. 

" With his usual discriminating mind, he 
did not reason with these eloquent and learned 
polytheists ' out of the Scriptures,' of which 
they were totally ignorant, as he had done at 
Antioch and Caesarea before the judges who 
were trained in the know ledge of them ; he 
addressed his present auditors with an elo- 
quent exposition of natural religion, and of 
the providential government of God, politely 
citing passages from one of their own authors." 



: 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



605 



These quotations enabled him, without 
having recourse to Scripture, to controvert the 
Epicurean doctrine, that the Deity had no in- 
terference with human concerns; showing 
them, on their own principles, that " we are 
the offspring of God," and that "in Him we 
live, and move, and have our being;" and it is 
worth observing that he could select from a 
poet sentiments which come nearer to the 
truth than any from a philosopher. 

The orator, rising with his subject, after 
briefly touching on the long-suffering of God, 
awfully announced that ignorance would be 
no longer any plea for idolatry ; that if the 
Divine forbearance had permitted it so long, 
it was in order to make the wise not only see 
but feel the insufficiency of their own wisdom 
in what related to the great concerns of re- 
ligion ; but he now " recommended all men, 
everywhere, to repent." He concludes by an- 
nouncing the solemnities of Christ's future 
judgment and the resurrection from the dead. 

Athenian Idolatry. 

In considering the apostle's manner of un- 
folding to these wits and sages the power and 
goodness of that Supreme Intelligence who 
{as the Unknown God) was the object of their 
f ignorant worship," we are at once astonished 
at his intrepidity and his management ; intre- 
pidity, in preferring this bold charge against 
an audience of the most accomplished scholars 
in the world — in charging ignorance upon 
Athens! blindness on "the eye of Greece !" — 
and management, in so judiciously conducting 
his oration, that the audience expressed neither 
impatience nor displeasure till he began to un- 
fold the most obnoxious and unpopular of all 
doctrines — Jesus raised from the dead. 

The great command of language, argu- 
ment, and temper which the apostle manifested, 
will be better understood, if we consider how 
utterly repugnant to all his ideas and feelings 
were the various objects which met his view 
from the high place in which he stood. In- 
spired by feelings that were implanted from 
his youth in the mind of a pious Jew, and 
glowing with zeal for the honor of God, the 



I apostle must have bc:cn really horror-struck at 
the spectacle of idolatry which met him 
wherever he turned his eyes. 

A graphic writer in Mr. Kitto's " Cyclo- 
paedia of Biblical Literature" thus describes 
l the objects which met the view of the apostle : 
" Having come up from the level parts of the 
city where the markets (there were two, the 
old and the new) were, he would probably 
stand with his face towards the north, and 
would then have immediately behind him the 
long walls which ran down to the sea, affording 
protection against a foreign enemy. Near the 
sea, on one side, was the harbor of Peiraeus, 
on the other that designated Phalerum, with 
their crowded arsenals, their busy workmen, 
and their gallant ships. Not far off, on the. 
ocean, lay the island of Salamis, ennobled for- 
ever in history as the spot near which Athen- 
ian valor chastised Asiatic pride, and achieved 
the liberty of Greece. 

" The apostle had only to turn towards his 
right hand to catch a view of a small but cel- 
ebrated hill rising within the city, near that on 
which he stood, where, standing on a block 
of bare stone, Demosthenes and other distin- 
guished orators had addressed the assembled 
people of Athens, swaying that arrogant and 
fickle democracy, and thereby making Philip 
of Macedon tremble, or working good or ill 
for the entire civilized world. 

Magnificent Works of Art. 

" On the left, somewhat beyond the walls, 
was beheld the academy, with its groves of 
plane and olive trees, its retired walks and 
cooling fountains, its altars to the Muses, its 
statues of the Graces, its temple of Minerva, 
and its altars to Prometheus, to Love, and to 
Hercules, near which Plato had his country- 
seat, and in the midst of which he had taught, 
as well as his followers after him. But the 
most impressive spectacle lay on his right 
hand, for there, on the small and precipitous 
hill, named the Acropolis, were clustered to- 
gether monuments of the highest art, and 
memorials of the national religion, such as no 
other equal spot of ground has ever borne. 



■ 



606 



THE UNKNOWN GOD. 



"The apostle's eye, in turning to the right, I corner to the south-west, only eleven hundred 
would fell on the north-west view of the emi- and fifty feet, while its greatest breadth did 

not exceed five hundred feet. 

On the hill where Paul had his station was, 
at the eastern end, the temple of the Furies 



nence, which was here (and all around) cov 
ered and protected by a wall, parts of which 
were so ancient as to be of Cyclopean origin. 
The western side, which alone gave access to 
what, from its original destination, may be 
termed the fort, was, during the administra- 
tion ..I Pericles, adorned with a splendid flight 
nd the beautiful Propykea, with its 
nccs and two flanking temples, con- 
structed of finest marble, at a cost of two 
thousand and twelve talents, or nearly two 
and a half million dollars. In the times of 
the Roman emperors there stood before the 
Propylaea equestrian statues of Augustus and 

ppa. On the southern wing of the Pro- 
pylaea was a temple of the Wingless Victory; 
on the northern a superb picture gallery. 
" ( )n the highest part of the platform of the 

•)olis, not more than three hundred feet 
from the entrance buildings first described, 

! (and yet stands, though shattered and 
mutilated) the Parthenon, justly celebrated 
throughout the world, erected of white Pen- 
telican marble, and adorned with the finest 
sculptures from the hand of Phidias. 

Sanctuary of the Gods. 

" Northward from the Parthenon was a com- 
pound building, which contained the temple 
of Minerva Polias. This sanctuary contained 
the holy olive-tree sacred to Minerva, the 
holy salt-spring, the ancient wooden image of 
Pallas, and was the scene of the oldest and 
most venerated ceremonies and recollections 
of the Athenians. Near was the colossal 
bronze statue of Pallas Promachos, the work 
of Phidias, which towered so high above the 
other buildings that the plume of her helmet 
and the point of her -pear were visible on the 



and other national and commemorative ed- 
ifices. The court-house of the council, which 
was also here, was, according to the simplicity 
of ancient customs, built of clay. In the same 
place were seen two silver blocks, on one of 
which stood the accuser and on the other the 
accused. Near them stood two altars erected 
by Epimenides, one to Insult and the other to 
Shamelessness." 

This description will furnish the reader with 
a distinct impression of the innumerable sym- 
bols and monuments of idolatry which met 
the apostle's view, and will suggest the grounds 
on which, even before he stood on Mars' Hill, 
" his spirit was stirred within him when he 
saw the city wholly given to idolatry." 

A Bold Announcement. 

The very skilful use to which, in his dis- 
course, Paul applied the inscription on the 
altar may claim a few words of further no- 
tice. " Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in 
all things ye are too superstitious. For as I 
passed by," he said, " and beheld your devo- 
tions, I saw an altar with this inscription, 'To 
the Unknown God;' whom, therefore, ye ig- 
norantly worship declare I unto you." 

If the word translated "superstitious" was 
employed in its good sense, as is now gener- 
ally believed, we perceive that the apostle, 
after applauding the strength of the sentiment 
of religious dependence among the Athenians, 
cites as an instance of it this altar and its in- 
scription to the unknown God. 

This inscription, certainly, as understood by 
those who framed it, by no means proved that 



sea between Sunium and Athens. Moreover, j they had attained to the conception of an un- 
the Acropolis itself was occupied by so great known god exalted above all other gods; but 
a crowd of statins and monuments that the only that, according to their belief, they had 
account, as found in Pausanias, excites the received good or evil from some unknown 
reader's wonder, and makes it difficult to un- ! god. But Paul cites this inscription in order 
derstand how so much could be crowded into to attach a deeper meaning to it. " I announce 
a space which extended, from the south-east to you Him," he said, " whom without know- 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



607 



ing him, ye worship; " and proceeded to im- 
press the idea of one God, whose offspring, by 
one act of creation, all mankind equally were ; 
and after ably tracing the latent consciousness 
of this great fact evinced by their own acts, and 
even by the words of their poets, he came to 
speak of Jesus and the resurrection. 

As soon as he began to touch upon the 
doctrine of the Gospel — calling his proud 
audience to repentance through Jesus Christ, 
and declaring his resurrection from the dead as 
the confirmation and zeal of this great mission 
upon earth, and as a testimonial of a general 
resurrection to take place hereafter — he was 
interrupted with ridicule on the part of some 
of his hearers. Others said, that they would 
hear him speak of the matter another time — 
thus courteously intimating to the apostle that 
they wished him to close his address, or else 
really intending to hear him again. 

There were only a few individuals in the 
assembly who joined themselves to the apostle, 
listening to his further instructions, and became 
believers. Among them was Dionysius, a 
member of the Areopagite council, and " a 
woman named Damans." Of Dionysius noth- 
ing more is certainly known than is here 
stated, although he became the subject of many 
legends. The only authentic tradition con- 
cerning him seems to be, that he was the prin- 
cipal instrument of forming a Church at Athens, 
and became its overseer. 

While Paul was at Athens, Timothy re- 
turned from Macedonia, and the anxiety of 
Paul for the new Church at Thessalonica in- 
duced him to send his young fellow-laborer 
thither, that he might contribute to the estab- 
lishment of their faith, and to their consolation 
under the sufferings to which they were ex- 
posed ; for Timothy had communicated to him 
many distressing accounts of the persecutions 
which had befallen this Church. 

Paul then quitted Athens himself, travelling 
alone. He proceeded to the city of Corinth, 
the metropolis of the province of Achaia, and 
the seat of the Roman governor. This city, 
within a century and a half after its destruction 
by Julius Caesar, once more became the centre 



of intercourse and traffic to the eastern and 
western parts of the Roman empire, for which 
it was eminently fitted by its natural advan- 
tages, namely, by its situation on the isthmus 
connecting the Peloponnesus with the main 
land of Greece ; and by the possession of two 
ports, on the opposite sides of the isthmus, one 
facing towards the Lesser Asia and the East, 
and ths other towards Italy and the West. 
Being thus situated, Corinth became an im- 
portant position for spreading the Gospel 
through a greater part of the Roman empire ; 
and hence Paul chose the city, as he had 
chosen others similarly situated, to be the 
place where he made a long sojourn. 

Paul at Corinth. 

At Corinth Paul found two opposite mental 
tendencies strongly opposed to the reception 
of the doctrine he came to promulgate. The 
first of these was an inordinate devotedness to 
speculative inquiries, to the neglect of all mat- 
ters of practical importance ; and the other, 
the disposition to mingle the sensuous ten- 
dency with the religious sentiment. Hence the 
large measure of attention which the apostle 
devoted to these matters in the admirable 
epistles which at a subsequent period he ad- 
dressed to the Corinthian Church. The first he 
designates by the phrase " seeking after wis- 
dom," and the other by " seeking after a 
sign." 

The first of these tendencies was chiefly 
manifested among the large number of persons 
in Corinth who made pretensions to mental 
cultivation. And these were not few ; for the 
new Corinth was distinguished from the more 
ancient city chiefly by becoming, in addition 
to its commercial celebrity, a seat of philos- 
ophy and literature, so that a tincture of high 
mental cultivation pervaded the place. The 
second was more apparent among the numerous 
Jews who had settled themselves in that great 
commercial emporium, and who entertained 
the common material conceptions respecting 
the Messiah and his kingdom. 

And, besides, a great obstacle to the Chris- 
tian doctrine was found in the gross corrup- 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



609 



tion of morals which at this period pervaded 
all the great cities of the Roman empire, and 
which at Corinth was especially promoted by 
the worship of Venus Aphrodite, to which a 
celebrated temple was here erected, and which 
in some degree consecrated that sensual in- 
dulgence, to which the usual incitements of a 
place of great wealth and traffic were already 
too numerous. 

An Enterprising Tent-Maker. 

The efficiency of Paul's ministrations in this 
important but veiy difficult station appears to 
have been much promoted by his meeting 
there a friend and zealous advocate of the 
Gospel in the person of Aquila, a Jew of Pon- 
tus, at whose house he lodged, and with whom 
he obtained employment at tent-making for his 
livelihood. Tent-making was in those times 
.and climates a profitable business, and it 
seems to have been conducted on a large scale 
by Aquila. 

He was lately from Rome, which does not, 
however, appear to have been his fixed resi- 
dence; for he is supposed to have taken up his 
abode at different times, as his business might 
require, in various large cities, the seats of 
commerce and luxury, where he found him- 
self equally at home. This is a mode of con- 
ducting certain kinds of business still common 
in the East ; and the present is not the only 
trace of it which we find in the Scriptures. 
He had, however, been constrained to leave 
Rome under a decree of the Emperor Claudius, 
who found in the turbulent disposition of the 
Jewish residents at Rome, who were mostly 
freed-men, a reason or a pretence for banishing 
them from the imperial city. 

It is not clear whether Aquila was already 
a Christian when Paul met with him at Corinth. 
The circumstance that Paul needed employ- 
ment in his trade will sufficiently account for 
their coming together, without this supposi- 
tion ; and there is something pleasing to the 
mind in contemplating the holy apostle as, 
during or in the intervals of his honest labor, 
discoursing to his friendly employer of the 
great facts and doctrines which filled his soul, 



and which he was always ready and anxious, 
" in season and out of season," to impart to 
others ; till at length he was enabled to add 
Aquila and his excellent wife Priscilla also to 
the number of those who looked to. him as 
their spiritual father. 

But whether first converted to Christianity 
or not through the instrumentality of the 
apostle, his intercourse with them had doubt- 
less great influence in the formation of their 
views of Christian truth ; and from this time 
we find Aquila a zealous preacher of the Gos- 
pel, in which his frequent journeys and changes 
of residence gave him no ordinary advantages; 
and in all his labors he was worthily seconded 
by his wife Priscilla, so that Paul emphatically 
designates both of them as his " helpers in 
Christ Jesus." 

Paul Accused. 
Paul, as usual, commenced his public ser- 
vices at Corinth by preaching on the Sabbath 
days in the synagogues : but he was soon 
driven, by the hostile disposition which the 
Jews manifested, to direct his labors to the 
Gentiles, through the medium of the prose- 
lytes, to whom a small number of Jews joined 
themselves. The great cause to which the 
apostle was devoted soon made such progress 
at Corinth as must have consoled the apostle 
greatly for his small success at Athens ; and 
the fact of the contrast thus formed in his mind 
serves to illustrate many allusions in his Cor- 
inthian Epistles. 

From this source we learn that he came to 
Corinth with a very depressing conviction of 
the insufficiency of human means — of address, 
of learning, of eloquence — in procuring ac- 
ceptance for the Divine Word ; and that there- 
fore he had determined at Corinth to address 
himself at once and directly to the main point 
— salvation through Jesus Christ. The suc- 
cess which attended this course of proceeding 
very soon excited the ill-will of the Jews, who 
availed themselves of the arrival of a new pro- 
consul, Annaeus Gallio, a brother of Seneca, 
the philosopher, to arraign Paul before his 
tribunal. 

The ground of accusation in this case was 



610 



GALLIO'S ADVICE. 



that divisions among them were promoted by 
Paul, which they alleged to be contrary to the 
law, under which they were allowed the free 
and unmolested enjoyment of their religious 
privileges. But the mild Gallio was by no 
means inclined to involve himself in what 
must have appeared to him the idle, internal 
disputes of the Jews ; and instead of listening 
to them, he caused them to be driven from his 
tribunal. " If it were a matter of wrong or 
wicked lewdness, O ye Jews," he remarked, 
" reason would that I should hear you : but if 
it be a question of words and names, and of 
your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge 
of such matters." 

On this declaration from the judgment-seat, 
the heathen auditors, always glad to be let 
loose upon the Jews, took Sosthenes, the chief 
ruler of the synagogue, and beat him severely 
as he was leaving the tribunal. He had 
probably headed the Jewish party on this oc- 
casion ; but there is reason to hope that he 
afterwards became a convert, like Paul him- 
self, to the faith he had once persecuted, and 
that he eventually joined the apostle in his 
labors, for his first epistle to this very Church 
begins, " Faul .... and Sosthenes our 
brother, unto the Church of God which is at 
Corinth." 

Successful Labors. 

The frustration of this attempt against the 
apostle enabled him to pursue his labors for a 
good while without further molestation in 
this quarter, so that their influence at length 
became apparent throughout the whole region 
of Achaia ; but it is not certain whether in 
these more discursive labors he used the in- 
strumentality of his disciples, or occasionally 
suspended his residence at Corinth by a jour- 
ney into other parts of the province, and then 
again returned to the principal scene of his 
ministry. 

At length, after having been joined by Tim- 
othy from Thessalonica, Paul resolved, before 
entering upon new operations, to revisit his 
former fields of labor, and also proceed to Je- 
rusalem. His soul was grieved at the differ- 
ences which appeared to be again arising be- 



tween the Gentile and Jewish converts, and he 
hoped to be able to mollify them by his per- 
sonal influence in the Asiatic Churches, as 
well as by taking measures to remove the only 
plausible ground of accusation which the Jews 
and Jewish Christians urged against him, 
namely, that he was an enemy of their nation 
and of the religion of their fathers. 

There was at this time a custom among the 
Jews, arising apparently out of Nazariteship, 
under which a person visited with sickness, or 
subject to any other calamity, vowed, if he 
were restored, to bring a thank-offering to 
Jehovah in the Temple, to abstain from wine 
for thirty days, and to shave the head. Paul, 
on his deliverence from some danger during 
his residence in or journey from Corinth, re- 
solved publicly to express his grateful acknowl- 
edgments in the Temple at Jerusalem. The 
form of his doing this was in itself a matter of 
indifference, and in the spirit of that Christian 
wisdom with which he was so eminently en- 
dowed, he felt no scruple to become, in respect 
to form, to the Jews a Jew, as to the Gentiles 
a Gentile. When he was on the point of sail- 
ing with Aquila to Lesser Asia, from Cenchrea, 
he began the fulfilment of his vow by shaving 
his head. 

Paul left Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, 
and hastened to Jerusalem, where he visited 
the Church and presented his offering in the 
Temple. He then travelled to Antioch, where 
he made a considerable stay, and met with 
Barnabas and other old friends and former 
associates in the labors and hopes of the Gos- 
pel. On quitting Antioch he passed through 
Phrygia and Galatia, strengthening the 
Churches in those parts in his way to Ephe- 
sus, which he had chosen as his next scene of 
labor, and where he had indeed promised to 
rejoin Aquila and Priscilla. 

The ancient writers, in speaking of Ephesus r 
were prodigal of epithets describing its glory 
and excellence. It is mentioned by Strabo as 
one of the best and most glorious of cities, the 
great emporium of Asia Minor ; while others 
distinguish it as one of the "eyes" of Asia- 
Smyrna being the other. But all this glory 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



611 



has long since departed, and long has this 
great city been venerable only for its ruins. 
A few unintelligible heaps of stones, with 
some mud cottages untenanted, are all that re- 
main of the great city of the Ephesians. 

Even the sea has retired from the scene of 
desolation, and a pestilential morass, covered 
with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the 
waters which brought up the ships laden with 
merchandise from every country. The most 
interesting ancient ruin is that of the amphi- 
theatre — the very same, no doubt, which is 
mentioned in the apostolic record, and which 
is deemed to have been capable of containing 
thirty thousand spectators. 

Paul at Ephesus. 

Ephesus owed much of its distinction to the 
famous temple of Artemis (Diana), which was 
accounted one of the seven wonders of the 
world, and which drew devotees and pilgrims 
from all parts to worship at the shrine of the 
goddess, whom we are not to picture as 

" The huntress chaste and fair " 

of classic sculpture and poesy, but, as repre- 
sented at Ephesus, under the more homely 
but certainly not less significant symbol of a 
woman covered with breasts — an apt emblem 
of prolific and abundant nature. Ephesus was 
also eminent as a seat of heathen occult arts, 
which originally proceeded from the mythic 
worship of Artemis ; and here also the Jewish 
magic, connecting itself with the heathen, be- 
came very prevalent, for the Jews, as Josephus 
informs us, were very numerous in Ephesus, 
and enjoyed there the highest class of muni- 
cipal privileges. 

After for three months declaring the gospel 
in the synagogues, the apostle was, as usual, 
constrained by the opposition and deep malig- 
nity of the Jews to turn his attention to the 
Gentiles, by whom his message was more 
willingly received. He met his hearers daily in 
a school belonging to one of their number, a 
rhetorician named Tyrannus. It was perhaps 
important in a place like Ephesus that the 
Divine authority under which the new doctrine 



was offered to the people should be manifested 
by some striking miracles and " signs." And 
these were not refused : " God wrought 
special miracles by the hand of Paul, so that 
from his body some brought unto the sick 
handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases 
departed from them, and the evil spirit went 
out of them." 

Jugglers Confused. 

One remarkable occurrence is forcibly re- 
lated, as it probably tended more than any 
other single circumstance to evince the op- 
position of the Gospel to those juggling arts 
which held the people in mental bondage. 
There were at Ephesus a number of Jews who 
went about pretending they could expel evil 
spirits from possessed persons by means of 
incantations, fumigations, the use of certain 
herbs, and other arts which they had derived 
from Solomon ; and these people could at 
times, whether by great dexterity in deceiving 
the senses, or by availing themselves of cer 
tain powers of nature unknown to others, or by 
the influence of an excited imagination, pro- 
duce apparently great effects, although none 
which really promoted the welfare of man- 
kind. 

When these persons observed the mar- 
velous effects which were produced by Paul 
in the name, of Jesus, they also resolved to use 
it as a charm for the exorcism of evil spirits. 
On hearing the words " We adjure thee in the 
name of Jesus whom Paul preacheth," the 
demon answered, "Jesus I know, and Paul I 
know, but who are you ? " On which the 
demoniac, worked into ungovernable rage, 
flew at them, and with the strong arm of mad- 
ness " drove them from the house naked and 
wounded." 

This circumstance, by showing the real 
difference between the miracles wrought by 
the apostle and those to which these Jewish 
impostors pretended, brought great honor 
upon the name of Jesus ; and many who had 
before regarded Paul merely as a more skilful 
magician than themselves, and the name of 
Jesus as a name which might be employed in 



612 



THE MAGICAL BOOKS BURNED. 



their magical arts, could they but use it I had professed "curious arts" brought their 
rightly, were now not only convinced, but I magical books — the books explaining and 




PAUL PREACHING AT EPHESUS. Acts xix. 1 9. 

alarmed. They repaired to Paul and confessed I teaching their art, and committed them to the 
their former practices, and many of them who I flames. This was no small sacrifice at a time 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI AND ATHENS. 



613 



when all books, and especially books of this 
sort, were so rare and costly ; and in this case 
it is therefore remarked, with peculiar com- 
mendation, that the books were worth, or 
would have sold for, " fifty thousand pieces 
of silver." 

The temple which existed at the time of 
Paul's visit was the second, the first having 
been destroyed by fire, kindled by Erostratus 
to immortalize his name, on the night that 
Alexander the Great was born. The volun- 
tary offerings of the citizens, and the liberal 
contributions sent in from all parts, soon sup- 
plied the means for its restoration to more 
than its ancient magnificence. The building 
was four hundred and twenty-five feet in 
length, and two hundred and twenty in 
breadth, supported by one hundred and 
twenty-seven marble columns sixty feet high, 
of which thirty-six were curiously sculptured, 
and the rest polished. 

The Temple of Diana. 

These piHars are said to have been the gifts 
of as many kings ! and the bas-reliefs of one 
of them were wrought by Scopas, one of the 
most famous of ancient sculptors, and the 
altar was almost entirely the work of Prax- 
iteles. The first architect, and he who seems 
to have planned the whole work, was Dinoc- 
rates — the same who built Alexandria, and 
who offered to carve Mount Athos into a 
statue of Alexander the Great. 

Not long after this a violent popular tumult 
was raised in the city against the apostle, which 
indirectly furnishes striking evidence of the 
signal success which attended his labors in this 
quaiter. The devotees who flocked to the 
temple of Diana were wont to take home with 
them as relics small models in gold and silver 
of that far-famed shrine. This branch of manu- 
facture contributed much to the wealth of the 
city, and formed a most lucrative business to 
the Ephesian silversmiths. 

A man named Demetrius, who had a large 
manufactory of such models, and a great 
number of workmen, felt that the sale of his 
wares had been considerably affected by the 



success of the Gospel, and apprehended that 
if means were not taken to arrest its progress, 
the gains of his trade would soon be lost. 
He assembled his numerous workmen, and 
easily inflamed their anger against the enemies 
of their gods, who threatened to deprive Ar- 
temis of her honor, and them of their gainful 
craft. 

Great Excitement. 

A great tumult was thus easily kindled, and 
all hastened to the theatre, where they usually 
assembled, some crying one thing, and some 
another, without any clear notion why they 
were thus congregated. The Jews, living pre- 
cariously in the midst of a heathen population, 
began to fear that they would be regarded as 
the authors of this tumult, as the heathen did 
not distinguish very accurately between Jews 
and Christians. They therefore put forward 
one Alexander to speak on their behalf; but 
no sooner did the mob perceive that he was a 
Jew, than they broke forth into a mighty shout 
of " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," which 
they kept up at intervals for the space of two 
hours. 

These feelings were, however, confined to 
the populace; for when Paul himself at- 
tempted to enter the place to address the 
excited crowd, some of the high magistrates 
who were that year at the head of the religious 
ceremonies of Lesser Asia, sent to request him 
not to expose himself to so great a danger. 
At length the chamberlain of the city suc- 
ceeded in gaining a hearing, and managed to 
calm the minds of the people by his representa- 
tions, and by requiring from them the reason 
of their assembling, of which most of them 
were totally ignorant. 

As this transaction took place in the amphi- 
theatre, it might naturally suggest to the 
apostle images derived from the enforced com- 
bats of men with beasts, and with one another, 
which often there took place. It is thus that 
we may interpret the allusion which the apostle 
makes in the Epistle to the Corinthians, which 
seems to have been written from this place: 
" If, after the manner of men, I have fought 
with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it 



614 



FIGHTING WITH BEASTS. 



me?" Some, however, hold the expression 
more literally, and believe that the apostle did 
actually on this or some other occasion combat 
with wild beasts in the theatre of Ephesus. 

We know that it was certainly often the case 
in later times, in the persecutions of the early 
Christians, that the raging multitude called for 
the enemies of tlfe gods to be cast " to the 
lions " or " to the beasts." The crowd raised 
by Demetrius might certainly have uttered 
such cries, but there is no sign that it received 
any attention from the authorities. It would, 
however, be hazardous to affirm that Paul did 
not literally " fight with beasts at Ephesus," as 
it appears from the apostle's own writings that 
in the course of his labors he was exposed to 
many dangers which are not recorded in the 
Acts of the Apostles. 

Corinthian Games. 

The probability that this is merely an allu- 
sion to the combats of the amphitheatre is, 
however, much strengthened by the fact that 
not only are there many such allusions in the 
Epistles of this apostle, but some are found in 
tiie very Kpistle in which this occurs. Thus! 
in First Corinthians there are strong images 
taken from the games of manly contest— the 
racing, boxing, and wrestling — for which Cor- 
inth itself was famous; as well as allusions to 
the training which the intended competitors in 
those games were obliged to undergo, and to 
the " corruptible crowns "which became the 
reward of their triumph. 

If Paul literally fought with the beasts at 
Ephesus, it could hardly have been a more 
frightful experience than many he passed 
through. Whether he was ever in the arena, 
engaged insuch a terrible combat, certain it is 
that through struggles equally terrible he was 
compelled to pass while carrying on his great 
work, and fulfilling the mission upon which 



he was sent. If the way had been blocked 
with wild beasts from Jerusalem to Asia, he 
would not have swerved, nor would he have 
turned aside. When told to advance, he had 
nothing to do but to go forward ; when told 
to halt, he had nothing to do but to stop; 
when told to live, he had nothing to do but to 
live and labor; when told to die, he had 
nothing to do but to peacefully lay down his 
life. This was Paul, the great apostle to the 
Gentiles, and the great hero of theearly Church. 
No sooner did one journey end than 
another was planned, and, unless he stops to 
work at his trade incidentally, or is shut up in 
prison, as good men have been in all the past 
a^es, we see him constantly occupied in his 
Divine calling. From one place to another 
he passes swiftly: the older he grows the 
brighter does the flame of his devotion burn ; 
his zeal is always on fire, and his tongue is 
always touched with the live coal from the 
altar' Undaunted in conflict, unmoved in af- 
fliction, he presses on with his eye lifted up 
and his footsteps firm. To write his history 
is simply to write his eulogy. 

We shall soon see him engaged in healing 
the dissensions which from time to time 
sprung up in the Churches he founded. Hu- 
man nature was the same then as at the pres- 
ent time : we have troubles in Churches now, 
and sometimes it seems as though the breth- 
ren hated each other with Christian fervor. 
The apostle found the same to be true in his 
day, and undoubtedly this will always come 
to pass so long as the world endures, and hu- 
man nature is not transformed into the an- 
gelic. Paul himself could get mad, or it 
would be better to say he could become in- 
dignant and show righteous resentment. This 
he did on several occasions, and still he was 
Paul, the child of grace and the herald of the 
cross. 






CHAPTER XLI. 




PAUL AND HIS PERSECUTORS. 



AUL had some time 
since planned a jour- 
ney into Greece, for 
the purpose, among 
others, of rectifying the 
irregularities which 
had grown up in the 
Corinthian Church, 
and to re-establish his 
apostolical authority, which the 
Judaizing converts had been dis- 
posed to impugn. Ample infor- 
mation concerning the points which 
required his attention is given in 
>^ his two Epistles to the Corinthians, 
both of which appear to have been 
written from Ephesus. Finding it 
needful to delay this journey, the 
apostle, some time after the first of these Epis- 
tles had been despatched, sent Timothy to 
forward the collection which he was making 
for the Church in Jerusalem, and to observe 
and report on its effect; and after the return 
of Timothy, the apostle sent another Epistle 
by Titus. 

It is uncertain whether or not the tumult at 
Ephesus induced the apostle to set forth upon 
this journey sooner than he had intended, but 
it is certain that he departed shortly after on 
his second journey into Greece. Arriving at 
Troas, he remained some time there before he 
embarked, in the hope that Titus would there 
return to him with an account of affairs at 
Corinth, and of the effect which his second 
Epistle had produced. But as Titus came not, 
he departed with feelings somewhat troubled, 
to meet him in Macedonia. 

In the Churches which he had formerly 
established in this region he met with gratify- 
ing evidences of their advance in the Christian 
life and doctrine, which their conflict with the 



world had only tended to promote. The con- 
verts in those parts had suffered much ; not, 
indeed, that any persecution against Chris- 
tianity had been commenced by the authorities 
of the state, but because that by withdrawing 
from the national religion they had excited 
the enmity of the people among whom they 
lived, and had besides to contend with the 
bitter and untiring enmity of the Jews. The 
extent, and in the same degree the manner, in 
which the great and influential majority might 
in such cases oppress and injure, at least in 
their worldly prospects, those who had turned 
aside from the common course, may, as Nean- 
der remarks, be seen in what the converts of 
India have had to endure from their heathen 
relatives and connections, although under a 
Christian government. 

But the Macedonian Christians cheerfully 
endured all things for the cause of the Gospel; 
and, however much their means of subsistence 
had been injured, they were ready, even be- 
yond their power, to take an active part in the 
collection which Paul was then making for 
the Church in Jerusalem, which it was 'his in- 
tention to visit. 

In Macedonia Paul met with Titus, and re- 
ceived from him very encouraging accounts of 
the effects which his last Epistle had produced 
among the Corinthian converts. He spent the 
rest of the summer and autumn in Macedonia, 
probably extending his labors into the neigh- 
boring country of Illyria, after which he re- 
moved into Achaia, where he spent the winter. 

It was the intention of Paul that, after visit- 
ing Jerusalem in the ensuing spring, he would 
change the scene of his labors in the West, 
and visit for the first time the Roman metrop- 
olis. It must therefore have been gratifying 
to him that during his stay in Achaia he was 
enabled to form a sort of anticipatory acquaint- 

(615J 



616 



THE PARENT CHURCH. 



ance with the Church in that city. The | 
journey of Phoebe, a deaconess of the Church 
at Cenchrea, to the great city, gave him a 
suitable opportunity, while at the same time he 
recommended her to the care and kind offices 
of the Church in Rome. To this we owe the 
Epistle to the Romans. 

The number of persons at Rome, manifestly 
of Gentile origin, who were known to Paul, 
and to whom he sends his salutations at the 
end of this Epistle, enables us to see that he 
had in fact a stronger existing connection with 
the Christian Church at Rome than might at 
first sight appear. As he could only have 
known these persons in the places where he 
had previously labored, it would appear that 
many persons resident at Rome, or who had 
occasion to repair to that great centre of many 
nations, had been converted by him or his 
followers, and that they at Rome became the 
founders and leading men of the Church in 
that cit\ — formed at first, doubtless, by the 
reunion in one body of men who had abroad, 
in different parts, been brought to the knowl- 
edge of the Gospel, principally through Paul 
and his followers, who regarded it as their 
vocation to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. 

Gifts of t lw Gentile Churches. 

After Paul had spent about three months in 
Achaia, he purposed to close his mission to 
the East by proceeding to Jerusalem with the 
collection which had during the past year 
been making under his direction in Lesser 
Asia and in Greece. That the sum thus ob- 
tained was equal to his expectations appears 
from the intimation made some time before, in 
the Epistle to the Corinthians, that if the 
amount were such as he wished, he should 
himself convey it to Jerusalem. It would be 
taking too narrow a view of a matter which 
engaged much of his solicitude, if we limit his 
intention merely to the relief of the temporal 
necessities of the Church in Jerusalem. 

His great object and desire was to heal the 
differences which had unhappily grown up 
between the Jews and Gentile Christians; and 
he justly considered that this magnificent act 



of liberality on the part of the Gentile Churches 
towards the parent Church at Jerusalem, 
which was entirely composed of converted 
Jews, would go far to produce a better 
state of feeling, not only from the act itself, 
but as a recognition of their unity in Christ, 
and as a tribute of that love which should 
exist between all those who are one in Him. 

Paul departed from Corinth in the spring 
of the year, A. d. 58 or 59, about the time of 
the Jewish Passover, with the intention of being 
in Jerusalem at the Pentecost. His six com- 
panions (Sopater, Aristarchus, Gaius, Timothy, 
Tychicus, and Trophimus) went before him to 
Troas, and there waited for him. Pie first 
himself visited Philippi, where he joined Luke, 
whom he had left there some time before, and 
whom he now took with him. 

Paul Restores Eutychus. 

After five days' voyage the apostle landed 
at Troas, and remained there seven days. 
The day before his departure was " the first 
day of the week, when the disciples came to- 
gether to break bread ; " and having to quit 
them on the morrow, perhaps forever, the 
earnest apostle was induced to prolong his 
discourse far into the night. The meeting was 
held in a large upper chamber, the window of 
which was open to admit the air; in this 
window sat a young man named Eutychus, 
who, being overpowered with sleep, lost his 
balance and fell backward into the court below 
and lay there for dead. 

Paul immediately hastened down, and cast 
himself upon the seemingly lifeless body, 
which he embraced in tenderness and com- 
passion. Whether he had been only stunned 
by the fall, and the apostle then discovered 
the signs of life, or that he had been killed 
outright, and was restored to life under the 
strong action of the apostle's faith, is a point 
much doubted, and has never been satisfactor- 
ily determined. It is certain, however, that 
Paul in raising himself from the body said to 
the alarmed and afflicted congregation, 
"Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in 
him." 






PAUL AND HIS PERSECUTORS. 



617 



He was then committed to the care of his 
friends ; and the apostle returned to finish his 
discourse. By the time he had concluded 
and taken some refreshment before his depar- 
ture, the morning broke ; and Eutychus was 
then introduced alive and well, to the great 
comfort of the assembly. Having left Troas 
with his companions, Paul, pressed for time, 
did not venture to go to Ephesus, but when 
at Miletus sent for the elders of the Ephesian 
Church to meet him there. 

Paul was by no means ignorant of the great 
dangers which awaited him at Jerusalem and 
he longed to avail himself of this opportunity 
of pouring out the feelings of his full heart to 
those who had engaged so large a portion of 
his solicitude, and of bestowing upon them 
what might prove his last counsels and his 
benedictions. " Behold," he said to them, " I 
go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not know- 
ing the things that will befall me there ; save 
that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, 
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." 

An Affecting Parting-. 

Jesus, and all the blessedness stored with 
Him, then rose to the mind of the apostle, and 
he added : " But none of these things move 
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, 
so that I might finish my course with joy. 
And now, behold, I know that ye all among 
whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of 
God shall see my face no more." He then, 
in that strong conviction, called them solemnly 
to witness that he was " pure from the blood 
of all men," inasmuch as he had " not shunned 
to declare unto them the whole counsel of 
God." He warned them of the dangers arising 
from false teachers coming among them : — " I 
know this, that after my departure shall griev- 
ous wolves enter in among you, not sparing 
the flock ; " while even among themselves per- 
verse men would arise, striving to alienate them 
from the simplicity of the great truths which 
he had taught. 

He closed his address by a becoming ref- 
erence to the example which he had set during 
his Ion? residence amonsf them : — " Remember 



that by the space ot three years I ceased not 
to warn every one, night and day, with tears. 
I have coveted no man's silver or gold, or ap- 
parel. Yea, you yourselves know that these 
hands have ministered unto my necessities,, 
and to them that were with me." Finally, 
" When he had thus spoken he kneeled down, 
and prayed with them all. And they all wept 
sore, and fell upon Paul's neck and kissed 
him : sorrowing most of all for the words 
which he spake, that they should see his face 
no more." ' 

No words can heighten the simple pathos 
of this scene. Accompanied by these attached 
friends the apostle forthwith proceeded to the 
ship, and, bidding them finally farewell, con- 
tinued his voyage. The ship took a straight 
course to Coos, a small island of the Greek 
Archipelago, a short distance from the south- 
western point of Asia Minor, celebrated for its 
wine and silk ; and the day following arrived 
at the island of Rhodes, so called from its 
abundant roses. The principal town, also 
called Rhodes, was chiefly noted for the brazen 
colossus which had formerly stood across the 
mouth of the harbor, and which strode so high 
that vessels could pass between its legs. This 
useless thing was one of the seven useless 
things called " the wonders of the world ; " 
but it had been thrown down by an earthquake 
long before this time. 

Paul at Renowned Tyre. 

From Rhodes the ship proceeded to Batara r 
which was a maritime city of Lycia in Asia 
Minor, over against Rhodes. This was the 
port to which the ship was bound; and here, 
therefore, the apostle and his party embarked 
in another ship bound for Phoenicia. They 
passed Cyprus with its coast on their left hand, 
and soon arriving in Syria, landed at Tyre, at 
which still great emporium the ship was to 
discharge her cargo. 

We have not before read that the Gospel 
had been introduced into Tyre ; but Paul 
found there Christian brethren among whom 
he remained seven days ; they were so strongly 
impressed with the perils which awaited th& 



618 



PAUL AT C/ESAREA. 



apostle at Jerusalem, that they urged him to 
abandon his intention of proceeding thither; 
but, earnest in the course which his duty 
seemed to enjoin, the apostle could not be 
moved from his purpose. Then, says the nar- 
rator, who was himself one of the party, " We 
departed and went away ; and they all brought 
us on our way, with wives and children, till we 
were out of the city ; and we kneeled down on 
the shore and prayed." 

having taken leave of them the apostle 



Here also Christian brethren were found, 
with whom Paul enjoyed one day's happy in- 
tercourse, and then proceeded to Caesarea, a 
city which had been built by Herod the Great, 
who by means of a mole had formed there a 
safe and commodious harbor, which made it a 
seat of maritime traffic, and the usual point of 
embarkation and debarkation from and to 
Palestine. Here also was the seat of the 
Roman government, and the chief station of 
the cohorts which held the country in military 




PAUL PARTING PROM 1111'. 

cut' I'd another ship, bound for Caesarea. 

days ships coasted along, and put in at 
every port; and so Paul's ship put in at 
Ptolemais or Acre, a place which, although of 
.cry ancient date, is but little mentioned in 
Scripture. It became of great importance of prey 



ELDERS OF EPHESUS. — Acts XX. 37. 

In occupation. Of this most flourishing and 
celebrated city, built with a magnificence un- 
exampled in Palestine, scarcely a trace now 
remains, and even the site is forsaken by man, 
and. abandoned to the jackals and other beasts 



after the close of the Old Testament canon, 
and is often mentioned in the books of the 
Maccabees and in the pages of Josephus; and 
there is no city which has figured more in the 
modern historv of Palestine. 



At Caesarea the apostle was entertained at 
the house of Philip, one of the seven deacons, 
where he remained " many days." During 
his stay, a believer named Agabus — the same 
who had foretold the dearth which came to 



PAUL AND HIS PERSECUTORS. 



619 



•pass in the days of Claudius Caesar — arrived 
.at Caesarea, and by a significant action pre 
monished Paul of the treatment in store for 
him at Jerusalem. He loosened Paul's girdle, 
.and bound therewith his own hands and feet, 
saying, " So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind 
the man that ovvneth this girdle, and shall de- 
liver him into the hands of the Gentiles." 

On this Paul's own companions, and all the 
friends at Caesarea who heard the prophet's 
words, implored the apostle to desist from his 
intention. He was much moved by their 
earnestness, but made answer : " What mean ye 
to weep and to break mine heart? I am ready 
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jeru- 
salem for the name of the Lord Jesus." When 
the friends found that he could not be pre- 
vailed upon by the prospect of personal danger 
to change his well-considered purpose, they 
ceased to importune him, saying, " The will 
of the Lord be done." 

Soon after Paul proceeded to Jerusalem, 
which was distant but two days' journey from 
Caesarea. The day after his arrival he called 
on James, sometimes called " the Lord's 
brother," which may, perhaps, mean no more 
than that he was a cousin or other near rela- 
tive of Jesus. At the house of James he met 
the presbyters of the Church at Jerusalem, 
who listened with much interest to the ac- 
count which he gave of his proceedings and 
success among the Gentiles. 

But James called his attention to the fact 
that a great number of Jews who believed in 
Jesus as the Messiah, but who were yet zealous 
and strict observers of the Mosaical law, were 
prejudiced against him; for those Judaizers, 
who had everywhere sought to obstruct the 
ministry of Paul, had, it seems, circulated the 
report that, not content with insisting on the 
freedom of the Gentiles from the observance 
of the Mosaical law, he had required the Jews 
who lived among them not to observe the law, 
and not to circumcise their children. 

As this charge was not true, and as it as 
important to remove the impression which it 
had created, Paul readily consented, at the 
suggestion of James, to give a practical refuta- 



tion of the charge openly, by taking part in 
the Jewish worship, in a mode which was 
highly esteemed among pious Jews. He 
joined himself to four members of the Church 
who had taken a Nazarite's vow for seven 
days : he submitted to the restraint which this 
vow imposed, and intimated to the priests that 
he would be answerable for the expense of the 
offerings, which were to be presented on the 
accomplishment of the purification. 

Paul Bound in Chains. 

But although this measure may have satis- 
fied the minds of all the well-disposed Jewish 
Christians, the inveterate zealots among the 
Jews were not thus to be conciliated. On the 
contrary, they were only the more incensed 
that the man who, as they said, had every- 
where taught the people of God to blaspheme 
the Law and the Temple, had ventured to take 
a part in the Jewish worship. They had seen 
one of the Gentile Christians, Trophimus, in 
company with him, and hence the fanatics 
concluded that he had taken a Gentile with 
him into the holy place and defiled it. 

A violent tumult hence arose in the Temple; 
and Paul was only rescued from being torn in 
pieces by the enraged multitude through the 
interference of the Roman tribune, who has- 
tened to the spot from the tower or citadel of 
Antonia, which was close to the Temple, and 
in which the Roman garrison was stationed. 
But to let the multitude see that there was no 
intention to rescue a criminal from justice, but 
only to keep the peace, the apostle was bound 
with two chains, and led off as a prisoner to 
the castle. 

Arriving there, he requested and obtained 
permission from the tribune to address the ex- 
cited mob, and therefore, mounting the stairs, 
he turned round and beckoned with his hand 
for silence, which, in the curiosity of some 
and anxiety of others to hear what he would 
say, was easily secured. He began to speak 
to them in the mongrel Hebrew, which had at 
that time become the vernacular language of 
Palestine, not only because it would be under- 
stood by a larger number than the Greek, but 






620 



A FURIOUS MOB. 



because it would in some degree conciliate the 
people to be addressed in their own language. 
He had not in this miscalculated, for, " when 
they heard him speak in the Hebrew tongue, 
they kept the more silence." 

The charge against Paul was that he had 
everywhere endeavored to prejudice the minds 
of men against the Jews, their Law and their 
Temple. To meet this charge, he showed 
that he had been born a Jew, and had enjoyed 
the advantages of a first-rate Jewish education 



broke forth into a storm of human fury, cry- 
ing at the top of their voices : "Away with 
such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit 
that he should live ! " and in the madness of 
their rage they cast off their outer garments, 
as intending to stone him, and tossed about 
their arms, throwing dust into the air. 

From that frightful scene the tribune with- 
drew the apostle into the castle ; and all that 
had passed being unintelligible to him, he was 
proceeding, according to the custom of the 




Paul's address before the council. — Acts xxiii. i. 



under Gamaliel, the most eminent of their doc- 
tors. 1 le then recounted the circumstances 
of his conversion, with the reasons which led 
him to believe that he was called to preach 
the Gospel. I Ic proceeded to state the reasons 
why he went among the Gentiles, and evi- 
dently designed to vindicate his conduct there: 
but he was not allowed to finish his address; 
for no sooner did he begin to open the subject 
o' his mission to the Gentiles, than the mob, 
"which had given him audience to that word," 



Romans, to extort from him a confession as to 
the cause of all this tumult by scourging, 
when Paul saved himself from this ignominy 
by declaring himself a Roman citizen. It was, 
however, still necessary to the tribune, in the 
discharge of his public duty, to ascertain the 
real nature of the demonstration raised against 
the apostle ; and he therefore on the next day 
summoned a meeting of the Sanhedrin, or great 
judicial council of the nation, before which he 
produced his prisoner. 



PAUL AND HIS PERSECUTORS. 



621 



After a brief but earnest survey of the body 
before which he stood, Paul began his address: 
" Men and brethren, I have lived in all good 
conscience before God unto this day." Of- 
fended at this bold declaration, Ananias, who 
had been formerly high-priest, and who, during 
the vacancy which at present existed, dis- 
charged the functions of that high office, com- 
manded the men that stood near the prisoner 
to smite him on the mouth. Warned by this 
indignity, the apostle cried out, " God shall 
smite thee, thou whited wall! for sittest thou 
to judge me after the law, and commandest 
me to be smitten contrary to the law?" 

Those who stood by reproved him for 
speaking so disrespectfully to " God's high- 
priest ; " on which Paul, who knew that the 
office was really vacant, declared he knew not 
that Ananias was the high-priest, and had not 
accosted him in that capacity. The survey 
which Paul had made of the assembly assured 
him that it was composed partly of Sadducees 
and partly of Pharisees, the latter greatly pre- 
ponderating, and extremely bigoted. 

The Apostle Cheered hy a Vision. 

" Men and brethren," he said, " I am a 
Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee : of the hope 
and resurrection of the dead I am called in 
-question." This bore on the great point of 
•controversy between the Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees ; and these words at once had the effect 
of uniting the former in favor of the prisoner, 
and of involving them in a hot debate with 
the Sadducees, to whom the officiating high- 
priest himself belonged. The Pharisees be- 
came at once unable to find any fault in him. 

If he had said that the spirit of a deceased 
person or that an angel had appeared to him 
(alluding to what he had said concerning the 
appearance of the risen Jesus), whatever he 
might mean by that, or whatever he averred, 
whether true or not, they did not pretend to 
■determine, nor trouble themselves about it; 
still the thing was possible, and afforded no 
ground on which to criminate him. In the 
confusion that arose, the Roman tribune, who 
must have been much struck and not much 



edified by the scene, took upon him to with- 
draw the prisoner, for whose safety among the 
eager disputants he began to entertain appre- 
hensions. 

In the following night the apostle was 
cheered by a vision which assured him that 
he was in the path of duty, and that all these 
confusions were but accomplishing the pur- 
poses of the Divine will : " Be of good cheer, 
Paul," were the words of encouragement which 
he heard ; " for as thou hast testified of me in 
Jerusalem, so must thou do also at Rome." 
We have now to see how this was brought 
about. 

A Terrible Vow. 

The enemies of Paul now despaired of ac- 
complishing his destruction through the ordi- 
nary forms of judicature ; and some of the 
more desperate of them resolved to remove 
him by a more summary and certain process. 
Not less than forty of them bound themselves 
by a vow not to eat or drink till they had de- 
stroyed him. They made this known to some 
members of the Sanhedrin, and prevailed upon 
them to require the tribune again to produce 
him before the council, intending to fall upon 
him and murder him on the way. This plot 
however became known to Paul's nephew, and 
was by him imparted to the tribune, who forth- 
with resolved to clear his hands of the busi- 
ness by sending the prisoner off under a guard 
to Caesarea, that the whole matter might be 
examined by the procurator Felix. 

Knowing the desperate character of the men 
who were leagued against Paul, the escort was 
made very strong, consisting of nearly five 
hundred men, and departing with the prisoner 
at nightfall, they by a quick march had reached 
Antipatris, which was thirty-five miles from 
Jerusalem, by the morning. Immediate danger 
being here passed, the soldiers and spearmen 
returned, leaving the horsemen to escort the 
apostle the remaining twenty-five miles to 
Caesarea. 

Felix, the Roman procurator, before whom 
Paul was brought on his arrival at Caesarea, was 
originally a slave, as was also his brother 
Pallas, of the emperor Claudius, and received 



622 



A HARD MASTER. 



their freedom from him. This weak emperor 
was in fact governed by his freedmen, of whom 
Pallas held the highest place in fiis favor, and 
Felix himself was very dear to him. This 
personal fivor of the emperor, coupled with 
the influence of Pallas, procured him high and 
profitable employment. He fust received 
promotion in the army ; and while serving in 
Syria, he rendered himself so acceptable to 
the Jews, that <>n the recall of Cumanus they 
solicited and obtained the appointment of Felix 
to the vacant government. They soon had 
reason to repent their choice. 

A Soman (Jovernor. 

It is a saying in the East that no man is so 
hard. a master as he who has been once a 
slave; and this proved true in the case of 
Felix. As governor, he displayed a very dif- 
ferent character from that in which he had 
fust appeared ; and the Jews soon had cause to 
groan under his cruelty, injustice, and avarice. 
This man's wife, Drusilla, was a daughter of 
Herod Agrippa, and sister of the "King 
Agrippa" mentioned hereafter. She had left 
her husband Azizus, King of Emesa, who had 
submitted to the initiatory rite of Judaism to 
obtain her, and joined herself to the Roman 
governor, and for his sake renounced Judaism, 
even as her former husband had renounced 
inism for hers. This absolute want of 
principle in high quarters strikingly illustrates 
the corruption of manners which had at this 
time overspread the land. 

On the arrival of Paul at Caesarca, the escort 
surrendered him to the governor, who de- 
clined to adjudicate upon the case till his 
accusers should arrived from Jerusalem. In five 
days they arrived in great force, with Ananias 
at their head, and accompanied by one Tertul- 
lus, a Roman advocate, whom, being them- 
selves but imperfectly acquainted with the 
Roman law, they had engaged to state their 
case. The accusation which the Sanhedrin, 
* by their counsel, brought against Paul, was 
the only one which they could with any show 
of reason have made — namely, that he every- 
where disturbed the Jews in the enjoyment of 



the privileges secured to them by the Roman- 
law, the peaceful exercise of their religious 
worship; that he excited disturbances and 
divisions among them, and that he had at 
length even desecrated the Temple. 

The tribune at Jerusalem was also accused 
of having unduly interfered to prevent them 
from exercising judgment upon him according 
to the privileges secured to them by law. 
This was the amount of the charge which the 
orator urged against the apostle. Paul an- 
swered it in a very solid manner; and Felix, 
who was by no means disposed to meddle in 
the internal disputes of the Jews, and perceiv- 
ing that no offence tangible to the Roman law 
could be brought against the accused, broke 
up the court without announcing any decision. 

Felix Trembles. 

He would in fact have dismissed the 
prisoner, if he had not hoped, as was his prac- 
tice, to make justice venal, by obtaining money 
from him or his friends. He therefore de- 
tained him in the easy custody of a centurion, 
with the privilege of free intercourse with his 
friends. He afterwards saw him several times, 
once with his notorious mate Drusilla, who 
seems to have had a wish to hear something 
of the new sect from one of its leading men. 
The undaunted apostle availed himself of this 
hearing to discourse before the unprincipled 
but powerful Felix, and the equally unprin- 
cipled but very beautiful Drusilla, of such un- 
palatable subjects as " righteousness, temper- 
ance, and judgment to come;" and this he 
did with such force and eloquence that the 
hard conscience of the governor was touched, 
he trembled in his high place, and abruptly 
closed the audience by saying that he would 
hear the rest — " at a more convenient season." 

Paul remained in custody, as he was not 
willing to purchase his freedom and thereby 
bring suspicion upon himself and the holy 
cause to which his life was devoted. Therefore 
Felix, who was at that time unwilling to dis- 
oblige the Jews without a strong pecuniary in- 
ducement, left him still in custody when he 
was recalled to Rome. 



PAUL AND HIS PERSECUTORS. 



623 



Paul had been in custody two years when 
Torcius Festus, the new procurator, arrived in 
Palestine, and proceeded to Jerusalem. While 
in that city the high-priest and other leading 
men among the Jews brought the case of Paul 
under his notice, and desired that he might be 
brought back to Jerusalem to be tried there. 
Their intention was, it appears, to employ a 
set of murderous ruffians, who might at that 
time be had in any number for money, to way- 
lay and destroy him. Festus probably got 



any palpable or gross injustice against one who 
was protected by the rights of Roman citizen- 
ship. When, therefore, he perceived that he 
could make nothing of the case as against the 
prisoner, he asked him whether he would go 
to Jerusalem and have the matter tried there. 
Perceiving from this that the governor was 
disposed to sacrifice him to his enemies, the 
apostle at once took his stand upon his right 
as a Roman citizen ; and said — " I stand at 
Caesar's judgment-seat, where I ought to be 




PAUL BEFORE FELIX 



intelligence of this design, and, feeling it his 
duty to protect a Roman citizen, answered 
that he was himself about to proceed to 
Caesarea, and that they could then go also 
and appear against the prisoner before his 
tribunal. With this they were obliged to be 
content. 

Paul was accordingly brought before the 
judgment-seat of Festus, as soon as the latter 
arrived at Caesarea. He was very willing to 
please the Jews, so that he could do so without 



Acts xx iv. 25. 
judged: I appeal unto Caesar!" This settled 
the question ; for whenever a citizen had once 
appealed to the imperial tribunal, all other 
processes were superseded, and nothing re- 
mained but to send him with all care and 
expedition to Rome. Paul knew this : and 
his determination to make this appeal was 
probably influenced by his previous wish and 
intention to preach the Gospel of Christ in 
the imperial city. 

A short time after this, King Agrippa, the 



624 



AN IMPRESSIVE ADDRESS. 



son of Herod Agrippa and grandson of Herod ] 
the Great, arrived at Ca.*sarca with his sister 
Berenice, to compliment the procurator on his 
arrival in his government Agrippa had been \ 
brought up at Rome, and was much attached 
to the Roman people ; and as he was also well 
instructed in the Jewish religion, Festus had 
the advantage of obtaining the judgment of a 
qualified person on the case of Paul, which 
was to himself unintelligible. He could not 
now judge him, seeing that he had appealed 
to Rome; but he wanted materials on which 
to found the report which it was necessary he 
should send with the appellant. It was there- 
fore arranged that a hearing should be given 
to Paul before Festus, Agrippa, and Berenice. 

King Agrippa^ 

When Agrippa intimated to Paul that he 
was at liberty to speak for himself, the apostle 
stretched forth his hand, and commenced an 
eloquent address oy declaring the satisfaction 
wliicn he fc!t in having his case brought 
before one s competent to apprehend its 
merits. His defence on former occasions had 
been before P.oman magistrates, who had but 
little acquaintance with Jewish customs and 
opinions, and who Lstc ,1 ivith impatience to 
the discussion i subjects which they were 
ly unable lo unde stand. 

Thus, in order to gain a hearing, the ac- 
cusers had to lay their charge and he accused 
his defence upon points not involving the real 
merits of the ease, but such as were supposed 
to be within the grasp of the Roman judge. 
Paul therefore sincerely rejoiced that his case 
was now before one who was on the one hand 
well acquainted with the Jewish religion, and 
on the other, from having been brought up 
among Gentiles, was not disposed to be so 
much shocked as the great body of the Jews 
at the doctrine of Paul — that the Gentiles were 
not shut out from the mercies of God, and 
the Redeemer's kingdom. 

'I he apostle knew that he was not now upon 
his trial, but that the impression made upon 
Agrippa would, through Festus, determine the 
tone of the report to be sent with him to Rome. 



He therefore gave a plain but impressive ac- 
count of his education and conversion, and of 
his call to preach the Gospel of Christ to the 
Gentiles. Whenever he arrived at this point 
in his narrative in the presence of Jews, he had 
almost invariably been tumultously inter- 
rupted ; but Agrippa manifested no impatience 
or offence, and the apostle then proceeded — 
" Having therefore obtained help of God, I 
continue unto this day witnessing both to 
great and small, saying none other things than 
those which the prophets and Moses did say 
should come: — that Christ should suffer, 
that he should be the first that should rise 
from the dead, and that he should show light 
unto his people and to the Gentiles." 

Here, however, he had come upon a matter 
— the resurrection from the dead — which was 
nearly as much a stumbling-block to the Gen- 
tiles as the preaching of the Gospel beyond 
the Hebrew pale was to the Jews — and Festus, 
unwilling to seem altogether passive in the 
matter, and having found something which he 
fancied he could grasp, cried out, " Paul, thou 
art beside thyself: much learning hath made 
thee mad." 

But with calm confidence the apostle an- 
swered, " I am not mad, most noble Festus, 
but speak the words of truth and soberness! " 
and then said : — " King Agrippa, believest thou 
the prophets ? — I know that thou believest." 
Under a sudden but, unhappily, also transient, 
impulse of conviction, Agrippa said — "Almost 
thou persuadest me to be a Christian ! " To 
which the apostle, who with the manacles on 
his arms, knew that he possessed that which 
was worth much more than all the glory of the 
world, answered in the noble words : " I 
would to God that not only thou, but also all 
who hear me this day, were not only almost, 
but altogether, such as I am — except these 
bonds." 

After this the court broke up ; and Festus 
and Agrippa agreed that Paul had done 
nothing worthy of death or of bonds, and 
might have been set at liberty if he had not 
appealed to the emperor, which rendered it 
obligatory that he should be sent to Rome. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



LAST DAYS OF PAUL 



|||?=|^5h T was by no means unusual to 

tP CI / senc * ^ rom J 110 ^ 21 to R° me per- 
J/ [/j||| ^ sons who, under the right of 
Roman citizenship, had ap- 
pealed to the imperial tribunal ; 
and there seems to have been a 
considerable number embarked 
at the same time with the 
apostle in a ship belonging to 
Adramyttium. They were 
placed under the charge of an 
officer named Julius, who was 
a centurion in " Augustus's 
band" or cohort. Two of Paul's friends and 
followers, Luke and Aristarchus, took their 
passage in the same ship, to share his dangers, 
to comfort him by their presence, and to enjoy 
the benefit of his society and friendship. The 
presence of Luke is only indicated by the use 
of the pronoun "we," and in the phrase, 
" Aristarchus being with us." 

The ship in which the prisoners were em- 
barked voyaged along the coast ; as was usual 
in these times touching at different ports on 
its way. A day after the departure from 
Caesarea the ship reached Sidon, where the 
centurion, who must have been apprised of the 
favorable opinion which was entertained by 
Festus of the apostle's case, courteously al- 
lowed him to land that he might "go unto his 
friends to refresh himself." He had often 
travelled this way in going to and from Jeru- 
salem, and probably had friends in all the 
principal towns ; and doubtless the friends at 
Sidon availed themselves of the opportunity 
of providing such supplies as might make 
more comfortable the voyage which lay before 
him, which voyage was in those days long and 
perilous. 

The original plan of the voyage, which was 
to go along by the coast of Asia Minor, 
40 



would have taken the ship between the north 
of Cyprus and the southern coast of the 
peninsula; but contrary winds obliged them 
to leave the coast, and take a direct course 
from Sidon to the coast of Lycia, thereby 
passing Cyprus on the south. Having then 
crossed what is called " the sea of Cilicia and 
Pamphylia," they at length entered the port 
of Myra, which was at that time the metropolis 
of Lycia. 

To this place the ship in which the voyage 
had been thus far performed was bound ; but 
a ship of Alexandria bound for Italy was 
found in the harbor, and to this the centurion 
removed the prisoners. From the sequel this 
appears to have- been one of the numerous 
vessels employed in conveying corn from 
Alexandria to Italy, and which usually crossed 
over to Myra, and there took in supplies for 
the remainder and more perilous part of the 
voyage. Having sailed slowly for several 
days, they passed the gulf of Caria, and had 
arrived " over against the promontory of 
Cnidus," intending to pass to the north of 
Crete, when they were again driven out of 
their course by adverse winds, and were con- 
strained to round the Salmone promontory, 
and pass to the south of the island, when 
they found refuge from the adverse weather in 
the Fair Havens near the town of Lasea. 

Much time having been consumed through 
contrary winds, the season had become far 
advanced ; and they had still to perform a part 
of the voyage, which they expected to have 
by this time completed. This navigation was 
at this time of the year considered highly 
dangerous from tempestuous winds, and was 
seldom attempted by the mariners of ancient 
days. The danger was real, through the im- 
perfect build of the ships, the unskilfulness of 
the sailors, and, above all, from the want of 

(625) 



626 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



the compass. All parties were sensible of this, 
and it was agreed to winter in Crete; but al- 
though Paul, who had established his claim to 
respect on board the ship, advised that the vessel 
should remain in the Pair Havens to avoid the 
calamities which he foresaw, Julius deemed it 
most prudent to rely upon the experience of 
the captain and supercargo of the vessel, who 
urged the propriety of endeavoring to gain the 
safer harbor of Phenice at the western ex- 
tremity of the island. 

In this attempt the vessel was encountered 
by a fierce wind which blows at this season, 
called euroclydon. It blows from all points 
between N.E. and S.E., frequently shifting 
within this range, and is called by British 
mariners a Levanter, and by the Italians tuf- 
fone — from the ancient name, typhon. 

The Ship in a Gale. 

Going from the Fair Havens, the ship was 
caught by this wind and driven " under " far 
south of the small island of Clauda (now 
Gaudos), which is twenty-five miles south of 
the port of Phenice, which they had hoped to 
reach. 

At this point they had much difficulty in 
securing the boat attached to the vessel from 
being dashed to pieces. Every ship had a 
boat, but in those times it was not taken up 
and secured on deck, as is now done, but was 
towed at the stern of the vessel. The reason 
for this difference is clear. Our mariners on 
leaving port bid adieu to the land ; whereas 
the ancient mariners in creeping along the 
coast maintained much intercourse with the 
shore, for which the boat was always kept 
read}'. When, however, a storm arose, the 
boat was secured by being drawn up close 
under the stern, which doubtless was the 
mode in which the boat was in the present 
case secured. 

Having taken this precaution, the voyagers 
became apprehensive lest the ship should be 
driven upon the dreaded quicksands of the 
African coast, and there go to pieces: and 
they therefore " used helps, undergirding the 
ship," which seems to mean that they drew 



I strong cables around the hull to keep its tim- 
i bers together or break the shock of a concus- 
sion. Instances of such a practice occur even 
in modern voyages ; and that it was resorted 
to anciently appears from the following lines 
of Horace: 

The wounded mast 
And sail-yards groan beneath the southern blast; 
Nor « iiliout ropes the keel can longer brave 
The rushing fury cf th' imperious wave. 

Further to avoid the danger of being driven 
on the dreaded quicksands, they struck sail, 
and, as our sailors would say, " scudded under 
bare poles." This striking of the sail was in 
ancient ships effected not by reefing the sails 
to the yards, but by lowering both the yards 
and sails together to the deck. This explana- 
tion relieves some of the obscurity which in- 
volves the nautical details of this portion of 
our history. On the third day from the com- 
mencement of the storm, it was found neces- 
sary to lighten the ship by throwing overboard 
all the tackling which was not indispensable 
to its preservation. 

After this the mariners entirely lost their 
reckoning, and knew not whither they were 
going ; for, in the absence of a compass, the 
ancient seamen, when out of sight of land, 
relied upon the sun by day and the stars by 
night; but now neither the sun nor stars had 
been visible for many days. Under these dis- 
couragements the spirits of both the crew and 
passengers gave way, and all hope that they 
should be saved was abandoned. At this 
juncture Paul stood forth, and, after remind- 
ing them that this danger would not have 
been incurred had his advice been taken, he 
exhorted them to be of good cheer, for that, 
although the ship itself must be lost, all their 
lives would be saved. 

As his authority for this, he alleged that in 
the night he had been visited by an angel "of 
the God whose I am and whom I serve;" 
who said to him, " Fear not, Paul : thou must 
be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath 
given thee all them that sail with thee." The 
apostle added, " Wherefore, sirs, be of good 
cheer ; for I believe God, that it shall be even 



LAST DAYS OF PAUL. 



627 



as he bath told me. Howbeit we must be cast 
upon a certain island." As men in desperate 
circumstances readily grasp even the shadow 
•of a hope, there is no doubt that Paul's inti- 
mation was received with more gladness and 
confidence than any intimation from him 
might in more prosperous days have com- 
manded. 

This tempestuous scene recalls the graphic 
•description of a shipwreck and the remarkable 
faith of a child, given in the following lines: 



As thus we sat in darkness, 
Each one busy in his prayers, 

"We are lost! " the captain shouted 
As he staggered down the staiis. 

But his little daughter whispered, 
As she luuk his icy hand, 

" Isn't God upon the ocean 

Just the same as on the land ? " 

Then we kissed the little maiden, 
And we spoke in better cheer, 

And we anchored safe in harbor 
When the morn was shining clear. 




»NCIENT SHIPS. Acts XXV'ii. 2. 



We were crowded in the cabin, 
Not a soul would dare to sleep, — 

It was midnight on the waters 
And a storm was on the deep. 

'Tis a fearful thing in winter 
To be shattered by the blast, 

And to hear the rattling trumpet 
Thunder, " Cut away the mast ! " 

So we shuddered there in silence, — 
For the stoutest held his breath, 

While the hungry sea was roaring, 
And the breakers talked with Death. 



On the fourteenth night from the commence- 
ment of the storm the mariners deemed by the 
soundings that they were approaching the 
land, and fearing to be dashed to pieces on the 
rocks, they stayed the ship by casting four 
anchors out at the stern, and remained long- 
ing for daylight to disclose the position in 
which the) r lay. The seamen having let down 
the boat under color of getting the anchors 
out at the foreship also, manfested an intention 
to escape in it from the ship: but Paul de- 



628 



THE CARGO THROWN OVERBOARD. 



clared to the centurion and the soldiers, " Ex- 
cept these abide in the ship, ye cannot be 
saved;" on which, such was the influence he 
had acquired, they cut the rope and let the 
boat go adrift. 

While they remained waiting for the day, the 
apostle repeated his assurance that not a hair of 
anyone of their heads should fall to the ground, 
and in that assurance he urged them to take 
some refreshment after the long abstinence 
which their distress had occasioned, and he 
cheerily set them the example by eating some 
bread in their presence. On this, " they were 
all of good cheer, and also took some meat." 
Being thus strengthened, they applied them- 
selves to the task of still further lightening the 
ship, by throwing overboard the corn with 
which it was laden. 

The Ship Stranded. 

At length the wished-for dawn appeared ; 
they found themselves near a shore which 
none of them could recognize. Opposite them 
was a creek which seemed to offer a practicable 
harbor and safe anchorage, and into this they 
concluded to carry the ship. They therefore 
again took up their anchors and hoisted their 
sails. But falling into a place " where two 
seas met" at the entrance of the creek, the ship 
went aground, so that the fore part stuck fast 
among the rocks, while the hinder part was 
broken by the violence of the waves. 

The soldiers who had charge of the prisoners 
on board then proposed that they should all be 
killed, lest they should swim ashore and escape. 
This shocking proposal was, however, over- 
ruled by the centurion, chiefly, as it appears, 
out of regard for Paul, who would have been 
involved in the massacre ; and a general order 
was given that all who could swim should cast 
themselves into the sea and endeavor to reach 
the land. This they did, and then those 
who could not swim managed to reach 
the shore by the help of boards and broken 
pieces of the wreck, so that every soul on 
board, to the number of two hundred and 
seventy-six, reached the shore in safety, with- 
out the loss of a single life. 



Having reached the shore, it was soon ascer- 
tained that they were upon an island called 
Melita, which is generally supposed to have 
been the present Malta. Here " the barbarous 
people," says the historian, " showed us no 
little kindness ; for they kindled a fire, and 
received us every one, because of the present 
rain, and because of the cold." 

Paul and the Viper. 

The apostle, with his usual cheerful alacrity 
in every useful labor, employed himself in col- 
lecting sticks for this fire. Concealed in the 
bundle which he collected was a poisonous 
serpent, in a torpid state. But when the wood 
was cast upon the fire, the viper became 
warmed by the heat, and darted forth, and 
fastened upon Paul's hand. When the natives 
of the island beheld this, and concluded that 
he must needs die, they said among themselves, 
" No doubt this man is a murderer, whom 
though he hath escaped the vengeance of the 
sea, yet justice suffereth not to live." 

In reaching this conclusion the people 
reasoned in strict accordance with the preva- 
lent notions of the age, which indeed are not 
yet wholly extinct. It was believed that great 
criminals were often preserved by Divine jus- 
tice from one kind of death to perish by 
another more painful and horrible. It was also 
a general impression that the offending mem- 
ber in most cases received the punishment; 
and the people of the island doubtless felt that 
in the case before their eyes, the viper had 
fastened upon the very hand which had taken 
the life of a fellow-being. 

It was also generally believed, by both 
heathen and Jews, that no murderer, however 
he might evade human justice, ever finally 
escaped the righteous judgments of Heaven. 
Serpents were to a certain extent regarded as 
the appropriate instrument of such punish- 
ments. The Jewish writers themselves give 
the story of a man who slew his friend, 
but was immediately after bitten by a serpent 
and died. They also allege that when the 
power of inflicting death was taken from th 
nation by the Romans, all the guilty did not 



. 



LAST DAYS OF PAUL. 



629 



escape ; if a man deserved to be burnt, he fell 
into the fire, or a serpent bit him ; or if he de- 
served to be strangled, he fell into a river, or 
was taken off by the quinsy. These remarks 
will go to illustrate the class of impressions 
under which the kind people of Melita con- 
ceived that the hand on which the viper fast- 
ened was stained with blood. 

But the apostle quietly cast off into the fire 
the snake which they knew to be venomous ; 
and they stood watching the effects of the 



the centurion concerning Paul, and the wonder 
so lately wrought as regarded the serpent, in- 
troduced the apostolical party to the especial 
and favorable notice of this personage. This was 
amply repaid by Paul through the powers more 
precious than wealth which were vested in him. 
The father of Publius lay ill of the dysen- 
tery, by which he had been brought to the 
brink of the grave ; and the apostle no sooner 
heard this than he entered the chamber in 
i which the afflicted man lay, and, after having 




PAUL BITTEN 



poison which they believed to have entered 
his frame. But he remained cheerful and un- 
harmed : and then the people changed their 
minds, and believed that he whom they had 
just regarded as a murderer could not be less 
than a god. 

The shipwrecked men received a most kind 
and courteous entertainment from Publius, the 
Roman governor of the island, who, numerous 
as they were, provided them with lodging and 
provisions during their stay. The report of 



prayed, laid his hands upon him and restored 
him to health. When this was noised abroad, 
the people of the island hastened to bring their 
sick friends to obtain the like benefit, and they 
all received health and cure from the hands of 
the apostle. The good people of the island 
did all in their power to express their sense 
of favors so important. " They honored us 
with many honors," says the narrator, "and 
when we departed they loaded us with such 
things as were necessary." 



630 



A FRIENDLY PORT. 



The departure did not take place till three 
months alter the shipwreck ; for not till then, 
when the winter had passed, was any vessel 
Willing to leave for Italy. Then they embarked 
in another ship of Alexandria, doubtless a 
corn-ship, which had wintered at the island, 
and which " bore the sign of Castor and 
Pollux," whose special province it was, in 
the classical mythology, to succor persons in 
danger of shipwreck. 

The ship put in at the port of Syracuse, on 
the eastern coast of Sicily, and then the capital 
of that island. Syracuse was founded by the 
Corinthians about seven hundred years before 
Christ ; and the enterprising colonists, being 
greatly enriched by commerce, soon raised 
this, their principal seat, to great importance 
and magnificence. In its best state it was ac- 
counted the largest and richest city belonging 
to the Greeks. It was twenty-two miles in cir- 
cuit, and was considered to rival Carthage 
in wealth. It was often styled " quadriplex," 
being divided into four parts, each of which 
was equal to a large city. The ancient writers 
arc- untired of expatiating on the fine pros- 
pects of Syracuse — its port, banked up with 
marble, and surrounded with elegant buildings 
— its magnificent public statues and monu- 
ments — and its splendid and commodious resi- 
dences. 

Remains of a Magnificent City. 

Syracuse long maintained its power as an 
independent state; and the Carthaginians and 
Athenians assaulted it in vain. Hut about two ' 
hundred years before Christ, it was taken by 
the Romans, although not until the siege had 
been protracted for three years by the me- 
chanical contrivances of Archimedes. Syra- 
cuse remained a nourishing commercial town! 
under the Romans ; and although now no' 
longer the chief city of the island, it still sur- 
vives as a considerable town, belonging, with 
the rest of the island, to the kingdom of 
Naples. 

As there has always been much intercourse 
between Malta and Sicily, the ship had probably 
taken in some lading or passengers to discharge 



at Syracuse. Although Syracuse had even 
then declined from its ancient importance, it 
still exhibited the magnificence for Which it 
had been renowned ; and although this had 

j now disappeared, it is still a place of some im- 
portance. Here the passengers Janded, and 
remained three days, the ship having probably 
to discharge a portion of her cargo at this 

1 port. 

The Voyage Ended. 

Again departing, the vessel coasted along 
the eastern side of Sicily, and arrived in due 
course at Rhegium, nearly opposite Messina, 
and on the Italian side of the strait which 
separates Sicily from the peninsula. At this 
place, which still subsists under the name of 
Reggio, the ship tarried one day, when the 
wind, blowing from the south, became favor- 
able to their passage through the strait, and 
brought them on the next day to Puteoli, on 
the north side of the Gulf of Cumae, now 
called the Bay of Naples, and about eight miles 
northwest from the city of that name. This 
was the end of the voyage, as ships from Alex- 
andria and the East usually put in and landed 
their cargoes and passengers, partly to avoid 
doubling the dreaded Promontory of Circeium r 
and partly because there was no commodious 
harbor nearer to Rome. 

Puteoli was thus well known to travelled 
Jews, who landed and embarked here in their 
journeys to and from Rome. This place was 
celebrated for its numerous hot springs, reputed 
to cure various diseases. Within its limits 
were thirty-five natural baths of different sorts 
of tepid water; and from these baths or pits 
of water, called in Latin putci, the place is said 
to have derived its name of Puteoli. Baiae, on 
the other side of the creek of Puteoli, and 
similarly noted for its warm springs, is fre- 
quently noticed by the Latin writers as a fa- 
vorite resort of the emperors for relaxation or 
health, being in fact the popular watering-place 
of Italy ; and Puteoli partook of its distinction 
and prosperity, being connected with it by a ; j 
line of villas. Puteoli is now called Pazzuoli,| 
and has a few thousand inhabitants. 

At Puteoli Paul found Christian brethren. 



LAST DAYS OF PAUL. 



631 



with whom he tarried for a week, and was then 
conducted towards Rome. At Appii Forum, a 
town upon the celebrated Appian Road from 
Rome to Capua, and about midway between 
Puteoli and Rome, from which it was distant 
fifty-one miles, Paul and his party seem to 
have taken rest, the probability of which cir- 
cumstance had drawn several Christian breth- 
ren all the way from Rome to meet them. 
About half way between this place and Rome 
there was another resting-place, called Tres 
Tabernae (translated "three taverns"). This 
name has suggested to most commentators 
the probability that there were here three 
hostelries, or places for the entertainment of 
the numerous travellers upon this road. This 
may have been the origin of the name, but 
the place appears to have become a town, 
which in the time of Constantine was of suffi- 
cient consequence to be the seat of a bishopric. 

The Apostle met by Friends. 

At the Tres Tabernae other brethren from 
Rome met the apostolical party, including 
probably many persons who had become per- 
sonally acquainted with Paul in Greece and 
Asia Minor ; and when he saw so many, who 
by coming so far to meet him evinced the in- 
terest they took in his labors and welfare, "he 
thanked God and took courage." He had 
long desired to see the Christians at Rome, 
and he was now grateful to God that he was 
permitted to do so, although in bonds. 

At length they arrived at Rome — the im- 
perial city — then the mistress of the world, 
and at the height of its external greatness and 
magnificence ; that marvelous city, whose do- 
minion, which has passed away ; whose reli- 
gions, which have changed ; and whose arts, 
laws, literature, and history, which are im- 
perishable, have in all ages, even to this day, 
by their direct or indirect influences, held cap- 
tive the minds of men, and ruled them as with 
a rod of iron. 

At Rome the kind centurion, who had so 
much befriended the apostle, resigned his 
charge of the prisoners into the hands of the I 
commander of the Praetorian cohort, called 



" the captain of the guard," to whose custody 
prisoners arriving from the provinces were 
usually consigned. 

After a time the frivolous and malignant 
nature of the charges against Paul being 
known through the rescript of the governor 
Festus, and through the representations of the 
centurion, the apostle was allowed to remain 
in what was considered the easiest confinement 
consistent with his safe custody. He was per- 
mitted to live in a house which he hired for 
himself, in the charge of a soldier, to whose 
arm his own arm was chained, and who : n 
consequence was always with him. 

Chained to a Soldier. 

This kind of custody was less averse to 
ancient Roman or Eastern habits than to ours ; 
and Paul probably regarded it as little more 
than a petty annoyance, seeing that it inter- 
fered less than any other kind of custody with 
his great vocation of declaring the Gospel of 
Christ, which he freely preached to all who 
came to him. 

One of the first steps taken by the apostle 
after his arrival was to call the chief of 
the Jews in Rome together. He had prob- 
ably two objects in view in this : one to vindi- 
cate himself from the suspicion of crime, or 
to convince them that the charges alleged 
against him were false ; and the other, to ex- 
plain to them the Gospel of Christ. He thus, 
in accordance with his general custom, seized 
the earliest opportunity of making known to 
his own countrymen the Divine message which 
was committed to him ; and he naturally sup- 
posed that charges highly unfavorable to his 
character had been sent forward against him 
to the Jews in Rome by those in Judaea. They 
assured him that this was not the case, as no 
letters or messengers had arrived to create an 
impression to his disadvantage; and for the 
rest they said, " We desire to hear of thee 
what thou thinkest ; for as concerning this sect, 
we know that it is everywhere spoken against." 
They accordingly came again on an ap- 
pointed day to his lodging, when, from morn- 
ing till night, he explained to them the doctrine 



632 



THE APOSTLE IMPRISONED. 



of Christ, meeting their objections, answering 
their questions, and " persuading them con- 
cerning Jesus out of the Law and out of the 
Prophets." 

Some of the auditors were awakened to 
further inquiry, but the general result was as 
usual discouraging, and the apostle plainly 
told them — " Be it known, therefore, unto you, 
that the salvation of God is sent unto the 
Gentiles — and they will hear it." 

Paul Two Years in Rome. 

After this Paul remained " two whole years 
in iiis own hired house, and received all that 
came in unto him ; preaching the kingdom of 
God, and teaching those things which concern 
the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no 
man forbidding him." 

With these words the apostolical record con- 
cludes. Why Luke closed his history at this 
point is unknown. It maybe that he was not 
afterwards the companion of Paul ; or that he 
may have been himself removed by death. It 
reed on all hands that he did not attend 
the apostle in his subsequent travels; and we 
should infer from the conclusion of the book, 
that he did not survive the apostle, as it is 
almost incredible that, in case he did, he should 
not have mentioned his release and death. It 
is t'ne uniform account of antiquity thai Luke, 
after the transactions with which the Acts of 
th Apostles closes, passed over into Achaia, 
where he lived a year or two, and then died at 
the age of eighty-four years. 

The leader is naturally anxious to know 
something further of the life and labors of that 
great apostle whose course he has doubtless 
followed with much of interest and instruction. 
The materials for this purpose are but scant)', 
and not altogether satisfactory; but the)- have 
been collected and arranged with great care by 
Cave, Lardner, Neander and others; and we 
cannot better occupy the small space left to us 
than in stating the result of such researches. 

Paul's imprisonment, so far from reducing 
him to an inactive condition, opened to his 
eager mind new and extensive means of use- 
fulness. During his confinement, anxiety for 



the extension of the kingdom of God, and for 
the prosperity of the Churches which he had 
founded, occupied him far more than his 
personal concerns. As all persons had free 
access to him, his opportunities of preaching 
the Gospel were not few. Through the sol- 
diers who relieved one another in standing 
guard over him, it became known among their 
comrades of the praetorian cohort, and hence 
to a wider extent in the city, that this remark- 
able prisoner was in confinement not for any 
civil offence, but for his zeal in behalf of the 
new religion; and this tended to promote it, 
since a cause for which its foremost advocate 
had suffered the loss of all things was sure of 
attracting attention. By his example the 
Roman Christians were also roused to publish 
the truth with zeal and boldness. 

Untiring- Zeal. 

The concern of the Churches in Asia Minor 
also engaged the apostle's solicitude, and to 
this we owe several of those invaluable Scrip- 
tures, known as the Epistles of Paul, which 
have become the heritage of ages, and which 
alone would be rich and ample fruits of his 
imprisonment. The investigations concerning 
the dates and circumstances of these Epistles 
do not belong to this place, although the in- 
timations' which they contain afford the land- 
marks which direct our course. 

Up to a certain point we can form a tolerably 
clear notion of the apostle's condition and 
course of proceeding at Rome: but beyond 
that point all is uncertain and obscure. The 
first question which arises is, whether he 
ended this confinement with martyrdom, or 
whether he was released from it, and entered 
afresh upon his apostolical labors ? The de- 
cision of this question depends partly upon 
the depositions of historical witnesses, and 
partly on the result of an examination o{ 
Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy. The ques- 
tion is, whether this Epistle, which was evi- 
dently written during a confinement at Rome, 
must be classed among those written during 
his first imprisonment, or whether we may 
assume the existence of a second ? 




(633) 



634 



PROBABLE RELEASE OF PAUL. 



The narratives of the fourth century, which 
allege that lie was set at liberty and published 
the Gospel in Spain, cannot be taken into ac- 
count, for they may all have been founded 
upon wh.it he says in his Epistle to the Romans 
of his intentions of visiting Spain. More at- 
tention is due to the testimony of a man who 
was in part a contemporary and probably a 
disciple of the apostle. Clement of Rome 
says expressly, in the second Epistle to the 
Corinthians, that Paul suffered martyrdom after 
he had travelled to the boundaries of the West. 
By this expression we naturally understand 
Spain ; and although Clement might have had 
in view some other place or country, and per- 
haps even Britain, as some allege, yet we can- 
not in any case suppose that a person writing, 
as Clement did. at Rome, could intend by "the 
farthest limits of the West" that very city, but 
some region more remote. 

From this account of Clement's, if we must 
infer that Paul carried into effect his intention 
of travelling into Spain, or that at least he 
went beyond Italy, we shall also be obliged to 
admit that he was released from his confine- 
ment at Rome. A close examination of the 
Second Epistle to Timothy indicates a very 
dissimilar set of circumstances from those 
which attended the apostle's first imprisonment, 
and shows feelings and expectations entirely 
different from those which are known from in- 
ternal evidence to have been written during 
the first confinement. It is in fact a solemn 
farewell to his beloved adherent, in the knowl- 
edge that his end was approaching : " I am 
now ready to be offered, and the time of my 
departure is at hand. I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me 
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." 

All comparison of circumstances tends to 
show that these impressions were not appli- 
cable to the fust confinement, from which he 
confidently expected to be released ; and there- 
fore the conclusion is inevitable, and in ac- 
cordance with the intimation of Clement, that 
he was released, and that the Second Epistle 



to Timothy was written during a subsequent 
and final imprisonment. 

Now if Paul was released from his first im- 
prisonment, it must have been before the per- 
secution against the Christians, raised by the 
conflagration of Rome in the year 64; for 
had he been at that time a prisoner, he would 
most assuredly not have been spared; and it 
agrees with other chronological data, that after 
more than two years' imprisonment, he re- 
gained his freedom in the latter end of 62 or 
the beginning of 63 — a result of the proceed- 
ings which, in the circumstances described in 
these pages, is by no means improbable, but 
such as the reader is naturally led to expect. 

An Ancient Tradition. 

The accusation of raising a tumult in Jeru- 
salem was proved to be unfounded ; and the 
inherent antagonism of Christianity to the re- 
ligion of the Roman state had not then been so 
understood as to attract public attention. It 
could not altogether have escaped notice ; but 
no definite law existed on the subject, and 
under Nero, who derided the established re- 
ligion and gave himself little concern about 
the ancient Roman enactments, such a point 
might the more easily be waived. The friends 
whom Paul had gained by his behavior during 
his confinement would probably exert their in- 
fluence in his favor. 

Thus he might and probably did regain his 
freedom; and, as Neander justly observes, 
" the ancient tradition that he was beheaded, 
and not crucified like Peter, if true, favors his 
not having suffered death in the persecution of 
64 ; for had he been put to death in that perse- 
cution, so much regard would not have been 
paid to his Roman citizenship as to spare 
the hated leader of a detested sect from the 
more painful and ignominious mode of execu- 
tion." 

We have therefore to assume that Paul was 
released from his first confinement, and did not 
perish in the persecution of the year 64. 

We know from the epistles written durin* 
his first confinement what Paul intended tc 
do in case he obtained his liberty ; and b} 



LAST DAYS OF PAUL. 



G35 



comparing these intentions with the fact re- 
corded by Clement, some notion of his subse- 
quent proceedings may be obtained. 

Last Journeys. 

Before his confinement, Paul had formed the 
intention of visiting Spain ; and the testimony 
of Clement leads to the belief that he eventu- 
ally fulfilled that intention. But during his 
imprisonment it appears that he altered his 
views, and concluded to visit once more the 
field of his early labors in Lesser Asia, and a 
question arises as to which of these intentions 
he first executed after his release? It would 
be possible that after his release he travelled 
first into Spain; that he there exerted himself 
in the establishment of Christian Churches, 
and then revisited the former sphere of his 
ministry ; and that he was on his return to the 
West, in order to close there his apostolical 
commission, but, before he could reach his des- 
tination, was detained and put to death at 
Rome. 

But the want of any memorial of Paul's 
labors in Spain does not favor the supposition 
that he spent any length of time in that coun- 
try; and hence the other explanation, that he 
first renewed his labors in the East, and then 
proceeded to Spain where he was soon seized 
and sent a prisoner to Rome, and there be- 
headed, seems to have the best claim upon our 
confidence. 

Under this explanation, it may not be alto- 
gether impracticable to trace the course of the 
apostle's journeys. It seems, then, that he in 
the first place executed his intention of revisit- 
ing the Churches in Asia Minor, and found 
them fallen into disorder, which he labored 
hard to rectify. After spending some time in 
those parts, he left Ephesus to visit the 
Churches in Macedonia. On his wav thither 
he appears to have revisited the island of 
Crete. The circumstances of his former visit 
to that island during the stormy voyage which 
ended in the wreck at Malta, have been al- 
ready noticed. It does not appear that there 
were then any Christians in the island, as Luke 
does not there, as usual with him, record the 



kind attentions of Christian brethren ; and it 
is therefore probable Paul even then formed 
the intention of planting the Gospel of Christ 
upon its shores. After having accomplished 
this intention, he left Titus to complete the 
work he had commenced, and proceeded to 
Macedonia, whence he wrote the Epistle to 
Titus, which exists in the Christian Scriptures. 
The apostle had then the prospect of spending 
the winter at Nicopolis, and wished Titus to 
join him there. There were many places of 
this name; but it is supposed that the present 
was the one in Epirus, which was built by Au- 
gustus to commemorate his great victory at 
Actium. 

The Crown of Life. 

It would seem, however, that circumstances 
induced the apostle to go back to Ephesus, 
where he left Timothy, and once more pro- 
ceeded westward. It was now probable that 
he executed his long-cherished intention of 
visiting Spain, as already intimated, and was 
from thence sent as a prisoner to Rome. The 
Second Epistle to Timothy, which affords an 
important clue to these movements, shows that 
the situation of Paul in the imperial city was 
by no means what it had been during his pre- 
vious imprisonment. 

It was then universally allowed that he was 
in custody for no usual or political offence, but 
only for preaching the Gospel, and many were 
encouraged by his example boldly to confess 
their faith ; whereas now he was in fetters as 
an " evil doer," for all Christians were then re- 
garded at Rome as criminals, and only a few 
had courage openly to avow themselves as his 
friends and companions in the faith of Jesus. 
Now, he considered his martyrdom far more 
probable than his release; whereas before his 
deliverance had seemed by far the more proba- 
ble event. His feelings in the prospect of 
that event are inimitably expressed : this, his 
last Epistle — his elevated composure, his self- 
forgetfulness, his tender fatherly care for his 
disciple Timothy, his concern for the cause of 
the Gospel, which he was about to leave ex- 
posed to so many attempts to adulterate it; 
yet his confidence in the Divinity of that 



636 



THE FINAL SCENE. 



cause, and of its certain triumph over every 
obstacle, rose high above every doubt or fear, 
being based upon the almightiness of Him who 
watched its progress and conducted all its 

developments. 



him. It was doubtless in one of the last 
years of Nero's reign, and probably in or 
about the year 67 a. d. The general account, 
which rests on no certain authority, and which 
has been shown to be scarcely compatible with 




I AM NOW KKADV To BE OFFERED. 



With the particulars of the last scene of all 1 the facts of the case, alleges that Paul and 
in the life of this great benefactor to mankind Peter were at Rome in A. D. 64; and that they 
we are unacquainted, and are not even certain both perished in the furious and bloody perse- 
of the year in which he received the crown cution which was in that year excited against 
which the Righteous Judge had laid up for the Christians in consequence of the dreadful 



LAST DAYS OF PAUL. 



637 



fire which raged for a whole week in the im- 
perial city, and of which they were most falsely 
said to have been the authors. 

A Historic Dungeon. 

At this time it is alleged that Peter was cru- 
cified, while Paul was, as a Roman citizen, be- 
headed. That he was put to death at Rome, 
and that by being beheaded, is highly proba- 
ble, although both the time and the occasion 
appear to be in this tradition erroneously 
stated. The prison in which Paul and Peter 
are supposed to have been confined is still 
shown at Rome ; and it is alleged that Paul 
was beheaded at a place called the Salvian 
Waters, about three miles from Rome, and 
that he was buried in the Ostian Way, where 
a magnificent Church was afterwards erected 
over his supposed sepulchre. But the name 
of Paul needeth not such memorials. His 
record is on high ; and his memory is em- 
balmed, beyond the wreck of worlds, in the 
thousands of immortal souls, who, through his 
living ministrations and his imperishable words, 
now bear their triumphal palms in that innum- 
erable host of " all nations, and kindreds, and 
people, and tongues, who have come out of 
great tribulation, and have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb." 

We are unwilling to quit the great apostle 
whose labors we have endeavored to trace, 
without recalling the attention of the reader 
to the leading points of a character of inferior 
interest to none which the Scriptures offer, and 
perhaps as difficult to understand distinctly and 
truly to appreciate as are those of Moses and 
David. The contradictions which go to make 
up human character usually consist of qualities 
and defects warring against each other, and of 
virtues and vices which might seem to exclude 
each other. But in the character of Paul, the 
antagonism seems to be that not of virtues and 
contrary vices, but of opposing virtues. Under 
this point of view, Paul almost stands alone. 

Never was man more equal, or more various. 
He was humble, yet never himself cast down ; 
he was most gentle, yet terrible to those who 



had by their bad faith compromised the great 
cause to which all his energies were devoted. 
He was wise and prudent, yet possessed of an 
ardor which irresistibly carried him onward to 
the accomplishment of his designs, and was 
endowed with a frankness which no fears 
could check or deference arrest. Firm in 
danger, and unshaken in affliction, he was yet 
careful of his safety, and never exposed his 
life or person to needless risk. 

A Heroic Soul. 

Of indefatigable activity, a severe taskmaster 
upon himself, and indifferent to his lot, so that 
the great objects which he had set before him 
were advanced, no man ever possessed a heart 
more tender, or a soul more open to the 
peaceful emotions of friendship and joy. His 
will had all the tenacity and his conduct all 
the perseverance essential to the accomplish- 
ment of great enterprises ; whatever he willed, 
he willed with his whole heart; half-measures 
and partial successes were both unpleasant to 
him ; he threw himself wholly into every un- 
dertaking which his judgment approved, or to 
which his duty called him, and he deemed 
nothing accomplished while anything remained 
to be done. 

The example of Paul shows very clearly 
that the points which constitute a man's char- 
acter and give him his individuality among 
men, remain unchanged under circumstances 
which entirely alter his sentiments and condi- 
tion. In this respect we see that Paul was the 
same under the Gospel as under the Law. He 
had the same ardor, the same force of will, the 
same moral courage in coming forward to 
take great responsibilities upon him. He has 
changed his weapons, and his course is dif- 
ferent, but we recognize the same champion 
whose ragings under Judaism have become 
heroisms under Christ. 

Before his conversion Paul had already be- 
come a man of note among the Jews ; and it 
may be safely said that in any age, in any 
country, in any moral or social condition of a 
people — a man of his character and genius 
would, according to all ordinary probabilities, 



638 



THE MAN AND HIS MISSION. 



have become great among his fellows-must he, who has found a home in the great heart 

have taken a chief part in whatever religious, of the world, should have had aqu.et home in 

political, or moral movement the circumstances his later life, should have been freed from 

of the a-e might originate. The ordinary cir- persecutions and cares, and should calmly 

cumstances of life would have been insufficient have awaited the setting of the sun, the ap- 

to exercise and regulate the mighty energies j preach of the tw.hght, and the coming out of 

which were bound up in him; and when it the stars, 
pleaded the Almighty to press them into the 



who 



Such, however, was not to be the case. 
And here we have one of those mysteries 



service of the Gospel, not only was one 
would have probably become the most bitter forced upon us, of which there are so many in 
enemy of the cause turned into its friend, but | the providence j>f God and in the history^of 
Paul himself received a task sufficient 



to I His Church. The most worthy of earth's he- 



occupy even to the uttermost all the peculiar I roes have been those who toiled the 1 



talents and powers which had been given to 
him. This task was the greatest that man 
could receive. 

The Gospel for All Men. 

Under God Moses formed a people for his 
.-_■; and under Him Paul became the 
chief instrument of throwing open the doors 
of the New Covenant to a far more numerous 
and a mightier host, and of extending to the 
whole race of Adam higher privileges than 
those which had till then been specially re- 
served for Abraham's children. 

The dignity of his appointment to his great 
mission was commensurate to the greatness 
of the occasion ; and with what sublimity of 
genius, of eloquence, of devotedness, and of 
virtue did he not embrace and accomplish his 
grand vocation ! And all that he did was 
done, and all he suffered was suffered, without 
any taint of that sin by which angels fell. 

The traditions and the historical statements 
respecting the last days of Paul and his death 
have already been presented to the reader. It 
seems not a little singular that one so gifted, 
so devoted, so useful in his day, should have 
been left to a fate so cruel, and, in our thought, 
so unsatisfactory. As we take in the full 
measure of the man and follow him through 
his brilliant career, we cannot help wishing 
him a happy old age and a peaceful trans- 
lation to the skies. Nothing could have 
been more fitting in our estimation than that 



fought the bravest, suffered the most. Their 
march has been through fiery furnaces; their 
breath has been a long-drawn sigh; their 
voices have been like the wail of troubled 
winds; while they have endured as seeing the 
invisible, it has certainly been an endurance 
and a very hard one. The great apostle is no 
exception to this rule. 

Let it be so ; he and they who were like 
sufferers have in this tempestuous manner 
proved their faith, and have shown themselves 
superior to the world and its spirit Christi- 
anity has needed such confessors, and Chris- 
tianity has had them. While their names and 
the memory of their deeds endure, those great 
truths, which have given light to man, com- 
fort to human hearts, and hope of celestial 
glory, will abide, and mankind will cherish 
them as its richest legacy. 

We close the history of the apostle Paul 
with tender reflections upon his heroic char- 
acter, and the great service which he has ren- 
dered to after ages. Monument of marble or 
bronze he has none ; but the world is filled 
with his personality, and this grows more 
majestic and attractive with the advance of 
time. Men may write epics concerning 
Achilles and Leonidas ; here is one who writes 
his own great story in the hearts of men, and 
no brilliant epic is equal to his greatness, and 
no history can do justice to his marvelous 
achievements. Great Paul, born for conquest, 
born for immortality ! 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 




,HE lessons learned from the 
various Epistles sent to the 
Churches, and from others 
of a general character, are 
vivid and impressive. It is 
impossible to read what is 
said so vigorously by Peter, 
James and Paul, as well 
as others, without being 
deeply affected thereby. Among the wonders 
of the sacred volume must be classed the 
prominent teachings of the apostles, those 
great facts and truths which are made so plain 
by the men who, untaught in the schools of 
philosophy, were yet teachers who could draw 
the attention of the world. 

One of these very prominent lessons relates 
to self-sacrifice and suffering in the cause of 
Christianity. Nothing good was ever yet 
brought into the world without pain ; trial is 
the birth-pang of new ideas, destined to revo- 
lutionize society. As in the teachings of 
Christ, persecution, suffering, martyrdom, are 
distinctly set forth as the heritage of His fol- 
lowers, so in the teachings of the apostles, the 
same ideas are brought out, and in such a way 
as to arrest the attention of every reader. It 
■vill not be amiss to trace this heroic spirit, 
ooth in the lives of the apostles and, in some 
instances, among their successors of a later 
period. 

The predictions of sufferings for which Jesus 
prepared His disciples were, according to the 
New Testament and subsequent history, liter- 
ally fulfilled to most of those who listened to 
them. In the first onset of danger " they for- 
sook Him and fled " — they could not, as He 
said to Peter, follow Him then, but they did 
" follow Him afterwards." 

To Peter himself Jesus said, " When thou 
shalt be old, thou shaft stretch forth thy hands, 



and another shall gird thee, and carry thee 
whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, 
signifying by what death he should glorify 
God." Accordingly we learn from the very 
general tradition of antiquity that Peter was 
crucified at Rome under Nero. 

James was "killed by the sword" by Herod, 
the king, at Jerusalem. 

We have not the evidence of Scripture con- 
firming the violent deaths of the other apos- 
tles and evangelists ; but early Christian 
writers say that Paul was beheaded at Rome, 
under Nero, from anger at the conversion of 
his favorite cup-bearer. Many historians have 
mentioned the early traditions that Andrew 
suffered death in Achaia, James in Palestine, 
Philip in Phrygia, Bartholomew (or Nathan- 
ael) in Armenia, Thomas in India, Matthew 
in Ethiopia, Jude in Persia, Simon Zelotes at 
Jerusalem, Mark at Alexandria, and Luke in 
Greece. 

Ere these things happened to them they 
were, as St. Paul tells us, " counted the off- 
scouring of all things ; " " troubled on every 
side ; " " persecuted but not forsaken ; cast 
down but not destroyed ; " " always bearing 
about in the body the dying of the Lord 
Jesus ; " " always delivered unto death for 
Jesus' sake; beaten, stoned, in hunger and 
thirst, in cold and nakedness, in stripes above 
measure, in prisons frequent, in death oft." 
Such was the history of the apostles. The 
New Testament comes down to us through a 
line of crowned heads, but their crown was 
the crown of martyrdom. 

The first Pagan persecution against the 
Christians was raised by the emperor Nero, 
about thirty years after the crucifixion. This 
is mentioned by the great Roman historian, 
Tacitus. He says, that " Rome being set on 
fire, Nero declared it was the work of the 

(639) 



640 



BLOODY NERO. 



Christians, and put great numbers of them to 
death, after frightful tortures." Other heathen 
writers mention the Christians as being " pun- 
ished with the troublesome coat," which was 
made like a sack, of coarse cloth, besmeared 
with pitch, wax, and sulphur, and, being dressed 
in this coat, they were hung by their chins on 
sharp stakes fix n the ground, and then 
burnt : 

" In that pitched shirt in which such crowds expire, 
Chained to the bloody stake and wrapped in fire." 

• Nero had them burnt at midnight, as he 
said. " for torches to the city." This persecu- 
tion lasted for three or four years, and spread 
through the Roman empire. An inscription 
dug up in Spain shows that the Gospel had al- 
ready penetrated that country, and that the 
Church there had her martyrs. 

Persecutions in Britain. 

In the reign of Nero, Suetonius was sent into 
Britain, and attacked the Druids in their strong- 
holds in Mona. He caused many of them to 
be burned in the fires they had prepared for 
their expected captives, and destroyed their 
groves and altars. St. Paul was sent to Rome, 
according to Eusebius, in the second year of 
Nero, that is, a. d. 56, and he stayed there, 
according to Luke, two years. The British 
prince Caractacus, and his father Bran, were 
sent to Rome in the year 51, and stayed there, 
as hostages, for seven years. It is said, in the 
Welsh " traids," that Bran was the first who 
brought the Christian faith to the Cymry, or 
Welsh. He had, therefore, in all probability, 
received it from Paul at Rome ; thus early 
came the pure Gospel to Wales. It is said 
that Bran brought back with him three Chris- 
tian teachers — Illtid, an Israelite; Cyndaf; and 
Arwystli, which is Welsh for Aristobulus, to 
whom Paul sends salutation in the sixteenth 
chapter of Romans. 

Tacitus likewise informs us that London at 
that time contained many merchants and much 
merchandise. How unlike was the London 
of which he speaks to the London of to-day ! 
Its very pathways were different ; for traces of 



Roman floors and highways are found twenty- 
feet below our present streets. There is little 
doubt that the Romans brought in their train, 
from the large family of Christian brethren in 
Rome, some manuscripts of the Gospels, some 
teachers of the Story of Peace among those 
men of war ; and that there would be hymns 
sung to Jesus Christ in some corner of the old 
Roman town. Christianity, through the labors 
of the apostles, had taken deep hold of the 
people in the south of Europe ; and many 
flourishing churches were, as we know, estab- 
lished in Greece. 

Death Preferred to Dishonor. 

A person asked Apollo how he should 
cause his wife to relinquish Christianity. " It 
is easier, perhaps," replied the oracle, " to 
write on water, or to fly into the air, than to 
reclaim her. Leave her alone in her folly, to 
hymn in a faint mournful voice, the praises of 
the dead God, who publicly suffered death from 
judges of singular wisdom." 

As an account of the great woe that came 
upon the Holy City has already been given, 
we will append only a brief notice of the 
dreadful destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, 
a. d. 70. The Jews having refused the usual 
tribute to the Romans, he came to enforce it. 
The city and Temple were burnt, and the 
ground ploughed up, for the purpose of obtain- 
ing the precious things buried in the rubbish. 
The wicked Jews had said, " His blood be on 
us and our children," and it was so. Never 
was destruction of any city or people so ter- 
rible. A hundred thousand were sold as slaves 
to the neighboring nations; multitudes were 
transported to the mines of Egypt; and more 
than a million perished by famine and sword, 
by pestilence and crucifixion. Only those 
among the Jews who were believers in Christ 
were prepared for this final breaking up of their 
national glory and the visible splendors of 
their Temple — having learned that the priest- 
hood of Christ took the place of all other 
priesthoods, and rendered utterly useless any 
further ceremonies or sacrifices at Jerusalem. 

They had no " continuing city," but they 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 



641 



sought one to come. The Epistle of Paul to 
these Hebrews is full of consolation, especially 
suited to their sorrowful hearts. 

In the year 81 occurred the Domitian per- 
secution, during which Christianity appears to 
have been carried to Scotland by some of the 
disciples of the apostle John. These perse- 
cutions, of which there are said to have been 
ten, were always the means of scattering still 
more widely the seed of the Word. Wherever 
Christians were driven, they were sure to take 
some portions of their Scriptures with them. 
No historian, like Tacitus, celebrated their 
heroic sacrifices and secret escapes. Heroes 
and statesmen have their records here ; the 
saints, on high. 

Binding the Strong- Man. 

Jesus related a parable in which He declared 
Himself as come to take possession of a house, 
and of the things in it : this house was the 
world, and the things in it were the souls of 
men. He had come to rescue these from 
Satan's power. He compares Satan to the 
strong man who was in the house, and who 
tried to prevent the Saviour from entering in. 
He said he must first bind the strong man, 
and then he would spoil his goods. 

The first century was alone that in which 
the persons lived, who were inspired to record 
Christ's sayings ; and the living teaching of 
inspired persons, although very precious, could 
not have been continual. The apostles were 
all missionaries. They went forth into all the 
world to plant Churches, and seldom stayed 
long in one place. The Gospels and Epistles 
were only in course of writing — not written, 
and gathered together till the close of the 
century — therefore very few Churches and still 
fewer individuals were in possession of more 
than separate manuscripts. 

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
were not written, as Mr. Home thinks, till 
about the time of Nero's persecution, A. d. 62, 
and these, with the inspired Epistles or letters 
to the already founded Churches, became emi- 
nently necessary to check the errors and 
heresies which had arisen in them. 

41 



Yet internal frictions, amounting in some 
instances to warm dissensions, were tame 
compared with the difficulties which the dis- 
ciples in the early centuries encountered at 
various periods from outside foes. It was 
thought that by burning the believer the belief 
could also be burned. Superstitious notions 
sometimes appeared in connection with these 
fiery persecutions. 

There is a quaint old poem called "The 
Legend of the Roses," which accounts in a 
singular way for the origin of this flower. It 
is found in a work entitled " The Voyage and 
Travel of Sir J. Maundevile, Knight," which 
was published in 1332. 

A fair maiden was slandered 

For wrong she had not done ; 
Doomed to the death to pay her sin, 

And yet her sin was none. 

She prayed unto our Saviour dear 

That He might give her aid, 
And prove thereby to all the world 

She was a holy maid. 

Then forth she stepped with great faith, 

Unto the stake she hied ; 
Meekly she bowed her head to all 

A farewell ere she died. 

The angry crowd, for blood athirst, 

Unto the pile set fire — 
The blazing fkimes mount to the sky 

With piercing strength full dire, 

When, sudden at her feet, instead 

Of brands and fiercest flame, 
Are roses fair of simple troth, 

And roses red from shame, 

To see so cruel, wicked deed 

Against the pure and true — 
They clasp her feet, they climb around, 

They shroud her in from view. 

None other roses till this day 

Had yet been seen on earth, 
'Tis sure they came from Paradise 

To prove this fair maid's worth. 

That many of the early Christians had 
struggles and conflicts to pass through, foes to 
face, and sufferings to endure, may account in 
part for what is said so eloquently in the New 



642 



THE HEAVY-LADEN. 



Testament concerning charity, and that heav- | teachings. Sympathy, the disposition to suf- 

enly sympathy which is due toward those | fer with another and help the heavy-laden to 

who are in distress. J bear their burden, is one of the great themes 

Not only in the writings cf the apostles, but | of the apostles, especially of Paul, and it will 




DOOMED TO THE DEATH. 



throughout the whole range of literature those I be interesting to notice how this sweet Bible 
beautiful sentiments of love and charity are strain is echoed in the writings of uninspired 
expressed which fell from the lips of Jesus .authors whose brilliant productions have 
and formed so large a part of his public I charmed the world. 






TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 



643 



The Rev. Thomas Guthrie, of Scotland, 
whose eloquence in the pulpit was equalled 
only by his missionary spirit and his self-deny- 
ing labors among the poor, says: "Though 
the lower animals have feeling, they have no 
fellow-feeling. Have not I seen the horse en- 
joy his feed of corn when his yoke-fellow lay 
a-dying in the neighboring stall, and never 
turn an eye of pity on the sufferer ? They 
have strong passions, but no sympathy. It is 
said that the wounded deer sheds tears ; but it 
belongs to man only to ' weep with them that 
-weep,' and by sympathy to divide another's 
sorrows and double another's joys. 

" When thunder, following the dazzling 
flash, has burst among our hills, when the 
horn of the Switzer has rung in his glorious 
valleys, when the boatman has shouted from 
the bosom of a rock-girt loch, wonderful were 
the echoes I have heard them make; but there 
is no echo so fine or wonderful as that which, 
in the sympathy of human hearts, repeats the 
cry of another's sorrow, and makes me feel his 
pain almost as if it were my own. They say 
that if a piano is struck in a room where an- 
other stands unopened and untouched, who 
lays his ear to that will hear a string within, 
as if touched by the hand of a shadowy spirit, 
sound the same note. But more strange how 
the strings of one heart vibrate to those of an- 
other; how woe wakens woe; how your grief 
infects me with sadness; how the shadow of a 
passing funeral and nodding hearse casts a 
cloud on the mirth of a marriage party ; how 
sympathy may be so delicate and acute as to 
become a pain. 

" There is, for example, the well-authenti- 
cated case of a lady who could not even hear 
the description of a severe surgical operation 
but she felt all the agonies of the patient; 
grew paler and paler, and shrieked and fainted 
under the horrible imagination. Not a fancy; 
for the dog has that, and, asleep on the warm 
hearth, he dreams of battles and of hunts : not 
reason; for there is an intelligence in his 
honest eye, and a skill in his tasks, that at 
least apes and imitates the intellect of man — it 
is not these, but fellow-feeling, which elevates 



our race above the unimmortal brute, and 
brings us near to Him whose sympathy is our 
chief comfort in sorrow, and of whom we are 
assured — thank God in life's dark hour for the 
assurance- -that 'in all His people's affliction 
He is Himself afflicted. ' " 

Equally striking is the tribute paid by Mrs. 
Norton to the little child, whose tender heart 
is easily touched and whose love it is not 
difficult to awaken : 

"A child's eyes ; those clear wells of unde- 
fined thought : what on earth can be more 
beautiful ? full of hope, love and curios- 
ity, they meet your own. In prayer, how 
earnest ; in joy, how sparkling ; in sympathy, 
how tender. The man who never tried the 
companionship of a little child has carelessly 
passed by one of the great pleasures of life, as 
one passes a rare flower, without plucking it 
or knowing its value. A child cannot under- 
stand you, you think; speak to it of the holy 
things of your religion, of your grief for the loss 
of a friend, of your love for someone you fear 
will not love in return ; — it will take, it is true, 
no measure or soundings of your thought — it 
will not judge how much you should believe, 
whether your grief is rational in proportion to 
your loss, whether you are worthy or fit to at- 
tract the love which you seek — but its whole 
soul will incline to yours, and engraft itself as 
it were on the feeling which is your feeling for 
the hour." 

Value of a Friend. 

One of the finest things Lord Byron ever 
wrote is contained in these truthful lines : 

" There's nought in this bad world like sympathy ; 
'Tis so becoming to the soul and face — 
Sets to soft music the harmonious sigh, 
And robes sweet friendship in a Brussels lace." 

Among the many sayings of Jeremy Taylor, 
those brilliant gems which lend so rich a lus- 
tre to English literature, the following must be 
accounted as one of the choicest : 

" Every man rejoices twice when he has a 
partner of his joy ; a friend shares my sorrow 
and makes it but a moiety ; but he swells my 
joy and makes it double. 



644 



POWER OF SYMPATHY. 



" For so two channels divide the river and 
lessen it into rivulets, and make it fordable 
and apt to be drunk up by the first revels of 
the Syrian Star; but two torches do not divide 
but increase the flame ; and though my tears 
are the sooner dried up, when they run on my 
friend's cheeks in the furrows of compassion, 
yet when my flame hath kindled his lamp, we 
unite the glories and make them radiant, like 
the golden candlesticks that burn before the 
throne of God, because they shine by numbers, 
by unions, and confederations of light and 
joy." 

Henry Ward Beecher also adds the follow- 
ing beautiful tribute to those already quoted : 

" Happy is the man who has that in his soul 
which acts upon the dejected as April airs upon 
violet roots. Gifts from the hand are silver and 
gold, but the heart gives that which neither 
silver nor gold can buy. To be full of good- 
ness, full of cheerfulness, full of sympathy, 
full of helpful hope, causes a man to carry 
blessings of which he is himself as unconscious 
as a lamp is of its own shining. Such a one 
moves on human life as stars move on dark 
seas to bewildered mariners ; as the sun 
wheels, bringing all the seasons with him from 
the south." 

F. W. Robertson uses the following striking 
language : 

" We must not make too much of sympa- 
thy, as mere feeling. We praise feeling and 
praise its possessor. But feeling is only a 
sickly exotic in itself — a passive quality, hav- 
ing in it nothing moral, no temptation and no 
victory. A man is no more a good man for 
having feeling, than he is for having a delicate 
ear for music, or a far-seeing optic nerve. 
The Son of man had feeling — He could be 
'touched.' The tear would start from His 
eyes at the sight of human sorrow. But that 
sympathy was no exotic in His soul, beautiful 
to look at, too delicate for use. Feeling with 
Him led to this, ' He went about doing good.' 
Sympathy with Him was this, ' Grace to help 
in time of need.' " 

It is said Of the saintly George Herbert, the 
quaint old English Church poet, that once in 



a walk to Salisbury, to join a musical party, he 
saw a poor man with a poorer horse that was 
fallen under his load. They were both in dis- 
tress and needed present help, which Mr. Her- 
bert perceiving, put off his canonical coat, and 
helped the poor man to unload, and afterwards 
load his horse. The poor man blessed him for 
it and he blessed the poor man, and was so 
like the good Samaritan, that he gave him 
money to refresh both himself and his horse. 

Objects of Charity. 

Thus he left the poor man ; and at his com- 
ing to his musical friends at Salisbury, they 
began to wonder that Mr. Herbert, who used 
to be trim and clean, was so soiled and dis- 
composed. But he told them the occasion ; 
and when one of the company told him " he 
had disparaged himself by so dirty an em- 
ployment," his answer was " that the thought 
of what he had done would prove music to 
him at midnight, and that the omission of it 
would have upbraided and made discord in his 
conscience whensoever he should pass by that 
place ; for if I be bound to pray for all that be 
in distress, I am sure that I am bound, so far 
as it is in my power, to practice what I pray 
for; and let me tell you, I would not willingly 
pass one day of my life without comforting a 
sad soul, or showing mercy, and bless God for 
this occasion." Oh, how many might have 
anxious thoughts which often infest their mid- 
night hours changed into sweet music, if they 
would only be more frequently seen with full 
hands and friendly words in the abodes of 
poverty and suffering ! These are the places 
in which to attune one's conscience to mid- 
night harmonies. 

Says the celebrated Dr. Chalmers : " No- 
thing seems much clearer than the natural 
direction of charity. Would we all but re- 
lieve, according to the measure of our means, 
those objects immediately within the range of 
our personal knowledge, how much of the 
worst evil of poverty might be alleviated 1 
Very poor people, who are known to us to 
have been honest, decent, and industrious, 
when industry was in their power, have a 




BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS. Gal. VI. 2. 



(645) 



646 



REWARD OF WELL-DOING. 



claim on us, founded on our knowledge, and 
on vicinity and neighborhood, which have in 
themselves something sacred and endearing to 
every good heart. One cannot, surely, always 
pass by in his walks for health, restoration, or 
delight, the lone wayside beggar, without oc- 
casionally giving him an alms. Old, care- 
worn, pale, drooping, and emaciated creatures, 
who pass us by without looking beseechingly 
at us, or even lifting up their eyes from the 
ground, cannot often be met with, without ex- 
citing an interest in us for their silent and un- 
obtrusive sufferings or privations. A hovel, 
here and there, round and about our own com- 
fortable dwelling, attracts our eyes by some 
peculiar appearance of penury, and we look in, 
now and then, upon its inmates, cheering their 
cold gloom with some small benefaction. 
These are duties all men owe to distress ; they 
are easily discharged ; and even such tender 
mercies as these are twice blessed." 

These glowing tributes to that fellow-feeling 
which comes to the weary world as the sum- 
mer sun comes with soft gales and fragrant 
blossoms, making the earth glad, are in keep- 
ing with the teachings of the New Testament, 
and in fact were born of the sayings of Christ 
and the apostles. What they uttered is echoed 
in the words of a thousand others, and finds a 
response in every human heart. 

One of the great themes of Paul is found in 
his short, practical precept : " Bear ye one an- 
other's burdens." The thought of human 
suffering is always present with him; the vision 
of want and distress throws its dark shadow 
across his path ; the sigh of another is a pang 
in his own soul ; the tear that falls so silently 
awakens in his heart unutterable sympathies. 
In the presence of his foes he is a lion ; in the 
presence of sorrow he turns to a ministering 
angel. 

" Let us not be weary in well doing," he 
says, " for in due season we shall reap if we 
faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, 
let us do good unto all men." The warm 
and limitless charity of the apostle stands 
here in striking contrast to that selfishness 
which seeks only its own good. 



" Forever the sun is pouring his gold 

On a hundred worlds that beg and borrow; 
His warmth he squanders on summits cold, 

His wealth, on the homes of want and sorrow. 
To withhold his largess of precious light 
Is to bury himself in eternal night: 

To give is to live. 

" The flower shines not for itself at all, 

Its joy is the joy it freely diffuses ; : 

O* beauty and balm it is prodigal, 

And it lives in the life it sweetly loses. 
No choice for the rose but glory or doom — 
To exhale or smother, to wither or bloom : 

To deny is to die. 

" The seas lend silvery rain to the land, 

The land its sapphire streams to the ocean ; 
The heart sends blood to the brain of command, 

The brain to the heart its constant motion ; 
And over and over we yield our breath — 
Till the mirror is dry and images death : 

To give is to live. 

" He is dead whose hand is not opened wide 

To help the need of sister or brother; 

He doubles the worth of his life -long ride 

Who gives his fortunate place to another ; 
Not one but a thosuand lives are his 
Who carries the world in his sympathies : 

To deny is to die. 

" Throw gold to the far- dispersing wave, 

And your ships sail home with tons of treasure; 
Care not for comfort, all hardships brave, 

And evening and age shall sup with pleasure ; 
Fling health to the sunshine, wind, and rain, 
And roses shall come to the cheek again : 

To give is to live." 

It is one of the happy characteristics of the 
Bible that it takes such account of human 
weakness and infirmity. While the ancient 
Stoics believed that the only way for over- 
coming sorrow was to steel the heart against 
it, thereby turning the sufferer into a creature 
of bronze or granite, the Gospel comes to us 
with hope and good cheer. Paul affirms that 
the strong should support the weak, and this 
in effect is reiterated again and again ; it comes 
out through all the Bible, and especially in the 
teachings of Christ and the great apostle. The 
spirit of the Bible is found in the angelic song 
of good-will to men. 

It was customary in those days, days of 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 



647 



oppression and violence, for the strong to 
crush the weak, "breaking the bruised reed," 
and " quenching the smoking flax." A new 
method of dealing with the weak, that of lift- 
ing them up, befriending them, helping them, 
acting the part of the good Samaritan, was so 
contrary to the prevailing ideas and principles 
of the time that strong opposition was 
awakened against Christianity because it took 
such tender account of the poor and oppressed. 
The great lesson that we are considering 
here is not merely a lesson from the human 
heart moved to sympathy, but it may even be 
found in other realms. While the whole 
creation groans and travails in pain, the whole 
creation seeks a remedy for its groanings and its 
complaints. Think how, in the brute creation, 
dumb suffering appeals to creatures themselves 
dumb, but which seem to have somewhat of 
the feeling of human brotherhood. There is 
a motherhood in the animal creation which is 
sometimes as striking as that to be found in 
our humanity. The fierce beasts, the lions, 
the tigers, the panthers, the bears, all show 
this wonderful affection for their young, for 
the helpless little ones that would perish ex- 
cept for maternal care. Thus the terrible fe- 
rocity of the brute creation is softened, and 
the wild beast that would rend you in pieces 
turns toward its helpless offspring in a ministry 
as unexpected as it is beautiful. 

Birds Rescuing' their Mates. 

Think also how a bird will place its own 
feathered breast between its young and danger. 
This is a lesson that we may see around us in 
our summer fields, derived from these creatures 
of the air which are so often used in the Bible 
as symbols for teaching the most blessed and 
comforting truths. 

Instances are well known where the older 
birds have gone to the relief of one of their 
wounded companions, and have actually borne 
it aloft, away from further harm, when, by 
reason of its own broken and helpless wings, 
it could not bear itself. This is a happy illus- 
tration derived from natural history, and re- 
minding us of the words of Paul, that " they 



who are strong should bear the infirmities of 
the weak." 

An interesting writer gives us the following 
striking thoughts, which we take the liberty 
of quoting : " When we see how the active, 
the earnest, and the devout often suffer, it 
were well if we pondered what a kindly word 
can do, and, above all, if we avoided sharp 
and bitter ones. Let unkindness never send 
another arrow into the hearts around us. 
They will not be with us very long, nor we 
with them. Let unfilial carelessness never 
wound ; let pride never pass over the poorer 
friends with cool indifference. Let us help 
men and women, seeing there is enough, in- 
deed, to make them sigh. 

" One of Solomon's proverbs shows the con- 
nection that exists between the mind and the 
man : ' Heaviness in the heart of man maketh 
it to stoop.' The picture is beautiful. We see 
how weakened men become by heavy-hearted- 
ness. They seem less able to cope with dif- 
ficulty ; and so, indeed, it is. Make a man's 
heart light, and you make him stronger ; 
weaken him there, and he is enfeebled — he 
stoops as though age and infirmity were com- 
ing upon him. He is not so able to face his 
adversary as he was before ; not so able to bid 
defiance to the storm and breast the waves. 

" We should soon become a stooping race 
if it were not for the smile of man and the 
kind blessing of God. Of course, I have felt 
as you have, that this truth runs through the 
Bible, that God's favor and blessing makes us 
happy — happy even in tribulation ; but we 
have also as clearly revealed the relation we 
sustain to each other : ' Bear ye one another's 
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.' " 

The Golden Rule. 

There is something sweet and beautiful in 
the very derivation of the word "benevolence." 
Bene volens, good willing, or willing the good. 
This is the burden of that glorious song which 
broke across the world when the mysterious 
and despised Nazarene came into it. It was 
His mission ; and because of it there has passed 
out upon the world, since His death, a fragrance 



648 



TRUE BENEVOLENCE. 



that shall cling to it while time endures. Be- | To give rightly we must have given purely 
nevolence.as the meaning of the word indi-lwith the heart before putting forth the hand. 




THE STRONG SUPPORTING THE WEAK. Rom. 

cates, has much a passive as an active virtue ; I Then will come the right gift. The heart s 
or rather, which is the better way of putting it, I suggestions being right, true deeds will follow 
must be passive before it is active. I in their train. But is it not often this : " do 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 



649 



■unto others as ye would that they should not 
do unto you ? " There is evidently something 
wrong here. We are really noble as we feel 
and act for others. Platitudes, it may be said, 
to which all can subscribe without prejudice, 
but which business men cannot attend to. 
Nevertheless, men are chiefly worthy as they 
reduce such things from platitudes to practi- 
calities. 

A life spent in good deeds must, of necessity, 
■bring pleasant reminiscences in old age, and 
vice versa. The closing scenes of the lives of 
men who have been benefactors to mankind 
would be much more desirable than those of 
the ill-livers — Wycherley, for instance. We 
are told of the dramatist, that in his declining 
years he frequently looked at the portrait 
painted of him when at the age of twenty- 
eight, by Lely, but never without a sigh ; and 
that when he did so he murmured, " Quantum 
mutatus ab illo ! " How changed, indeed ! 
•but had he thought of others, instead of 
Jiis own passions and their gratification, the 
review would not have been so bitter, for some 
kind act might have broken in like a sunbeam 
upon the gloomy firmament. 

Not that the fact of having lived well is 
enough to support the spirit, alone and un- 
aided, when the present world recedes and the 
next advances ; but if there be a pleasure in 
doing good, that pleasure can be enjoyed as a 
reminiscence in after life as well as at the time 
■of the performance of the deed. The brothers 
Cheeryble must surely descend into the grave 
more honored and beloved than the mere 
Jacob Astors — the accumulators — of society. 

There is one little preliminary to the exercise 
of benevolence to be mentioned which some 
•are in the habit of forgetting, namely, that 
they must first get in order to give. This is 
only another mode of reading the adage, " Be 
just before you are generous." It is really 
astonishing, even in this world of appropria- 
tion, to see how many there are who can afford 
to be lavish with the resources of others. 

One of the principal features of New Tes- 
tament teaching relates to the ministry of 
angels. Heaven and earth are placed side by 



side, and glad messengers pass and repass 
from one to the other. In the writings of the 
apostles the veil which divides two worlds is 
repeatedly drawn aside, and celestial beings 
appear in white raiment and immaculate beauty. 

Entertaining- Angels. 

" Some have entertained angels unawares," 
says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
Abraham did so. When sitting at his tent 
door, under the shade of the terebinth of 
Mamre, while the eastern sun blazed fiercely 
around, he saw three mysterious men near his 
habitation. 

He rose, went forward to greet them, made 
ready a lordly meal ; and thus entertained, 
" unawares," messengers from the unseen 
world. Lot did so. Sitting at the gate of 
Sodom, as the sun shot slanting beams along 
the western sky, he discerned in the gloaming 
two strangers approach the city. These he 
pressed to spend the night under the shelter 
of his roof; and thus unconsciously did honor 
to the heavenly ambassadors whom God had 
sent to deliver him and his from the destruction 
impending the place. Gideon did so. 
• While threshing out his father's corn at 
Ophrah, he was startled by the sudden ap- 
pearance of an unfamiliar form. He made 
ready some food for the wayfarer ; but this was 
made to serve as a sacrifice, in the flame of 
which the stranger rose as a seraph to the sky. 
In these cases, " angels that do always behold 
the face of our Father in heaven" stood face 
to face with man ; and those whose voices 
swell the symphonies of the skies spoke to 
human ears. Thus heavenly messengers dis- 
guised in earthly garb, received as men, enter- 
tained as " strangers," disappeared with their 
higher nature disclosed. 

Not thus visibly do angels appear now; but 
often still do heavenly messengers visit us in 
veiled form, so that we do not recognize their 
high origin until they " brighten as they take 
their flight;" and sometimes not even then 
does their true nature appear to us. It is well, 
then, that we should be prepared to receive 
them in disguise, and should be ready to en- 



650 



THE MASTER VIRTUE. 



tertain God's servants, whatever form they may- 
assume. Let us, then, think of some of the 
"angels" whom we are apt to " entertain un- 
awares." 

Scarcely any subject, however, is more 
prominent in the teachings of the apostles 
than faith. This is the master virtue, and its 
praises are sounded on every page of Script- 
ure. 

"All men," says Dr. Guthrie, " are born 
with faith. Faith is as natural to a man as 



turns ; and when the babe holds out its little 
arms to her, I see in these arms the arms of 
faith ; and when, like a believer restored to the 
bosom of his God, it is nestling in a mother's 
embrace and the cloud passes from its brow, 
and its tears are changed into smiles, and its 
terror into calm serenity, we behold the prin- 
ciple of faith in play. 

" This is one of its earliest and — so far as 
nature is concerned — one of its most beautiful 
develooments. So natural indeed is it for us 
H3«g 




ANGELS UNAWARES." Heb 



grief or love, or anger. One of the earliest 
flowers that spring up in the soul — it smiles 
on a mother from her infant's cradle ; and liv- 
ing on through the rudest storms of life, it 
never dies till the hour of death. 

" On the face of a child which has been left 
for a little time with strangers, and may be 
caressed with their kisses and courted with 
their smiles, and fondled and dandled in their 
arms, I have seen a cloud gathering and grow- 
ing darker till at length it burst in cries of 
terror and showers of tears. The mother re- 



to confide, and trust and believe, that a child 
believes whatever it is told, until experience 
shakes its confidence in human veracity. Its 
eye is caught by the beauty of some flower, or 
it gazes up with wonder on the starry heavens; 
with that inquisitiveness which in childhood, 
active as a bee, is ever on the wing, it is curi- 
ous to know who made them, and would be- 
lieve you if you said you made them yourself, 
" Such is the faith which nature gives it in 
a father that it never doubts his word. It be- 
lieves all he says, and is content to believe 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 



651 



where it is not able to comprehend. For this 
as well as other reasons, our Saviour presented 
in a child the living model of a Christian. He 
left Abraham, the father of the faithful, to his 
repose in heaven ; He left Samuel undisturbed 
to enjoy the quiet rest of his grave; He allowed 
Moses and Elias, after their brief visit, to re- 
turn to the skies and wing their way back to 
glory. For a pattern of faith He took a boy 
from his mother's side, and setting him up in 
his gentle, blushing, shrinking modesty before 
the great assembly, He said, ' Whosoever shall 
not receive the kingdom of God as a little 
child, shall in nowise enter therein.' " 

The Queen of Graces. 

Says quaint old Thomas Adams : " When 
Samuel came to anoint one of the sons of 
Jesse, Eliab was presented to him, and he said, 
'Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.' 
He was deceived ; he might have a goodly 
countenance and a high stature ; but it was not 
he. Then passed by Abinadab ; nor is this he. 
Then Shammah ; nor is this he. Then seven 
of his sons were presented : ' The Lord hath 
chosen none of these.' 

" ' Be here all ? ' saith Samuel. Jesse an- 
swered, ' No; the youngest is behind, and he 
keepeth the sheep.' ' Then,' saith Samuel, 
'send and fetch him, for we will not sit down 
till he come.' When he was come, he 'was 
ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance 
and goodly to look on. And the Lord said, 
Arise and anoint him, for this is he.' 

" If we should make such a quest for the 
principal grace ; temperance is a sober and 
matronly virtue, but not she ; humility in the 
lowest is respected of the highest, but not she; 
patience, a sweet and comfortable virtue, that 
looks cheerfully on troubles, when her breast 
is red with the blood of sufferance, her cheeks 
are white with the pureness of innocency, yet 
not she ; charity is a lovely virtue, little inno- 
cents hang at her breasts, angels kiss her 
cheeks : ' Her lips are like a thread of scarlet, 
and her speech is comely ; her temples are 
like a pomegranate within her locks ; ' all 
the ends of the earth call her blessed, yet not she. 



" Lastly, faith appears, beautified with the 
robe of her Saviour's righteousness, adorned 
with the jewels of His grace, and shining in 
that fairness which He gave her. Jam rc- 
gina venit, now comes the queen ot graces : 
this is she." 

Faith Needs to be Trained. 

Richard Cecil one day went into a room 
where his little girl was, bright-eyed and 
happy as she could be. Somebody had just 
given her a box of very beautiful beads. The 
little child ran to her papa immediately to 
show this little gift. " They are very beauti- 
ful, my child," he said; "but now, my dear, 
throw them into the fire." The little girl 
looked for a moment. It was a great trial. 
" Now I shall not compel you to do it ; I leave 
it to you ; but you never knew papa ask you 
to do a thing that was not kind to you. I 
cannot tell you why, but if you can trust me, 
do so." 

It cost a great effort ; but the little child be- 
gan in her own way to think, " Father has al- 
ways been kind to me ; I suppose it is right," 
and she took the box, and, with a great effort, 
threw it into the fire. The father said no 
more for some time. The next day, however, 
he presented her with something far more 
beautiful, and which she had long desired. 
" Now," said he, " my child, I did this to teach 
you to trust in that great Father in heaven. 
Many a time in your life He will require you 
to give up and to avoid what you cannot see 
the reason for avoiding ; but if you trust that 
Father as you have trusted me, you will al- 
ways find it best." That was training the 
child's faith. 

Only benefit can come from the trial of faith. 
There was a British regiment once ordered to 
charge a body of French cuirassiers. The 
trumpets sounded and away they went boldly 
at them ; but not to victory. They broke like 
a wave that launches itself against a rock. 
They were sacrificed to trader's fraud. Forged 
not of truest steel, but worthless metal, their 
swords bent double at the first stroke. W ; hat 
could human strength or the most gallant 



652 



THE TRIAL OF FAITH. 



bravery do against such odds ? They were , much to be proved as his faith— its truth and 
slaughtered like sheep on the field. And ever genuineness ? This in effect is what Dr. 
since I read that tragedy, I have thought I ! Guthrie says concerning the trial of faith. 




faith. — Heb. xi 



would not go to battle unless my sword were 
proved. I would not go to sea with anchors 
that had not been tried. But of all things for 
a man's comfort and peace, what needs so 



" Triumphant Faith ! 
Who, from the distant earth, looks up to heaven, 
Seeing invisibility, suspending 
Eternity upon the breath of God. 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 



653 



She can pluck mountains from their rooted thrones, 

And hurl them into ocean ; and from pain, 

And prisons, and contempt, extort the palm 

Of everlasting triumph. She doth tread 

Upon the neck of pride, like the free wind 

On angry ocean. Lo ! with step erect 

She walks o'er whirlpool waves and martyr fires, 

And depths of darkness and chaotic voids; 

Dissolving worlds, rent heavens, and dying suns; 

Yea, and o'er paradises of earth's bliss, 

And oceans of earth's gold, and pyramids 

And temples of earth's glory; all these pave 

Her conquering path to heaven — all these she spurns 

With feet fire-shod, because her hand is placed 

Immovably in God's; her eye doth rest 

Unchangeably on His ; nor will she stop 

Till, having crossed the stormy waves of pain 

And fiery trial, she may lay her head 

Upon her Father's breast and take the crown 

From love's rejoicing hand." 

Faith and Works. 

Faith and works are as necessary to our 
spiritual life as Christians, as soul and body- 
are to our natural life as men ; for faith is the 
soul of religion, and works the body. Says 
Longfellow : 

Therefore love and believe, for works will follow spon- 
taneous, 

Even as the day the sun ; the right from the good is an 
offspring. 

Love is a bodily shape ; and Christian works are no more 
than 

Animate faith and love, as flowers are the animate spring- 
tide. 

The second chapter of the Epistle by James 
seems to describe a spiritual wedding. We are 
" bidden to a marriage." And as at the older 
marriage in Cana of Galilee, the Holy Mas- 
ter is present, and consummates the nuptials. 
The parties to be united are but symbolic per- 
sonages, and yet are real and lifelike too. The 
bride is young and beautiful — ever young, and 
ever clothed upon with light as with a gar- 
ment. Like Milton's Eve, she was 

"For softness formed, and sweet attractive grace." 

Her face is clear as the day — her look is firm, 
and yet trustful. She is not of the earth, but 
heaven-born, and wears her celestial parentage 
in every lineament of her radiant countenance. 
Her name is Faith. She is the daughter of God. 



And beside her stands one whose lusty form 
was made for deeds of daring and endurance. 
He is sinewy and athletic. There is valor in 
his eye, and " cunning in his ten fingers," and 
strength in his right arm. He was created to 
act, to do, to suffer. He was formed for strife 
and struggle. His name is Action. 

With solemn rites the two are joined in wed- 
lock. They are both to love and both to 
obey. They are always to live, and move, 
and suffer, and conquer together. They are 
to be the fruitful parents of everything good 
on earth. On them, while united, Jehovah 
pronounces a "blessing" richer than that 
which gladdened the nuptials of Isaac and 
Rebekah, or of Jacob and Leah. While united, 
they are to live, and grow, and conquer. When 
separated, they are to droop and perish. For 
each other, and in each other, and with each 
other, their days of struggle and victory are 
to be passed, until time shall be no longer. 
And so Faith and Works were coupled by In- 
finite Wisdom, and in the presence of the 
world it was solemnly announced, "What 
God hath joined together, let no man put 
asunder." 

From that union has sprung up a glorious 
progeny. All the mighty deeds which have 
ennobled and elevated humanity own that 
parentage. Faith and Action have been the 
source, under God, of everything good, and 
great, and enduring, in the Church of Christ ; 
the very Church itself exists through them. 
The early apostles went out with their glad 
evangel to the nations under this double im- 
pulse, and with this double watchword. It was 
not enough to " believe my Gospel ; " they were 
also to " preach my Gospel." It was not 
enough to love in the heart; the whole life 
was to be an embodiment and outflow of 
love. It was not enough to have a meek and 
gentle spirit; the young Church was to re- 
turn good for evil, and thus overcome evil 
with good. 

The Church was not only to be sound in 
heart, but active in limb and sinew also. It 
was to be a militant Church, contending ear- 
nestly for the faith delivered to the saints ; a 



654 



FAITH AND ACTION. 



courageous Church, standing fast for the Gos- 
pel ; a suppliant Church, praying without 
ceasing ; a busy Church, redeeming the time ; 
a patient Church, bearing with all long-suffer- 
ing ; and a conquering Church, to evangelize 
all nations. 

Its model men were men of faith and action. 
The great apostle seems to fly like a thunder- 
bolt, kindling, and consuming! He is all 
ablaze with zeal. At Lystra rebuking the de- 
luded worshippers — at Jerusalem confronting 
the Pharisees and the rulers on the castle- 
stairs — at Caesarea startling Agrippa on his 
tribunal — at Rome preaching the reviled 
Gospel, both in his "own hired house" and in 
Caesar's palace — he is everywhere the believer 
in full action, with the heart to feel and the 
hand to do. 

Two gentlemen were one day crossing the 
river in a ferry-boat. A dispute about faith 
and works arose ; one saying that good works 
were of small importance, and that faith was 
everything ; the other asserting the contrary. 
Not being able to convince each other, the 
ferryman, an enlightened Christian, asked per- 
mission to give his opinion. 

Consent being granted: he said: " I hold in 
my hand two oars. That in my right hand I call 
' faith ; ' the other, in my left, ' works.' Now, 
gentlemen, please to observe: I pull the oar of 



faith, and pull that alone. See ! the boat goes 
round and round, and the boat makes no pro- 
gress. I do the same with the oar of works, 
and with a precisely similar result — no advance. 
Mark ! I pull both together : we go on apace, 
and in a very few minutes we shall be at our 
landing-place. So, in my humble opinion," he 
added, " faith without works, or works without 
faith, will not suffice. Let there be both, and 
the haven of eternal rest is sure to be reached." 

As the flower is before the fruit, so is faith 
before good works. Faith is the parent of 
works, and the children will bear a resem- 
blance to the parent. 

It is not enough that the inward works of 
a clock are well constructed, and also the dial- 
plate and hands ; the one must act on the 
other, the works must regulate the movement 
of the hands. 

" Lo ! when the boatman stems the flowing tide, 
And aims direct his little boat to guide ; 
With both oars working he can headway make, 
And leave the waters foaming in his wake ; 
But if one oar within the boat he lays, 
In useless circles round and round he plays. 
So faith and works, when both together brought, 
With mighty power and heavenly life are fraught, 
To help the Christian on his arduous road, 
And urge him forward on his way to God; 
If faith or works, no matter which, he drops, 
Short of his journey's end he surely stops." 











CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE VISION OF JOHN. 



MOST remarkable book 
is the last in the 
Bible, which is the 
Revelation of John. 
There is a mystery 
about it which even 
adds to the interest 
with which all read- 
ers peruse it. Its 
language is lofty; its imagery is sublime, at 
times even terrible ; its meaning is now plain, 
and now inscrutable, and throughout woful 
denunciations of evil are mingled with glow- 
ing descriptions of the heavenly world. 

A brief account of the author of the book 
will serve to show his remarkable traits, and 
will help to a correct understanding of his 
various writings. 

The epoch of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
at which the Son of man visited as a judge 
the city that had rejected its King, and inaugu- 
rated that spiritual kingdom upon earth which 
had now been established in Churches gathered 
from every nation of the civilized world — that 
epoch does not close the New Testament 
History. One apostle, of tho^e whose names 
are prominent in the foundation of the Church, 
not only remained upon the earth to fulfil his 
work, but the more special part of that work 
— according to the views generally held of the 
date of his writings — may be said to have been 
but just beginning. It was not till the founda- 
tion of Christianity was historically complete, 
that the apostle John was divinely commis- 
sioned to utter prophecies of its future course, 
and to develop in his Epistles and Gospel 
those doctrinal aspects of Christ's teaching 
which were needed to correct the heresies now 
rapidly taking their rise. 

The prominent place filled by John in the 
Gospel history, as one of the four disciples 



who formed the innermost circle of the friends 
of Christ, and the high distinction of being 
" the disciple whom Jesus loved," might raise 
our surprise at reading so little of him in the 
Acts, did we not reflect that his special work 
is to be sought for in his writings. The por- 
tion of his life which stands out in the broad 
daylight of the Gospels is preceded and fol- 
lowed by periods over which there brood the 
shadows of darkness and uncertainty. 

In most passages of the Gospels, John is 
named in connection with his brother James ; 
and from the prevailing order it is inferred 
that he was the younger. Their father was 
Zebedee, their mother Salome, whom tradition 
makes the daughter of Joseph by his first wife, 
and consequently the half-sister to Jesus. 
They were brought up at Bethsaida, on the 
lake of Galilee, the town of that other pair of 
brothers — the sons of Jonas — who were to 
share with them Christ's closest intimacy, and 
with whom we find them partners in their oc- 
cupation of fishermen. 

.The mention of the "hired servants," of 
Salome's "substance," of John's "own house," 
implies a position removed by at least some 
steps from absolute poverty. The fact that 
John was known to the high priest Caiaphas 
— as that acquaintance was hardly likely to be 
formed with a disciple of Christ — suggests the 
probability of some early intimacy between the 
two families. Of Zebedee we know nothing 
beyond his interposing no refusal when his 
sons were called to leave him ; and his disap- 
pearance from the Gospel narrative leads to 
I the inference that his death set Salome free to 
join her children in ministering to Christ. 

Her character presents to us the same great 
features that were conspicuous in her son. 
From her — who followed Jesus and ministered 
to Him of her substance, who sought for her 

(655) 



656 



JOHN'S EARLY YEARS. 



two sons that they might sit, one on His right 
hand, the other on His left, in His kingdom — 
he might well derive his strong affections, his 
capacity for giving and receiving love, his 
eagerness for the speedy manifestation of the 
Messiah's kingdom. 

The early years of the apostle were passed 
under this influence. He would be trained in 
all that constituted the ordinary education of 
Jewish boyhood. Though not taught in the 
schools of Jerusalem, and therefore in later 
life liable to the reproach of having no recog- 
nized position as a teacher, no Rabbinical 
education, he would yet be taught to read the 
Law and observe its precepts, to feed on the 
writings of the Prophets with the feeling that 
their accomplishment was not far off. For him 
too, as bound by the law, there would be, at the 
age of thirteen, the periodical pilgrimages to 
Jerusalem. He would become familiar with 
the stately worship of the Temple, with the 
sacrifice, the incense, the altar, and the priestly 
robes. May we not conjecture that then the 
impressions were first made which never after- 
ward wore off? 

Assuming that there is some harmony be- 
tween the previous training of a prophet and 
the form of the visions presented to him, may 
we not recognize them in the rich liturgical 
imagery of the Apocalypse — in that union in 
one wonderful vision of all that was most 
wonderful and glorious in the predictions of 
the older prophets ? 

Concurrently with this there would be also 
the boy's outward life as sharing in his father's 
work. The great political changes which 
agitated the whole of Palestine would in some 
degree make themselves felt even in the vil- 
lage town in which he grew up. The Galilean 
fishermen must have heard, possibly with some 
sympathy, of the efforts made (when he was 
too young to join in them) by Judas of Ga- 
mala, as the great asserter of the freedom of 
Israel against their Roman rulers. 

Like other Jews, he would grow up with 
strong and bitter feeling against the neighbor- 
ing Samaritans. Lastly, before we pass into 
a period of greater certainty, we must not for- 



get to take into account that to this period of 
his life belongs the commencement of that 
intimate fellowship with Simon Bar-jonah ,of 
which we afterward find so many proofs. That 
friendship may even then have been, in count- 
less ways, fruitful for good upon the hearts of 
both. 

The Beloved Disciple. 

Of the four who enjoyed their Lord's espe- 
cial intimacy, while Peter appears as the leader 
of the apostolic band, to John belongs the 
higher distinction of being "the disciple whbm 
Jesus loved ; " and this love is returned with a 
more single undivided heart by him than by 
any other. If Peter is the one who loved 
Jesus, John is the one whom Jesus loved. 
Some striking facts indicate why this was so — 
what was the character thus worthy of the, 
love of Jesus of Nazareth. They hardly sus- 
tain the popular notion, which is fostered by 
the received types of Christian art, of a nature 
gentle, yielding, effeminate. The name Boa- 
nerges implies a vehemence, zeal, intensity, 
which gave to those who bore it the might of 
Sons of Thunder. 

That spirit broke out once and again — when 
they Joined their mother in asking for the 
highest places in the kingdom of their Master, 
and declared that they were able to drink of 
the cup that he drank, and to be baptized with 
the baptism that he was baptized with — when 
they rebuked one who cast out devils in their 
Lord's name, because he was not of their com- 
pany — when they sought to call down fire 
from heaven upon a village of the Samaritans. 

This energy added to the love of him who 
reclined at the Last Supper with his head 
upon his Master's breast the courage to follow 
Him into the council-chamber of Caiaphas, 
and even the praetorium of Pilate, and to stand 
by His cross — with Christ's mother and his 
own, and Mary Magdalene — when all the rest 
forsook Him and fled. There he received the 
sacred trust, which must have influenced all 
his subsequent home life, giving him a second 
mother in the blessed Virgin. He gave a 
home also to the penitent Peter; and when 
they, first of the apostles, learned from Maty 



THE VISION OF JOHN. 



657 



Magdalene the resurrection of the Lord, it 
prows a light upon their respective characters 
that John is the more impetuous, running on 
most eagerly to the rock-tomb ; Peter, the less 
restrained by awe, is the first to enter in and 
look. 

Peter's Ardent Nature. 

So, too, when Jesus appeared to them by 
the Lake of Galilee, John is the first to recog- 
nize, in the dim form seen in the morning 
twilight, the presence of his risen Lord ; Peter, 
the first to plunge into the water and swim 
toward the shore where He stood calling to 
them. The last words of the Gospel reveal 
to us the deep affection which united the two 
friends. It is not enough of Peter to know 
his own future. That at once suggests the 
question — " Lord, and what shall this man 
do?" The reply of Jesus, which was perverted 
into the legends that gather about the close of 
John's life, surely means something more than 
a rebuke of Peter's curiosity. The words — 
"If I will that he tarry till I come" — are 
doubtless a prophecy, as well as an hypothesis ; 
and they seem to intimate that, alone of all 
the apostles, John should survive that catas- 
trophe of the Old Dispensation in the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, which made way for Christ's 
coming in His kingdom. 

The association of Peter and John appears 
still in the opening scenes of the Acts — their 
attendance together to worship in the Temple 
— the miracle of healing the blind man — the 
confessorship before the Sanhedrin — the gift 
of the Holy Ghost to those very Samaritans 
on whom John once wished to call down fire 
from heaven. 

This is his last appearance in the Acts ; and 
he is not mentioned either in connection with 
Paul's first visit to Jerusalem after his conver- 
sion, nor as engaged in labors like those of 
Peter at Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea, nor in the 
persecution in which the sword of Herod di- 
vided him from his brother James. Neither 
does John appear as taking an active part in 
the so-called " Council at Jerusalem ;" but he 
was present at the private conference of the 
apostles with Paul and Barnabas ; and Paul 
42 



names John, with James and Cephas, as a 
" pillar" of the Church, and as one of those 
whose mission it was to " go to the circum- 
cision." 

This one passage proves that the scene of 
John's labors thus far was Jerusalem and 
Judaea. To the work of teaching, organizing, 
and exhorting the Hebrew churches may 
have been added special calls, like that which 
had drawn him with Peter to Samaria. The 
fulfilment of the solemn charge intrusted to 
John may have led him to a life of loving and 
reverent thought, rather than to one of con- 
spicuous activity. We may, at all events, feel 
sure that it was a time in which the natural 
elements of his character, with all their fiery 
energy, were being purified and mellowed, 
rising step by step to that high serenity which 
we find perfected in the closing portion of his 
life. 

A Tradition Concerning- John. 

The tradition which ascribes to him a life 
of celibacy receives some confirmation from 
the absence of his name in I Cor. ix. 5. It 
harmonizes with all we know of his character, 
to think of his heart as so absorbed in the 
higher and diviner love that there was no room 
left for the lower and the human. 

After a long interval, the apostle reappears 
in that close connection with the Churches of 
Asia Minor, which is attested alike by the 
Apocalypse and by the uniform tradition of 
the Church. It is a natural conjecture that he 
remained in Judaea till the death of the Virgin 
released him from his trust Tradition carries 
him from Judaea to Ephesus ; but it gives us 
no clear light as to the motives of his removal : 
the time is so variously fixed, under Claudius, 
Nero, or even Domitian, as to prove that 
nothing certain was known : and our only safe 
conclusion is to reject the two extremes. 

The Pastoral Epistles of Paul absolutely ex- 
clude the idea of any connection of John with 
Ephesus down to their date, that is, to A. d. 66 
at the earliest. On the other hand, it seems 
almost a necessary inference, from John's 
Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, that 
the apostle who writes to them with such high 



658 



A CHRISTIAN CONFESSOR. 



authority and such familiar knowledge of their 
condition, had already labored some time 
among them. This is in accordance with the 
analogy of Paul's letters to churches which 
he had recently visited — for example, the Thes- 
salonians and Galatians ; but these cases may 
also warn us not to exaggerate the time of the 
previous ministration. 

It is the plain meaning of John's own words, 
in the opening of the Apocalypse, that he had 
been banished as a Christian confessor to the 
island of Patmos at a time of general persecu- 
tion ; and the place seems to suggest that he 
had been arrested in the province of Asia. 
Though his banishment may have resulted 
from some more local and temporary cause, 
the question has been generally narrowed to 
the issue between the two great persecutions 
under Nero and Domitian. The consent of 
Christian antiquity is in favor of the latter 
view: the former is a modern theory, based on 
the internal evidence of the book, and con- 
nected with a particular scheme of interpreta- 
tion. Some of those who hold the later date 
regard the Apocalypse as the latest book of the 
New Testament ; but others place the Gospel 
and the Epistles after it. 

Persecution and Banishment. 

The tradition of the Church uniformly rep- 
resents the apostle as spending his last days at 
Ephesus, and the general outline of his work 
there may be gathered from the Revelation 
and the Epistles. The facts which these writ- 
ings assert or imply are — that, having come to 
Ephesus, some persecution, local or general, 
drove him to Patmos: that the Seven Churches, 
of which Asia was the centre, were special 
objects of his solicitude : that in his work he 
had to encounter men who denied the truth on 
which his faith rested ; and others who, with a 
railing and malignant temper, disputed his au- 
thority. 

If to this we add that he must have outlived 
all, or nearly all, of those who had been the 
friends and companions of his maturer years 
— that this lingering age gave strength to an 
old imagination that his Lord had promised 



him immortality — that, as it remembering the 
actual words which had been thus perverted, 
the longing of his soul gathered itself up in 
the cry, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus " — that 
from some who spoke with authority he re- 
ceived a solemn attestation of the confidence 
they reposed in him — we have stated all that 
has any claim to the character of historical 
truth. 

Singular Legends. 

The picture which tradition fills up for us 
has the merit of being full and vivid, but it 
blends together, without much regard to har- 
mony, things probable and improbable. He 
is shipwrecked off Ephesus, and arrives there 
in time to check the progress of heresies 
which sprang up after Paul's departure. Then, 
or at a later period, he numbers among his dis- 
ciples men like Polycarp, Papias, Ignatius. In 
the persecution under Domitian he is taken to 
Rome, and there, by his boldness, though not 
by death, gains the crown of martyrdom. The 
boiling oil into which he is thrown has no 
power to hurt him. He is then sent to labor 
in the mines, and Patmos is the place of his 
exile. 

The accession of Nerva frees him from 
danger, and he returns to Ephesus. There he 
settles the canon of the Gospel history by for- 
mally attesting the truth of the first three Gos- 
pels, and writing his own to supply what they 
left wanting. The elders of the Church are 
gathered together, and John, as by a sudden 
inspiration, begins with the wonderful opening, 
" In the beginning was the Word." Heresies 
continue to show themselves, but he meets 
them with the strongest possible protest. He 
refuses to pass under the same roof (that of 
the public baths of Ephesus) as their foremost 
leader, lest the house should fall down on 
them and crush them. Through his agency 
the great temple of Artemis (Diana) is at 
length stripped of its magnificence, and even 
levelled with the ground ! He introduces and 
perpetuates the Jewish mode of celebrating 
Easter. At Ephesus, if not before, as one who 
was a true priest of the Lord, he bore on his 
brow the plate of gold with the sacred name 



THE VISION OF JOHN. 



659 



engraved on it, which was the badge of the I trifling by the familiar apologue of the bow 
Jewish pontiff ^4 must sometimes be unbent 

In strange contrast with this ideal exalta-l More true to the New Testament character 




THE APOSTLE JOHN AT PATMOS. Rev. i. IO. 

tion, a later tradition tells us how the old man 
used to find pleasure in the playfulness and 
fondness of a favorite bird, and how he de- 
fended himself against the charge of unworthy 



of the apostle is the story, told by Clement of 
Alexandra, of his special and loving interest 
in the younger members of his flock; of his 
eagerness and courage in the attempt to rescue 



660 



THE SOARING "EAGLE. 



one of them who had fallen into evil courses. 
The scene of the old and loving man, stand- 
ing face to face with the outlaw chief whom, 
in days gone by, he had baptized, and winning 
him to repentance is one which we could 
gladly look on as belonging to his actual life. 

The Closing Scene. 

Not less beautiful is that other scene which 
comes before us as the last act of his life. 
When all capacity to work and teach is gone 
— when there is no strength even to stand — 
the spirit still retains the power to love, and 
the lips are still open to repeat, without change 
and variation, the command which summed 
up all his Master's will — " Little children, love 
one another." 

The very time of the apostle's death lies 
within the region of conjecture rather than of 
history, and the dates that have been assigned 
for it range from a. d. 89 to a. d. i 20. 

In relation to Christian doctrine, John is, as 
in the title of the Apocalpse, " John, the Holy 
Divine" — not in the modern sense of a theo- 
logian, but from his witness that " the Word 
was God." This also was the fruit of his 
intimate converse with his Lord, and of a 
spirit fitted for such fellowship. Nowhere is 
the vision of the Eternal Word, " the glory as 
of the only begotten of the Father," so un- 
clouded ; nowhere are there such personal 
reminiscences of the Christ in His most dis- 
tinctively human characteristics. 

It was a true feeling that led the latter in- 
terpreter of the mysterious forms of the four 
living creatures round the throne — departing 
in this instance from the earlier traditions — to 
see in him the " Eagle" that soars into the 
highest heaven, and looks upon the unclouded 
sun. Descending from the regions of fancy to 
those facts on which the truth of the Gospel 
rests, it is this testimony to Christ that is so 
emphatically asserted alike in the opening of 
his General Epistle, and in what we may call 
the attestation clause of his Gospel — whether 
that clause was penned by an inspired self-con- 
sciousness, or added as the testimony of those 
among whom he lived and wrote : " This is the 



disciple which testifieth of these things, and 
wrote these things, and we know that his tes- 
timony is true." 

The way is now prepared for us to consider 
the extraordinary vision recorded in the closing 
book of the Bible. 

The book entitles itself: "A revelation of 
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to 
show unto His servants things which must 
shortly come to pass ; and He sent and sig- 
nified it by His angel unto His servant John ; 
who hath declared this word of God and the 
testimony of Jesus Christ, according as* he 
saw." Blessed they who read, hear and obey : 
— the time is at hand ! " John, to the seven 
Churches in Asia," wishes grace from the 
Eternal God and the seven spirits before His 
throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful wit- 
ness, the first-born from the dead, and the ruler 
of the kings of the earth. Everlasting glory 
to Him for our redemption ! Amen ! 

The Angelic Messenger. 

" Lo, He cometh in the clouds, and every eye 
shall see Him, even they that pierced Him, and 
all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because 
of Him. Even so. Amen. I am Alpha and 
Omega (the beginning and the ending), saith 
the Lord God, who is and was and is to be — 
the Almighty." 

John proceeds to state that he, their brother 
in Christian hopes and trials, was in the island 
of Patmos on account of his Christian pro- 
fession ; and being in the spirit on the Lord's 
day, he heard a trumpet-like voice commis- 
sioning him to write in a book, and send to 
each of certain seven Churches of the province 
of Asia the several messages following. 

Looking round, he saw, in the midst of 
seven golden candlesticks, a majestic and daz- 
zling vision of Christ, with seven stars in his 
right hand. He falls down as if dead before 
this celestial personage, who raises him and 
bids him not fear, saying, " I am the first and 
the last and the living, living forever though 
I was dead, and possessing the keys of death 
and Hades." The seven candlesticks allegori- 
cally mean the Churches to which he is to 




VISION OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK. Rev. i. 12. 



(661) 



662 



MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES. 



write, and the seven stars the angels of those 
Churches. 

To the angel of the Church at Ephesus he 
is to write in praise of his faithful zeal in 
opposing false apostles, and his patient endur- 
ance ; reminding him, however, that he has 
relaxed from his earlier generosity and kind- 
ness, and urging him to resume it, lest his 
candlestick be removed. He is to be especially 
commended for his antipathy to the Nicolai- 
tans. He that conquereth shall eat of the tree 
of life in God's Paradise. 

Patient Endurance Commended. 

The message to the angel of the Church at 
Smyrna praises their endurance of poverty and 
reproach at the hands of the Jews (that syna- 
gogue of Satan!). Some of them will suffer! 
imprisonment. Let them be faithful even unto 
death. The conqueror shall not suffer harm 
from the second death. 

The angel of Pergamos has been faithful to 
the name of Christ, though the throne of Satan 
is near his dwelling. But there are among that 
Church some followers of Balaam. As that 
false prophet led the Israelites to idolatry and 
fornication, so, among the Pergamene Chris- 
tians, there were some who adopted the hateful 
Nicolaitan practices. The conqueror shall eat 
of the stored-up manna, and receive a white 
stone inscribed with a new name. 

The Church at Thyatira is commended, and 
its later works are pronounced better than its 
first. But there is a false prophetess, a Jezebel, 
seducing the servants of Christ into the same 
practices as the Balaamite prophets at Per- 
gamos and Ephesus. She and her votaries 
shall be smitten with illness. Let those who 
have hitherto escaped this corruption per- 
severe ; and the conqueror shall rule over the 
nations and have the brightness of the morning 

star. 

Stern Reproof. 

To the angel of the Church of Sardis the 
message is one of deep reproof. If they do 
not forthwith repent, the judge will come upon 
them unawares. Yet there are a few names, 
even in Sardis, of those who have not defiled 



their garments, and who shall walk with Christ 
in white. 

To the angel of Philadelphia it is written, 
that the opposing synagogue of Satan (who 
wrongly call themselves Jews!) shall come and 
fall at his feet, and this Church shall be kept 
safe in the coming trial ; after which the con- 
queror shall become a pillar in the temple of ; 
God, inscribed with the names of God and of 
the New Jerusalem, and with the new name 
of Jesus. 

The angel of the Laodicean Church is re- 
proached for indifference, wordliness, and 
carelessness ; he is neither hot nor cold, but 
lukewarm; says he is rich, and does not know 
that he is wretched and miserable and poor 
and blind and naked. The Lord rebukes and 
chastens those whom He loves. Let these re- 
pent. He knocks at the door, and will come 
in to those who open for Him. The conqueror 
shall sit with Him on His throne. 

The Celestial Throne. 

A second vision shows the elder " a door 
opened in heaven." The same voice that he 
had heard before says : " Come up hither and 
I will show thee what must come to pass after 
these things." Immediately he is " in the 
spirit," and sees the Divine throne, much in 
the manner of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel's 
visions. It is encompassed with twenty-four 
other thrones, on which the twenty-four elders 
sit, clothed in white, with golden crowns on 
their heads. Seven lamps represent the seven 
administrative spirits of God. Four living 
creatures " full of eyes," and each having six 
wings, with the faces respectively of a lion, a 
calf, a man and an eagle, adore before the 
throne continually. 

A book sealed with seven seals is produced, 
and proclamation is made, demanding who is 
worthy to open the book. None could do it, 
except a little lamb that stood before the throne 
as if it had been slaughtered. It had seven 
horns and seven eyes, representing "the seven 
spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." 
It took the book from the right hand of Him 
upon the throne; and then the four creatures 



THE VISION OF JOHN. 



663 



and the twenty-four elders sang blessings upon 
the name of the Lamb ; myriads of angels 
responded ; and all creation joined in praise of 
Him upon the throne and of the Lamb. 

The opening of the seven seals then takes 
place. On the first being broken, there comes 
forth a rider on a white horse, conquering and 
to conquer (doubtless the emblem of Chris- 
tianity, if not of Christ personally). 

On the second seal being broken, a rider on 
a bay horse comes forth, commissioned to take 
peace from the earth — the messenger of War. 

The third seal being broken, a rider appears 
on a black horse, representing Famine. 

The fourth being opened, a pale horse, with 
a rider named Death, appears ; and the grave 
goes with him. He is empowered to kill one- 
fourth of the earth's population. 

On the opening of the fifth seal, the souls 
of Christian martyrs are seen under the altar, 
crying for vengeance. White robes are given 
to them, and they are told to rest a while, till 
their number should be filled up by those who 
were still to be slain. 

Terrible Phenomena. 

The Lamb opens the sixth seal, and there 
is a mighty shaking of sun, moon, and stars ; 
the heaven shrivels up as a roll of parchment; 
hills and islands are moved ; men of all grades 
hide themselves in dens and mountains, and 
say to the hills and rocks, Fall on us ! 

The opening of the seventh seal is delayed. 
Four angels stand at the four corners of the 
earth restraining the four winds. Another 
angel hastens from the east with a warrant 
from the living God, crying out to the four 
not to hurt earth or sea till the servants of God 
shall have been sealed on their foreheads. A 
hundred and forty-four thousand are so sealed, 
namely, twelve thousand of each tribe. A vast 
multitude from all nations, clothed in white, 
with palm branches in their hands, praise God 
and the Lamb. 

The seventh seal is opened, amid silence in 
heaven for half an hour. The seven angels 
have their trumpets given them. Another angel 
comes and stands by the altar with a golden 



censer, in which he offers much incense, that 
incense being " the prayers of the saints." 
Then he fills the censer with fire from the 
altar, and throws it upon the earth ; and amid 
thunder, lightning, and earthquake, the seven 
angels prepare to sound their trumpets. 

Sounding the Trumpets. 

The first angel sounds his trumpet; hail 
and fire destroy a th'rd of the trees and all the 
grass. 

The second angel sounds ; and a third of 
the living creatures of the sea die, and a third 
of the vessels upon it are destroyed. 

The third angel sounds his trumpet; and a 
third part of the water becomes wormwood, 
and many die from the bitterness of the waters. 

The fourth angel sounds ; and the third of 
the sun, moon, and stars are smitten; where- 
upon a compassionate angel is heard lamenting 
for what still impends. 

The fifth angel sounds; and a star falls 
from heaven to earth. The angel unlocks the 
bottomless pit; and amid the smoke, locusts 
come out to torment those who had not the 
seal of God on their foreheads. For five 
months these awful locusts harass their vic- 
tims. They have a king over them, the angel 
of the bottomless pit, whose Hebrew name is 
Abaddon, and Greek Apollyon (Destroyer). 
This first woe is to be followed by two more. 

The sixth angel sounds his trumpet; where- 
upon a voice from i.he horns of the golden 
altar commands him to " loose the four an- 
gels which are bound at the great river Eu- 
phrates." They come forth commissioned for 
an hour, a day, a month, and a year, to slay a 
third part of mankind. Their army is two 
hundred millions. They do their commission ; 
but the rest of mankind do not repent of their 
idolatry and wickedness. 

Another mighty angel then descends, with 
a little book open in his hand ; and setting his 
right foot upon the sea and his left upon the 
land, swears that there shall be no longer 
delay, but that so soon as the seventh angel 
shall sound his trumpet, " the mystery of God 
shall be finished, according to His glad-tidings 



■ 




(664) 



THE ANGEL WITH THE BOOK — Rev. X. I 



THE VISION OF JOHN. 



665 



to His prophets." John receives from the 

angel the little open book, which he is directed 
to eat. He does so, and finds it sweet to the 
taste, but bitter afterwards. The angel tells 
him that he must prophesy further respecting 
many peoples and nations, and tongues and 
kings. 

He gives him a measuring-rod, and bids him 
measure the Temple, exclusive of the outer 
court, which is given to the Gentiles, who will 
tread the holy city under foot forty-two months. 
Two witnesses meanwhile shall prophesy 1,260 
days in sackcloth ; they are " the two olive- 
trees, and the two candlesticks standing before 
the God of the earth." But when they have 
finished their testimony, the beast from the 
bottomless pit will kill them, and their bodies 
will be exposed in the city of Jerusalem, 
" spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where 
also our Lord was crucified." The Gentiles 
will exult over their death ; but after f hree 
days and a half they will rise to life again, and 
ascend into heaven in a cloud ; a great earth- 
quake will destroy one-tenth of the city and 
7,000 men ; and the survivors, alarmed, will 
give glory to God. This is the second woe ; 
the third is close at hand. 

War in Heaven. 

The seventh angel sounds ; and great voices 
in heaven proclaim that " the kingdoms of the 
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord 
and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever 
and ever." The twenty-four elders fall on their 
faces and thank God that He has taken to 
Him His great power, and that the time has 
come forjudging the dead and recompensing 
His saints. The Temple of God in heaven is 
laid open to view. 

Another scene now opens. A woman, 
clothed with the sun, having the moon at her 
feet and twelve stars on her head, seems to 
represent religion, or the Gospel, or the 
Church. A huge dragon is her antagonist. 
She brings forth a son, destined to " tend the 
Gentiles with an iron crook." The child is 
carried away to the throne of God ; the woman 
retreats to the wilderness for 1,260 days. 



There is war in heaven between Michael and 
his angels and this dragon, who is the Devil 
and Satan. The latter and his angels are 
thrown down to the earth. Heaven rejoices; 
but woe for the inhabitants of the earth and 
sea, against whom the Devil now rages, con- 
scious that his time is coming to an end. He 
pursues the woman, to whom wings are given 
to escape from him. He pours a torrent of 
water from his mouth to carry her away ; but 
the earth drinks it up in her rescue. The 
dragon then " makes war upon the rest of her 
offspring who keep God's commands and have 
the testimony of Jesus Christ." 

The narrator is next standing on the sea- 
shore (in Patmos, we suppose), when he sees 
a wild beast coming up out of the sea, with 
seven heads and ten horns, a diadem on each 
horn, and a name of blasphemy upon each 
head. This wild beast is mixed up of leopard, 
bear and lion ; and the dragon gives him his 
own power and throne and authority. One of 
his heads seems to receive a deadly wound, 
but it is healed ; and the beast, aided by the 
dragon, receives new homage everywhere. 
He is enabled to make war on the saints and 
overcome them, and has power, for forty-two 
months, over all but those whose names are 
in the Lamb's book of life. But retribution 
shall come. Let the saints have patience ! 
Another beast comes up out of the earth, with 
two horns like a lamb, but with speech like a 
dragon. He wields the authority of the first 
beast, performs wonders, and seduces men to 
the worship of the principal beast, putting a 
name or number on their right hands or fore- 
heads, without which no one may buy and 
sell. This mysterious number seems to be 
666. 

Vision of the Glorified. 

The next vision, amid the sound of heavenly 
music, shows the Lamb standing on Mount 
Zion, with the 144,000 redeemed Israelites be- 
fore mentioned in the seventh chapter. They 
are " the first fruits to God and the Lamb," 
pure from all taint of idolatrous pollution. 
Another angel flies forth with the Gospel, to 
offer it with all urgency to every nation, de- 







/ \ 




l \M',, ; " V- 







(666) 



THE VISION OF JOHN. 



667 



daring that the hour of Divine judgment is 
come. Another angel follows, crying, "Baby- 
lon is fallen, is fallen " (evidently meaning 
Roman paganism). 

A third angel follows, proclaiming everlast- 
ing Divine wrath against all who worship the 
beast and receive his mark. Let the saints be 
patient ! A voice from heaven proclaims, 
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
henceforth ! Then a Son of man appears 
upon a white cloud, with a sickle in his hand; 
and another angel, from the Temple, bids him 
reap the ripe harvest of the. earth. A thiid 
angel from the Temple, armed with a sickle, is 
ordered by a fourth from the altar (who has 
power over fire) to gather the earth's vintage 
and cast it into the great wine-press of the 
wrath of God. All this is done accordingly. 

The Vials of Wrath. 

Another vision shows seven angels having 
the last seven plagues to complete the wrath 
of God. Those who have successfully re- 
sisted the beast and his image and his mark 
are singing the songs of Moses and of the 
Lamb to the One Almighty. The seven 
angels are seen coming out of the Temple. 
One of the four living creatures gives them 
each a golden vial full of the wrath of the 
ever-living God. A voice from the Temple 
bids them go and pour their vials out upon 
the earth. The first vial produces ulcers upon 
those who worship the image of the beast. 
The second is poured upon the sea and turns 
it into blood, destroying all life. The third is 
poured upon the rivers and springs, and they 
become blood. Then the angel of the waters 
acknowledges the justice of this retribution 
upon those who had shed the blood of the 
saints ; and an angel from the altar responds. 

The fourth vial is then poured upon the sun, 
causing it to scorch men ; and they blaspheme 
instead of repenting. The fifth vial is poured 
upon the beast's throne and darkens his king- 
dom ; and blaspheming increases. The sixth 
is poured upon the river Euphrates, drying it 
up so that the kings from the east can pass 
over. 



Three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out 
of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the 
false prophet, and go to all the kings of the 
whole world to summon them for one final 
and desperate battle at "Armageddon" (mount 
of assembling). Then the seventh angel pours 
his vial into the air, and Heaven shouts, It is 
done! Amid awful thunder, lightning, earth- 
quake and hail, the great city breaks into 
three parts, and the other Gentile cities fall, 
and the great Babylon is remembered in 
wrath. But men blaspheme still. 

Great Babylon. 

One of the seven angels calls the seer in 
spirit into the wilderness, and shows him this 
judgment under another 'emblem — that of a 
woman sitting upon a scarlet beast with seven 
heads and ten horns, whose idolatrous abomi- 
nations and persecution of the saints are de- 
scribed. Upon her head is the mysterious (or 
enigmatical) inscription, "Babylon the Great," 
etc. The beast upon which she sits "was, but 
is not, and will appear again ; " it is " about to 
ascend out of the bottomless deep and go to 
perdition." 

The enigma is then expounded as follows : 
" The seven heads are seven mountains, on 
which the woman sits." "They are also seven 
kings, of whom five have fallen, and one is, 
and the other is not yet come ; and when he 
cometh he must continue but a short space. 
And the beast that was and is not is himself 
both an eighth and one of the seven, and is 
going to destruction." The ten horns are ten 
future kings, of transient power, to be derived 
from the beast, and used in his service in war- 
ring against the Lamb. The Lamb will over- 
come them, and they will then turn their 
power against the woman, Babylon. 

A powerful and glorious angel now pro- 
claims, " Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen ! " 
Another voice calls upon the people of God to 
come out of her, lest they partake of her sins 
and punishment. In language recalling to 
mind that of the old Jewish prophets against 
the literal Babylon and Tyre and other doomed 
heathen cities, this voice denounces her and: 



668 



A MILLSTONE CAST INTO THE SEA. 



makes the heathen earth mourn for her, while I struction and oblivion that shall befall 
heaven and apostles and prophets rejoice over I So shall the blood of the saints be avenge 




OVERTHROW OF DIABOLUS. Rev. XX. 8 



her ; and a mighty angel dashes a millstone | All heaven praises God for this execut 
into the sea, as an emblem of the utter de- 1 of vengeance. The four-and-twenty eld 



THE VISION OF JOHN. 



669 



and the four living creatures worship and 
praise God for it. Heavenly voices proclaim 
the approaching marriage of the Lamb. His 
bride is ready, clothed in the righteous deeds 
of the saints. The seer falls down and would 
have done homage to the angel that showed 
him these things ; but the angel forbade, say- 
ing, "I am thy fellow-servant and of thy 
brethren: worship God." 

Heaven opens again, and the rider upon a 
white horse appears. His name is " Faithful 



descends from heaven with the key of the 
bottomless pit and a chain, and binds the 
dragon, that old serpent, the Devil and Satan, 
and casts him into the pit for a thousand 
years. 

Thrones are set out, and those who sit upon 
them are deputed to pass judgment. The 
souls of martyrs and of all who had refused to 
worship the beast and his image come to life, 
to reign with Christ the thousand years. This 
is the first resurrection. Happy he who shares 




THE RIVER OF LIFE 



and True," "The Word of God," "King of 
kings and Lord of lords." An angel, stand- 
ing in the sun, invites the birds of prey to 
banquet on the enemies of God. The beast 
and the kings of the earth gather their armies 
together against the rider upon the white 
horse; the beast and the false prophet are 
seized and cast into the lake of burning brim- 
stone; and the rider slays the rest with his 
sword which issues from his mouth, and the 
birds banquet on their carcasses. An angel 



in it ! The second death will have no power 
over such. The rest of the dead are not to 
come to life till after the thousand years. 

At that period Satan will be set loose again,, 
and will seduce the nations, Gog and Magog 
among the rest, to attack the camp of the 
saints and the beloved city ; but they are de- 
stroyed by fire from heaven, and the Devil, 
their seducer, is finally cast into the fiery lake, 
to join the beast and the false prophet in tor- 
ment forever and ever. Then all the dead are 



670 



AMEN. 



judged according to their works. Death and 
the grave are thrown into the lake of fire, with 
all who are not written in the book of life. 
This is the second death. 

A more minute vision of the Millennium is 
now presented. Earth and heaven pass away, 
and a new earth and heaven arise. The New 
Jerusalem descends from heaven, and God 
will dwell with mankind in it. He who sits 
on the throne proclaims the blessedness of 
•every one that conquereth, and devotes all the 
wicked to the " second death." One of the 
seven angels of punishment carries the seer 
away in the spirit to a high mountain, where 
he sees the New Jerusalem, " the Lamb's 
•wife," as it descends from heaven. 

The First and the Last. 

A gorgeous description of it follows. Its 
•extent, on measurement by the angel, proves 
to be 12,000 furlongs (about 1,380 miles) 
square. It has twelve gates, denoting the 
tribes of Israel ; and its walls have twelve 
foundations (all of precious stones), denoting 
the twelve apostles of Christ. There is no 
Temple in this holy city, " for the Lord God 
Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it ;" 
nor are sun and moon needed to light it. The 
nations shall walk in its light, and the kings 
•of the earth shall bring honor and glory to it. 
Nothing that defiles shall enter it. 

A pure river of living water, proceeding 
from the throne of God and the Lamb, flows 
along its streets ; and between the street and 
the river, at intervals, the tree of life grows, 
bearing fruit every month, and healing the 
nations by its leaves. There the servants of 



God, with His name upon their foreheads, shall 
worship Him and behold His face, and reign 
forever and ever. 

The angel (Jesus apparently) asserts the 
truth of these visions, and their speedy fulfil- 
ment : " Behold, I come quickly ; blessed is 
he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy 
of this book." John falls down at the angel's 
feet to do him homage (as once before), and is, 
as before, directed to worship God. 

He must not seal up this prophecy, for the 
time is at hand. He that is unjust will now 
remain so, and he that is righteous will be. 
righteous still. " Behold, I come quickly" 
(the angel pursues), "and my reward is with 
me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the begin- 
ning and the end, the first and the last." 

" Blessed they who do his commandments," 
the seer responds. 

The angel resumes : "I, Jesus, have sent 
mine angel" (my messenger, John) "to testify 
unto you these things in the Churches. I am 
the root and offspring of David and the bright 
morning star. And the spirit and the bride 
say, Come ! And let him that heareth say, 
Come ! And let him that is athirst come. And 
whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." Imprecations are uttered by the seer 
against any who should add to, or take from, 
the words of this prophecy; and the book 
concludes with the often-repeated intimation 
that its fulfilment is immediately at hand: 

"He which testifieth these things . saith, 
Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, 
come, Lord Jesus ! The grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE 

COMPRISING LIVES OF 

PATRIARCHS, PROPHETS, KINGS AND APOSTLES. 




ADAM. 



HEN God had 
formed man He 
called his name 
Adam, and 
placed him in 
a garden which 
"the Lord God 
had planted 
eastward in 
Eden," for the 
purpose of 
dressing it and 
keeping it. Adam 
was permitted to 
eat of the fruit of 
every tree in the 
garden but one, 
which was called 
the "tree of the 
knowledge of good 
and evil." What 
this was, it is im- 
possible to say. Its 
name would seem 
to indicate that it 
had the power of 
bestowing the con- 
sciousness of the 
difference between good and evil ; in the 
ignorance of which man's innocence and hap- 
piness consisted. The prohibition to taste 
the fruit was enforced by the menace of death. 
While Adam was in the Garden of Eden, 
the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air 
were brought to him to be named, and what- 1 



soever he called every living creature, that was 
the name thereof. Thus the power of fitly 
designating objects of sense was possessed by 
the first man, a faculty which is generally con- 
sidered as indicating mature and extensive in- 
tellectual resources. 

Upon the failure of a companion, suitable 
for Adam, among the creatures thus brought 
to him to be named, the Lord God caused a 
deep sleep to fall upon him, and took one of 
his ribs from him, which he fashioned into a 
woman, and brought her to the man. "And 
Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and 
flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, 
because she was taken out of Man. Therefore 
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and 
shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be 
one flesh. And they were both naked, the 
man and his wife, and were not ashamed." 

Man was placed in Paradise upon the con- 
dition that he should restrain his appetite and 
self-will. God gave him every means of grati- 
fying every lawful taste, and simply forbade 
him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil. " In the day that thou eatest 
thereof, thou shalt surely die." The vast free- 
dom which was granted him sufficiently proved 
the goodness of the Creator, and the restric- 
tion taught him that he was to live under a 
law ; and that law was enforced by a practical 
penalty, of which he was mercifully warned. 
We must not regard the prohibition merely as 
a test of obedience, nor the penalty as arbi- 
trary. The knowledge forbidden to him was 
of a kind which would corrupt his nature — so 

(671) 



672 



ADAM. 



corrupt it as to make him unfit, as well as 
unworthy, to live forever. 

Satan, the chief of the fallen spirits, seeking 
to destroy the work of God, now endeavored 
to drag man down to his own level. He en- 
tered the garden in the form of a serpent, and 
addressing himself to Eve, urged her to eat of 
the fruit of the forbidden tree, telling her that 
death would not follow the commission of the 
act, " for God doth know that in the day ye 
eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, 
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and 
evil." The woman listened to the voice of the 
deceiver, ate of the fruit of the tree, and fell 
into the three-fold sin of sensuality, pleasure, 
and ambition. Having eaten, she gave of the 
fruit to her husband, and he fell with her. 

Hiding- Among- the Trees of the Garden. 

In one point the Devil had truly described 
the effect of eating the forbidden fruit. " Their 
eyes were opened." They had " become as 
gods " in respect of that knowledge of evil, as 
well as of good, which God had reserved to 
Himself and mercifully denied to them. They 
became conscious of the working of lawless 
pleasure in place of purity, in the very consti- 
tution given them by God to perpetuate their 
race; and they were ashamed because they 
were naked. Toward God they felt fear in 
place of love, and they fled to hide themselves. 

Thus they were already self-condemned be- 
fore God called them forth to judgment. Then 
the man cast the blame upon the woman, and 
the woman upon the serpent; and God pro- 
ceeded to award a righteous sentence to each. 

The judgment passed upon the serpent is 
symbolical of the condemnation of the Devil. 
The creature, as Satan's instrument ana type, 
is doomed to an accursed and degraded life ; 
and that enmity that has ever since existed 
between him and man is the symbol of the 
conflict between the powers of hell and all 
that is good in the human race. 

The woman is condemned to subjection to 
her husband, and sorrow and suffering in 
giving birth to her children ; but she had the 
consolation of hearing that her seed was to 



conquer in the battle with the serpent, crush- 
ing its head, after the reptile's had inflicted a 
deadly wound upon his heel. 

The man is shut up to a life of toil, and the 
earth is cursed for his sake, to bring forth, like 
himself, evil weeds, that require all his exer- 
tions to keep them down. But, as before, a 
promise is added ; his labor shall not be 
without its reward — " in the sweat of thy brow 
thou shalt eat bread." 

Reminded of the doom they had incurred, 
though its execution was postponed — "dust 
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" — 
and clothed by God's goodness with the skins 
of beasts, they were driven out of Paradise. 
An angelic guard, with a flaming sword, de- 
barred them from returning to taste of the tree 
of life ; for it would have perpetuated their 
suffering. 

" And Adam knew Eve his wife ; and she 
conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have got- 
ten a man from the Lord. And she again bare 
his brotfier Abel. And Abel was a keeper of 
sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." 

The two brothers at one time brought the 
"first-fruits" of their labors to offer them to 
God. Abel had led a life of purity, while Cain 
had passed his days in wickedness. Therefore, 
God preferred Abel's offering to that of Cain, 
and Cain being rendered jealous of his brother, 
slew him. When God demanded his brother's 
blood at his hands, the murderer was overcome 
with the enormity of his crime, and was driven 
out into perpetual banishment from his family. 
He became, however, the father of a remark- 
able race. 

After the death of Abel, another son was 
born to Adam, and he called his name Seth. 
It must not be supposed, however, that Cain, 
Abel, and Seth were the only children of Adam. 
The inference is, that he had a numerous 
family ; for the mention of Cain's wife, as well 
as his fear that men would slay him, are indi- 
cations that the "replenishing of the earth" 
had made considerable progress before the 
death of Abel. 

" And all the days of Adam were nine hun- 
dred and thirty years; and he died." 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



673 



NOAH. 

The name of Noah is very' significant. It 
means " rest" or " comfort," and it was given 
him by Lamech, his father, who said, through 
prophetic inspiration, " This shall comfort us 
concerning our work and toil of our hands, 
because of the ground which the Lord hath 
cursed." These words seem to express a deeper 
weariness than that arising from the primal 
curse, from which, indeed, the age of Noah 
brought no deliverance. But it did bring the 
comfort of rest from the wickedness which had 
now reached its greatest height. 

The brief history of the world before the 
flood may fairly be filled up, to some extent, 
from our knowledge of human nature. The 
Scripture narrative shows us that the race of 
Cain invented the implements of industry and 
art; and we can have no doubt that their in- 
ventions were adopted by the progeny of Seth. 
During the 1,656 years before the flood, and 
when the experience of individuals embraced 
nearly 1,000 years, vast strides must have been 
made in knowledge and civilization. Arts and 
sciences may have reached a ripeness, of which 
the record, from its scantiness, conveys no 
adequate conception. 

The destruction caused by the flood must 
have obliterated a thousand discoveries, and 
left men to recover again by slow and patient 
steps the ground they had lost. But the race 
of Seth also became infected with the vices of 
the 'Cainites. The family of Seth, who pre- 
served their faith in God, and the family of 
Cain, who lived only for this world, had 
'hitherto kept distinct ; but now a mingling of 
^he two races took place, which resulted in 
■the thorough corruption of the former, who, 
falling away, plunged into the deepest abyss 
jof wickedness. We are also told that this 
union produced a stock conspicuous for physi- 
cal strength and courage : this is a well-known 
result of the intermixture of different races. 

On the whole, it seems that the antediluvian 
world had reached a desperate pitch of wicked- 
ness, the climax of which was attained by the 
'fusion of the two races. The marked features 
43 



of this wickedness were lust and brutal out- 
rage. An interval of Divine forbearance only 
brought this wickedness to its height. Jehovah 
said, " My Spirit shall not always strive with 
(or remain or rule in) man ; for that they are 
but flesh, and their days shall be one hundred 
and twenty years." In the somewhat obscure 
brevity of this speech, it is difficult to deter- 
mine the force of each word ; but the general 
sense seems to be : "I will take away from 
man the life I at first gave him, since he has 
corrupted himself to mere flesh ; and I will 
limit his time on earth to one hundred and 
twenty years." That the period thus defined 
was a space for repentance seems clear from 
the context. The opinion that it marks out 
the future length of human life, does not at all 
agree with the duration of the lives of the 
post-diluvian patriarchs. 

So great, indeed, had the wickedness of man 
become, that we are told that " it repented 
Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, 
and it grieved him at his heart." He resolved 
to destroy the existing race of living creatures, 
as if putting an end to an experiment which 
had failed. Measures of amelioration would 
not meet the case. It was necessary (to use 
an expressive phrase) "to make a clean sweep" 
of the existing race, if there were to be any 
hope of better things among another. For 
the destruction contemplated was neither total 
nor final. 

It pleased God to set aside from the general 
doom one family, for the purpose of re- 
peopling the earth, after the flood should have 
passed by, and the family chosen for this ex- 
periment was that of Noah. " Noah found 
grace in the eyes of the Lord," and is described 
as " a just man and perfect (upright or sincere) 
in his generations," that is, among his con- 
temporaries. Like Enoch, he " walked with 
God," and was' earnest in his protests against 
the prevailing wickedness of the day. He was 
a " preacher of righteousness." He had three 
sons— Shem, Ham, and Japheth, as they are 
named in order of precedence ; but Japheth 
seems to have been the eldest, and Shem the 
youngest. Noah was five hundred years old 



674 



NOAH. 



when the eldest was born. The other two 
followed within the next two years. 

About this time, perhaps at the beginning 
of the one hundred and twenty years of delay, 
God revealed his design to Noah, bidding him 
to prepare an "ark," to save his family from 
the coming flood, with the races of animals 
needful for them, and promising to establish a 
new covenant with them. Noah at once be- 
lieved the word of God, and set about prepar- 
ing the ark, following strictly the directions 
of the Almighty as to its size and shape. 

Meanwhile, he continued to preach, and 
warn the people of their impending doom; 
but they paid no heed to him. They mocked 
him, and denounced his ark as the work of a 
lunatic ; but still he persevered, and urged 
them to come with him into his ark and be 
saved. They saw his work going up slowly 
and steadily according to the Divine plan, but 
the nearer it approached completion, the 
more merciless became their scoffing. They 
went on " eating and drinking, marrying and 
giving in marriage." 

The Flood Comes. 

At the beginning of the six hundredth year 
of Noah's life, the ark was completed ; and on 
the tenth day of the second month of that 
year, he entered into it by God's command, 
with his wife, his three sons and their wives — 
eight persons in all. They took with them 
the food they would require, which was as 
yet of a vegetable nature. They took also 
two (a pair) of every animal ; but of clean 
animals (for the use of sacrifice had already 
established this distinction) they took seven ; 
by which is generally understood, three pairs 
to continue the race, and one male for sacrifice. 
They took seven days to enter the ark, and 
then " Jehovah shut Noah in." 

On the same day, namely, the seventeenth 
day of the second month of the six hundredth 
year of Noah's life, the flood began. " The 
fountains of the great deep were broken up, 
and the windows of heaven were opened." 
The sacred narrative is vivid and forcible, 
though entirely wanting in that sort of de- 



scription which, in a modern historian or poet, 
would have occupied the largest space. We 
see nothing of the death-struggle ; we hear 
not the cry of despair ; we are not called 
upon to witness the frantic agony of husband 
and wife, of parent and child, as they fled in 
terror before the rising waters. Nor is a word 
said of the sadness of the one righteous man, 
who, safe himself, looked upon the destruction 
which he could not avert. But one impression 
is left upon the mind, with peculiar vividness, 
from the very simplicity of the narrative, and it 
is that of utter desolation. "All flesh died 
that moveth upon the earth, both of fowl, and 
of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every 
man. They were destroyed from the earth, 
and Noah only remained alive, and they that 
were with him in the ark." 

For five months, or one hundred and fifty 
days, the lonely ark floated upon the vast ex- 
panse of waters. At the end of this time, 
" God remembered Noah " and those that 
were with him in the ark, and caused a 
strong wind to pass over the earth, which 
caused the rising waters to subside ; and from 
this time they began steadily to fall. On the 
seventeenth day of the seventh month of 
Noah's life, the ark was left aground on Mount 
Ararat. More than two months were still 
required to uncover the tops of the mountains, 
which appeared on the first day of the tenth 
month. Noah waited still forty days (to the 
eleventh day of the eleventh month). 

Before he opened the window of the ark, he 
sent out a raven, which flew to and fro, prob- 
ably on the mountain tops, but did not re- 
turn into the ark. After seven days more 
(the eighteenth day) he sent forth a dove, 
which found no resting-place, and returned to 
the ark. In another seven days (the twenty- 
fifth day) she was sent forth again, and re- 
turned with an olive-leaf in her bill, the sign 
that even the low trees were uncovered, and 
the type for ages after of peace and rest 
After seven days more (the second of the 
twelfth month) the dove was sent out again, 
and proved by not returning that the waters had 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



675 



finally subsided. These periods of seven days 
clearly point to the division of time into 
weeks. 

Noah at length removed the covering of the 
ark, and beheld the newly uncovered earth on 
the first day of the six hundred and first year of 
his age. On the twenty-seventh day of the sec- 
ond month the earth was dry, and_Noah went 
out of the ark, by the command of God, with all 
the creatures. His first act was to build an altar, 
and offer a sacrifice of every clean beast and 
bird. This act of piety called forth the prom- 
ise from God that He would not again curse 
the earth on account of man, nor destroy it as 
He had done ; but that He would forbear with 
man's innate tendency to evil, and continue 
the existing course of nature until the ap- 
pointed end of the world. He repeated to 
Noah and his sons the blessing pronounced 
on Adam and Eve, that they should "be fruit- 
ful, and multiply, and replenish the earth;" 
and that the inferior creatures should be sub- 
ject to them. To this He added the use of 
animals for food. But the eating of their 
blood was forbidden, because the blood is the 
life ; and, lest the needful shedding of their 
blood should lead to deeds of blood, a new 
law was enacted against murder. 

A Horrible Crime. 

The horror of the crime was clearly stated 
on the two grounds of the common brother- 
hood of man, which makes every murderer a 
fratricide, and of the creation of man in the 
image of God. The first murderer had been 
driven out as a fugitive and a vagabond ; but 
his life was sacred. Now, however, the penalty 
was changed, and the law laid down, " He that 
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
be shed." This law amounts to giving the 
civil magistrates "the power of the sword;" 
and hence we may consider three new precepts 
to have been given to Noah, in addition to the 
laws of the Sabbath and of marriage, which 
were revealed to Adam, namely, the abstinence 
from blood, the prohibition of murder, and the 
recognition of the civil authority. 

In addition to these promises and precepts, 



God made with Noah a co/enant — that is, 
one of those agreements by which He has con- 
descended again and again to bind Himself 
toward man; not more sacred with Him than 
a simple promise, but more satisfying to the 
weakness of our faith. Of these covenants, 
that made with Noah, on behalf of his de- 
scendants, is the first ; and it may be called 
the covenant of God's forbearance, under 
which man lives to the end of time. 

It repeated the promise, that the world 
should not be again destroyed by a flood ; and 
it was ratified by the beautiful sign of the 
rainbow in the cloud, a natural phenomenon 
suited to the natural laws of whose perma- 
nence it was the token. It is important for us 
not to suffer our relations to Adam, as our first 
father, or to Abraham, as the father of the 
faithful, to overshadow our part in God's cove- 
nant with Noah as the ancestor of the existing 
human race. 

A Heavy Curse. 

Noah soon gave proof that his new race 
was still a fallen one, by yielding to a degrad- 
ing vice. Intoxication was doubtless practised 
by the profligate race who " ate and drank " 
before the flood ; but it would seem to have 
been a new thing with Noah. He began his 
new life as a husbandman ; and, living in a 
land (Armenia) which is still most favorable 
for the vine, he planted a vineyard, made him- 
self drunk in his tent, and suffered the degrad- 
ing consequences which always, in some shape 
or other, attend the quenching of reason in 
wine, by a shameful exposure of himself in the 
presence of his sons. And now they began 
to show those differences of character which 
have severed even the families chosen by God 
in every age. Ham told his father's shame to 
Shem and Japheth, who hastened to conceal 
it even from their own eyes. 

On coming to himself, Noah vented his feel- 
ings in words which are unquestionably pro- 
phetic of the destinies of the three races that 
descended from his sons. For, in the primitive 
state of society, the government was strictly 
patriarchal. The patriarch — that is, the head 



676 



ABRAHAM. 



of the race for the time being — had over his 
children and theirs, the full power of the later 
king ; he was their priest ; and thus we have 
seen Noah offering sacrifices ; and, among 
those who preserved the true religion, he was 
a prophet also. With such authority, then, 
did Noah pronounce on his undutiful son the 
curse that, in the person of one of his own 
children, he should be a slave to his brother. 
" Cursed be Canaan (the youngest son of 
Ham). A slave of slaves shall he be to his 
brethren." While to Shem and Japheth he 
gave their respective blessings, already symbol- 
ized by their names : Shem (the name chosen 
above all others) and Japheth (enlargement) — 
to the former, that Jehovah should be his God 
in some special sense ; to the latter, that he 
should be enlarged" with worldly power, and 
should ultimately share the blessings of the 
family of Shem : 

" Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem, 
And let Canaan be their slave ! 
May God enlarge Japheth, 
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem, 
And let Canaan be their slave !" 

Thus, early in the world's history, was a 
lesson taught, practically, which the law after- 
ward expressly enunciated, that God visits the 
sins of the fathers upon the children. The 
subsequent history of Canaan shows, in the 
plainest manner possible, the fulfilment of the 
curse. When Israel took possession of his 
land, he became the servant of Shem ; when 
Tyre fell before the arms of Alexander, and 
Carthage succumbed to her Roman con- 
querors, he became the slave of Japheth ; and 
we also hear the echo of Noah's curse in Han- 
nibal's Agnosco fortunam Carthaginis, when the 
head of Hasdrubal, his brother, was thrown 
contemptuously into the Punic lines. 

The blessing on Shem was fulfilled in that 
history of the chosen race which forms the 
especial subject of the Old Testament. The 
blessing on Japheth, the ancestor of the great 
European nations, is illustrated by every age of 
their annals, and especially by religious history. 

Noah lived for 350 years after the flood, and 
died at the age of nine hundred and fifty. He 



survived the fifth and eighth of his descendants, 
Peleg and Reu; he was for 128 years contem- 
porary with Terah, the father of Abraham, and 
died only two years before the birth of Abra- 
ham himself (a. m. 2006, b. c. 1998). Look- 
ing backward we find that he was born only 
128 years after the death of Adam, and four- 
teen years after that of Seth. He was con- 
temporary with Enos for eighty-four years, and 
with the remaining six antediluvian patriarchs 
(except Enoch) for centuries. Thus the reader 
will see how easy it was to hand down the 
events of sacred history from the days of 
Adam to Abraham, and to Moses. 

ABRAHAM. 

God having promised that the seed of the 
woman should conquer the serpent, it now 
pleased Him to select a particular family from 
which that seed should spring, and which 
should meanwhile preserve the worship of the 
true God. This step was rendered necessary 
because of the condition of the world, which, 
long before the death of Noah, had relapsed 
into idolatry and profaneness. The Almighty 
chose as the head of this family a man named 
Abram. He was the son of Terah, who was 
the nineteenth in descent from Adam, and was 
born two years after the death of Noah, or 
1,996 years before Christ. 

Terah was the father of three sons — Haran, 
Nahor and Abram, this being the order of 
their ages. Haran died some time before his 
father, and his son Lot became his heir. The 
name Abram was prophetic of the destiny of 
the patriarch so highly favored by God, as it 
signifies " exalted father." Abram married 
Sarai, the daughter of his brother Haran, and 
at the time of God's call to him was living 
with his family in the ancient city of " Ur of 
the Chaldees," which has been identified by 
the most ancient traditions with the city of 
Orfah, in the highlands of Mesopotamia 
(Aram), which unite the table land of Ar- 
menia to the valley of the Euphrates (Padan 
Aram). In later ages it was called Edessa, 
and was celebrated as the capital of Abgarus, 
or Acbarus, who was said to have received 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



677 



the letter and portrait of our Saviour. God 
appeared to Abram while he still dwelt in Ur, 
and told him to depart out of his country into 
a land which He would show him. 

In obedience to this call, Abram, accom- 
panied by all his kindred, left Ur, and moving 
southward, they took up their residence at 
Haran, more properly called in the New 
Testament Charran, east of the Euphrates, 
" the flood " which divided the old home of 
the family from the new land of promise. 
Here they remained for some years, and here 
Terah died at the age of two hundred and five 
years. Nahor, charmed with the fertility of 
the country, claimed the right of a first choice, 
and settled here. 

Abram was now seventy-five years old, and 
his wife, Sarai, was childless. God said unto 
Abram, " Get thee out of thy country, and 
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will 
show thee. And I will make of thee a great 
nation, and I will bless thee and make thy 
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and 
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse 
him that curseth thee ; and in thee shall all 
the families of the earth be blessed." 

Abram' s Call. 

In obedience to this Divine call, Abram de- 
parted from Haran, taking with him Sarai, his 
wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all that 
belonged to them. He passed over the great 
river Euphrates into the land of Canaan, and 
received from the Canaanites the name of " the 
Hebrew," or the man who crossed the river. 
Journeying through the Syrian Desert, he 
passed through Damascus, crossed the Jor- 
dan, and entered the Promised Land, passing 
into the Valley of Shechem, or Sichem, be- 
tween Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. 

He was now in the land which God had 
promised him, having been led by faith along 
his journey. God appeared to him again, 
and promised, " Unto thy seed will I give this 
land." Abram was an old man, and as yet 
had no children; but he believed God's words, 
and was sure that his seed would possess the 
land, and his faith " staggered not." 



Abram did not long live at Shechem, but 
removed to a mountain in the neighborhood 
of Bethel. The Canaanite was already in the 
land, and viewed with no friendly eye the 
presence of Abram and Lot with their im- 
mense herds in the fertile valley. The posi- 
tion of the patriarch on the mountain secured 
him from the Canaanites, who occupied the 
plains below ; but it afforded only scanty pas- 
ture for his cattle. He, therefore, went on 
continually southward, till the pressure of 
famine drove him out of the promised land 
into Egypt. 

The mighty kingdom of the Pharaohs had 
already been long established in Lower Egypt- 
In this crisis the faith of Abram failed. To 
protect his wife from the license of a despot, 
he stooped to that mean form of deceit, which 
is true in word, but false in fact. He caused 
Sarai to pass as his sister, a term used in 
Hebrew, as in many other languages, for a 
niece, which she really was. The trick de- 
feated itself. Sarai's wonderful beauty was 
reported to the king, who at once caused her 
to be removed to his harem, believing her to 
be an unmarried woman, and heaped wealth 
and honors upon Abram. Warned of his mis- 
take by plagues sent upon him and his house- 
hold, the king restored Sarai to her husband, 
with a rebuke for his deceit, and sent him out 
of Egypt with all the wealth he had acquired, 
for he was now " very rich in cattle, in silver, 
and in gold." Abram travelled back through 
the south of Palestine to his old encampment 
near Bethel, where he again established the 
worship of Jehovah. 

Lot's Unwise Choice. 

He now began to feel the evils of prosperity. 
The land could not support his own cattle and 
Lot's. Their herdsmen quarrelled, and Lot 
probabi) put forth his rights as the head of 
the family. Abraham's faith now came to his 
aid. Remembering that the promises had been 
made to liim and his seed, he was content to 
give Lot any present advantage, feeling sure 
that God would yet give him a better heritage. 
He proposed to Lot that they should separate 




(678) 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



679 



their possessions, and told Lot to select his own 
land, and that he would take what was left. 

Their encampment looked westward on the 
rugged hills of Judaea, and eastward on the 
fertile plain of the Jordan about Sodom, "well 
watered everywhere, as the garden of the Lord, 
like the land of Egypt." Even from that dis- 
tance, through the clear air of Palestine, can 
be distinctly discovered the long and thick 
masses of vegetation which fringe the numerous 
streams that descend from the hills on either 
side to meet the central stream in its tropical 
depths. It was exactly the prospect to tempt 
a man who had no fixed purpose of his own, 
who had not, like Abram, obeyed a stern, in- 
ward call of duty. So Lot left his uncle on 
the barren hills of Bethel, and chose all the 
precinct of the Jordan, and journeyed east, and 
pitched his tent in the plain in which stood the 
five cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Ze- 
boiim, and Bela (afterwards called Zoar). Tl : 
wickedness of these cities was great beyond 
expression, and one feature of it was the prac- 
tice of the revolting crime to which Sodom has 
given its name, of which "it is a shame even. 
to speak ; " but which was practised openly. 

Battle of the Kings. 

Abraham continued to dwell in the Holy 
Land, and the Lord, pleased with the evidence 
of his faith which he had given in the arrange- 
ment with Lot, said to him, " Lift up now thine 
eyes, and look from the place where thou art, 
northward, and southward, and eastward, and 
westward. For all the land which thou seest,. 
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. 
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the 
earth; so that if a man can number the dust 
of the earth, then shall thy seed also be num- 
bered. Arise, walk through the land in the 
length of it, and in the breadth of it ; for I 
will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed 
his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of 
Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an 
altar unto the Lord." 

Mamre became the usual dwelling-place of 
Abram, and it was while he was living here 
that the five cities of the plain rebelled against 



Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and chief of 
a mighty empire in Western Asia, to whom 
they had been in subjection for twelve years. 
The king of Elam marched against the five 
cities, with three allied kings, and defeated 
their forces in a great battle in the vale of 
Siddim. The victors despoiled the cities of 
Sodom and Gomorrah, and carried off Lot 
and all his goods. 

As soon as Abram was informed of the fate 
of his nephew, he collected 318 men of his 
own household, and a force of his Amorite 
allies, and pursued the victors. He overtook 
them at the sources of the Jordan, and by a 
bold night attack, defeated them, rescued Lot, 
and recovered all the spoil. On his return he 
was met by the new king of Gomorrah, who 
offered him half the spoil, which he refused to 
accept. 

In this episode, Abram, " the Hebrew," a 
foreign chief, appears as a powerful Emir, 
with a numerous retaining of followers, living 
on terms of equality with others like himself, 
who were anxious to court the friendship of so 
formidable an ally, and combining with the 
peaceful habits of a pastoral life, the same 
capability for warfare which is characteristic 
of the Arab race. With great dignity he re- 
fuses to enrich himself with the fruits of his 
victory, and claims only a share of the booty 
for his Amorite allies, to whom, apparently, he 
extends his protection in return for permission 
to reside in their territory. 

Among those who met him, on his return, 
was Melchizedek, the king of Salem, "a priest 
of the Most High God," and to him Abram 
gave titles of all the spoil. There is something 
surprising and mysterious in the first appear- 
ance of Melchizedek, and in the subsequent 
references to him. Bearing a title which Jews, 
in after ages, would recognize as designating 
their own sovereign, bearing gifts which recall 
to Christians the Last Supper, this Canaanite 
crosses, for a moment, the path of Abram, and 
is unhesitatingly recognized as a person of 
higher spiritual rank than the friend of God. 
Disappearing as suddenly as he came in, he is 
lost to the sacred writings for a thousand 



680 



ABRAHAM. 



years ; and then a few emphatic words, for 
another moment, bring him into sight as a 
type of the coming Lord of David. The ex- 
traordinary reverence paid to him by Abram, 
and apparently by the king of Sodom, com- 
pletes all our positive knowledge respecting 
his person and office. 

After this Abram continued to dwell at 
Mamre, and seems to have been in constant 
fear that the powerful king of Elam would 
attack him, in revenge for the defeat he had 
inflicted upon him. While he was in this state 
of mind, God appeared to him again, and bade 
him fear not, that He was his protector. He 
repeated His promise of an heir to the patri- 
arch, and told him that this heir should not be 
his steward, whom he had adopted, but his own 
son, that should be born of his wife. 

The Promise Repeated. 

And He took Abram forth, and bade him 
look on the stars that were gemming the 
eastern heavens in all their beauty, and told 
him that his seed should be as the stars in 
numbers. And Abram " believed in the Lord, 
and He counted it to him for righteousness." 
God then reminded him that it was He who 
had brought him up out of Ur of the Chaldees, 
and that he should, indeed, inherit this land. 
Abram's faith seems to have staggered at this, 
and, in order to confirm his promise, God made 
a covenant with him. 

In those days, when men would make a 
most solemn covenant with each other, they 
proceeded thus : they took one of every kind 
of beast, or bird, used in sacrifice, being a 
heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtle-dove, and a 
young pigeon. The beasts they divided, and 
laid the pieces opposite each other, at such a 
distance that a man could pass between them ; 
but the birds, being small and of the same 
kind, were not divided, but placed entire oppo- 
site each other. Then the party making the 
agreement, or covenant, passed between the 
pieces, declaring the terms by which he bound 
himself to abide. As this was the strongest 
and most solemn method of contracting a 
binding obligation, God made use of it. 



Abram was directed to make the necessary 
arrangements for such a ceremony ; and when 
he had made them, he remained by the car- 
casses until the evening, to protect them from 
damage by the fowls. 

The Furnace and Lamp. 

" And when the sun was going down, a deep 
sleep fell upon Abram : and, lo, an horror of 
great darkness fell upon him. 

"And God said unto Abram, Know of a 
surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a 
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; 
and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 

" And also that nation, whom they shall 
serve, will I judge; and afterward they shall 
come out with great substance. 

" And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; 
thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 

" But in the fourth generation they shall 
come hither again ; for the iniquity of the 
Amorites is not yet full. 

" And it came to pass, that, when the sun 
went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking 
furnace, and a burning lamp that passed be- 
tween those pieces." Thus did God establish 
His covenant with the patriarch. 

At the suggestion of Sarai, who despaired 
of having children of her own, Abraham took 
as his concubine, Hagar, her Egyptian maid, 
who bore him a son. But before the child was 
born, Hagar's insolence to her mistress pro- 
voked the jealousy of the latter, and she 
treated the concubine so badly that she fled 
into the wilderness. Here she encountered 
an angel of God, who told her to return to her 
mistress, and encouraged her with the promise 
of a numerous issue. In memory of God's 
hearing her cry of distress, He bade her name 
the coming child " Ishmael" — that is, " God 
shall hear" — and He foretold his character 
and destiny in words which to this day de- 
scribe the Bedouin Arabs, who are descended 
from him : " He will be a wild man ; his hand 
will be against every man, and every man's 
hand against him ; and he shall dwell in the 
face of all his brethren," that is, to the east of 
the kindred tribes sprung from Abraham. 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



681 



Abraham was eighty-six years old when Ish- 
mael was born, and for thirteen years more he 
continued to dwell in Hebron. God now ap- 
peared to him again, and renewed His promises 
to him, telling him that He should transmit the 
blessings promised him not through Ishmael, 
but through a son which Sarah should bear to 
him within a specified time. God also changed 
the patriarch's name to " Abraham" (father of 
a multitude) and his wife's name to " Sarah" 



the meal ended they foretold the birth of Isaac. 
Sarah overheard this prediction and laughed 
incredulously at it. The principal stranger 
rebuked her sternly for her unbelief, reminding 
her that everything was possible with God. 
The guests then went on their way to Sodom. 
Abraham accompanied them a part of the way, 
and was told by God of his purpose to destroy 
the wicked cities of the plain. Full of sorrow, 
the patriarch besought the Almighty to spare 




HAGAR AT THE FOUNTAIN 



(princess), in consequence of her exalted dig- 
nity as the mother of the promised seed. At 
the same time the command was given to 
establish the rite of circumcision, with which 
Abraham complied. 

Soon after this the promise that Sarah should 
bear a son was repeated. Three men stood 
before Abraham as he sat before his tent in 
the heat of the day. The patriarch, with true 
■eastern hospitality, welcomed the strangers 
and bade them rest and refresh themselves ; 



these cities if as many as fifty righteous men 
could be found in them, and encouraged by a 
favorable answer, continued to plead until 
God promised to spare the cities if as many 
as ten righteous men could be found in them. 
Meanwhile, the two angels went on their 
way to Sodom, whose people gave them a 
reception which filled up the measure of their 
sins. Even the sons-in-law of Lot despised 
their warning ; and Lot himself was reluctantly 
drag-g-ed, with his wife and two daughters, 



682 



ABRAHAM. 



from the devoted city. Lot pleaded hard 
that one of the cities might be spared as a 
place of abode for him, and God granted his 
prayer and gave him Bela, which was after- 
ward called Zoar. 

God's command was that the fugitives 
should not look back behind them, but Lot's 
wife disobeyed the injunction, and looking 
back was turned into a pillar of salt. No 
sooner had Lot entered Zoar than God rained 
fire and brimstone upon Sodom, Gomorrah, 
Admah and Zeboim, and utterly destroyed 
them and their inhabitants, and the fertile 
plain in which they had stood became a scene 
of the most perfect desolation. Lot himself, 
though saved from Sodom, fell, like Noah 
after the deluge, into vile intoxication, of 
which his own daughters took advantage to 
indulge the incestuous passion, from which 
sprang the races of Moab and Amnion. 

After the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah, Abraham journeyed southward, and 
dwelt in Gerah, among the Philistines. 
Sarah's beauty won the admiration of Abime- 
lech, the king of the country, and here again 
Abraham declared she was his sister. The 
king took her to his harem, but was warned of 
God in a dream to restore her to her husband. 
This he did, reproving Abraham for his 
deceit. 

At length Isaac was born. This was the 
child so long promised, the seed through 
whom the promise was to descend to posterity. 
His birth was welcomed with the greatest 
rejoicings. At a banquet which Abraham 
made to celebrate the weaning of Isaac, 
Sarah's jealous)' - was aroused by the mockery 
of Ishmacl, and she demanded that, with his 
mother Hagar, he should be driven out. 
Abraham reluctantly consented, and sent 
them away from his home, consoled by the 
promise of God, that he would make Ishmael 
a great nation. 

A long period of time passed away, Abra- 
ham still remaining in the land of the Philis- 
tines, and being treated by them as a powerful 
prince, whose friendship was worth concili- 
ating. At length God put him to the severest 



trial of his faith ever demanded of him. He 
told him to take Isaac, his only son, in whom 
He had told him all nations should be blessed, 
and offer him for a burnt sacrifice at an 
appointed place. Such a bidding, in direct 
opposition to the promptings of nature, and 
the Divine mandate against the shedding of 
lvman blood, Abraham hesitated not to obey. 
His faith, which had always sustained him, 
supported him in this final trial. 

Remarkable Faith. 

He went forth, determined to slay Isaac, as 
he had been commanded, "accounting that 
God was able to raise up his son, even from 
the dead, from whence also he received him in 
a figure." The most complete trial was made 
in this case. God's purpose was announced 
to the patriarch in the first place, after Avhich 
he was required to make a three days' journey 
in the constant and tender companionship of 
the child he loved with his whole heart. 
Painful as was the ordeal, he never shrank 
from it, and when God had fully tested him. 
He commanded him to release Isaac unharmed, 
and renewed the promise of blessings to him 
and his seed. Then Abraham and the lad re- 
turned to Beersheba, where he dwelt for a long 
time. 

From Beersheba, Abraham went back to his 
old home at Hebron, and there Sarah, his wife, 
died, at the age of one hundred and twenty- 
seven years. Up to this time God had " given 
him none inheritance in the land ; no, not so 
much as to set his foot on." He had used it to 
pitch his tent, and feed his flocks on, but not a 
foot of it was actually his property. But now 
the sanctity of the sepulchre demanded that his 
burying-place should be his own : and he makes 
a bargain with Ephron, the Hittite, in the pres- 
ence of all the people of the city, in the course 
of which he behaves, and is treated by them, 
like a mighty and generous prince. 

Courteously refusing both the use of their 
sepulchres and the offer of a place for his own 
as a gift, he buys for its full value, four hundred 
shekels' weight of silver, " current money with 
the merchant," Hie Cave of Machpclah (Double 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



683 



Cave), close to the oak of Mamie, with the 
field in which it stood. Here he buried Sarah, 
and the place ultimately became the sepulchre 
of his immediate descendants. 

Abraham's Return. 

He now returned to Beersheba,and his next 
care was to send his servant to choose a wife 
for his son Isaac, amongst his own kindred. 
His oldest servant undertook the journey, and 
pledged himself to his master not to select a 
wife for the heir amongst any of the daughters 
of Canaan. The servant then set out, and 
guided by God, went to Haran, in Mesopo- 
tamia, where Nahor, the brother of Abraham, 
had settled, and a sign from God indicated the 
maiden he sought in Rebekah, the daughter 
of Bethuel, son of Nahor. He concluded the 
negotiations with the parents of the damsel, 
and she became the wife of Isaac. 

To Isaac Abraham gave all his great wealth, 
and died apparently at Becrsheba, " in a good 
old age, an old man, and full of years," his age 
being one hundred and seventy-five years. His 
sons Isaac and Ishmael met at his funeral, and 
buried him in the cave of Machpelah. Ishmael 
survived him just fifty years, and died at the 
age of one hundred and thirty-seven. 

ISAAC. 

When Abraham and his wife were old, and 
well stricken in years, it pleased God to fulfil 
the promise He had so long held out to the 
patriarch. A son was jorn, whose name was 
called Isaac. Sarah nourished the child at her 
own breast for fully three years, and, when the 
time of its weaning came, Abraham made a 
grand feast to celebrate the occasion. 

It seems that before Isaac, the son of her old 
age, was given to her, Sarah had lavished con- 
siderable affection upon Ishmael, through 
whom she expected the promise of God to 
descend ; but when her own child was born, 
she naturally bestowed her whole heart upon 
him, and gradually came to dislike Ishmael, 
who was by no means pleased with the neglect 
with which he was treated. Abraham seems 
to have been steadfast in his attachment to 



Ishmael, and to have been willing to retain 
him about him as his son. 

On the occasion of the banquet referred to, 
Ishmael roused the wrath of Sarah, by his 
derision of the infant heir, and Sarah at once 
demanded of her husband that the bondwoman 
and her son should be cast out, declaring that 
" the son of this bondwoman shall not be 
heir with my son, even with Isaac." Abraham 
was sorely grieved by this demand, but God 
said to him that the wish of his wife was 
proper, and bade him fear not, because of 
Ishmael ; for, while the blessings shall descend 
to Isaac, he will also make Ishmael a great 
nation, " because he is thy seed." 

Isaac on the Altar of Sacrifice. 

We are struck with the fact, that the obedi- 
ence of Abraham to the will of God was 
always rendered promptly ; and now we find 
him rising early in the morning to send Hagar 
and Ishmael away. He gave them a " bottle 
of water," and such provisions as travellers in 
the desert usually carried; and they departed, 
and wandered in the desert of Beersheba, 
where Ishmael was miraculously saved from 
death by thirst, and preserved until he grew to 
manhood. 

When Isaac had reached the age of twenty- 
five years, Abraham was commanded to take 
Isaac, his only son, to a place which should be 
pointed out to him, and there offer him for a 
burnt sacrifice. "And Abraham rose up early 
in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took 
two of his young men with him, and Isaac his 
son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, 
and rose up, and went unto the place of which 
God had told him. Then, on the third day, 
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place 
afar off. And Abraham said unto his young 
men, Abide )-e here with the ass ; and I and 
the lad will go yonder and worship, and come 
again to you. 

"And Abraham took the wood of the burnt- 
offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and 
he took fire in his hand, and a knife ; and they 
went both of them together. And Isaac spake 
unto Abraham, his father, and said : My father ; 






684 



ISAAC. 



and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, 
Behold the fire and the wood ; but where is 
the lamb for a burnt-offering ? And Abraham 
said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb 
for a burnt-offering ; so they went both of them 
together. And they came to the place which 
God had told him of; and Abraham built an 
altar there, and laid the wood in order; and 
bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar 
upon the wood. 

"And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and 
took the knife to slay his son. And the angel 
of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, 
and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, 
Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand 
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto 
him : for now I know that thou fearest God, 
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine 
only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up 
his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him, 
a ram caught in the thicket by his horns ; and 
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered 
him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his 
son. And Abraham called the name of that 
place Jehovah-jireh : as it is said to this day, 
In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." 
For this faithful act, God renewed His promises 
to Abraham of the blessings which should de- 
scend upon his seed through Isaac. 

In Search of a Wife. 

After his mother's death, Isaac went with 
his father to purchase the cave of Machpelah 
for a sepulchre, and was present upon that oc- 
casion. After the burial of Sarah, he returned 
with Abraham to Beersheba. The grief which 
he manifested for his mother, to whom he was 
tenderly attached, now caused Abraham to 
determine to choose a wife for his son. Isaac 
was forty years old, and was of a meditative, 
quiet disposition, and the father rightly judged 
that the constant and tender companionship 
of a wife would be his best solace. 

He had heard that the family of his brother 
Nahor were still in Mesopotamia, and were 
doing well, and he determined to take for 
Isaac a wife from amongst his own kindred, as 
this would be the most certain way of ensur- 



ing the purity of the race of which he was to 
be the father. He called his old steward, 
Eliezer of Damascus, and bade him set forth 
upon the journey to the house of his kindred, 
and there select a fitting bride for his son. 
He also made the servant swear a solemn oath 
that he would under no circumstances bring 
back a Canaanitish woman. 

Eliezer departed with a train suited to the 
importance of his mission; and took with him 
presents for the damsel and her friends. Then, 
as now, it was the custom in the East for the 
bridegroom to purchase his bride from her 
parents at a considerable price, and to make 
handsome presents to her. 

The Damsel at the Well. 

Nahor's family had relinquished their no- 
madic character to such an extent as to have 
become dwellers in the town of Haran or Char- 
ran. Their flocks, however, were still sent out 
to graze, under the care of shepherds and of 
the younger members of the family. Then, as 
now, it was a custom for the women of the 
family to draw water from the wells, and both 
the highest and lowest engaged in this duty. 

Eliezer, after a long journey, reached the 
well of Haran about the time of the evening 
that the damsels came to draw water. He 
knew that he should behold his young mas- 
ter's future bride among the throng, and he 
prayed that God would bless him in his choice. 
Feeling very deeply the responsibility of the 
matter, he prayed the Almighty to give him a 
sign by which he should knowwhom to select 
— namely, that she who, to his request to give 
him and his camels to drink of the water, 
should say, " Drink ; and I will give thy 
camels drink also," should be the maid he 
should choose. 

While he was yet speaking, the women 
came forth from the city and began their ac- 
customed task. Eliezer singled out the fairest 
and asked leave to drink from her pitcher. 
She granted the request, and, when he had 
drank, proceeded to give his camels water 
also. He was greatly encouraged by this, but 
was not yet sure that she was the maid he 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



685 



sought. Giving her several handsome presents i ishment, Eliezer found that she was the very 
of jewelry, he asked her, "Whose daughter | person of whom his master had heard, and 




Abraham's servant meeting rebekah at the well. — Gen. xxiv. 18. 

art thou ? tell me, I pray thee ; is there room I whom he desired for his son's wife. In his 

in thy father's house for us to lodge in ? " I joy he lifted up his voice, and blessed God 

She replied that she was the daughter of for having graciously guided him to the 

Bethuel the son of Nahor, and to his aston- 1 house of the brother of his master, Abraham. 



686 



JACOB. 



Upon hearing this, Rebekah, the damsel, at 
once ran to her father's house and informed 
her family of what had transpired. Bethuel 
was doubtless too infirm for active life now, 
and the management of his affairs seems to 
have fallen into the hands of his son Laban, 
who at once went out and welcomed Eliezer 
and his companions and brought them to the 
house, where he entertained them with true 
Eastern hospitality. Eliezer stated his mis- 
sion briefly, and demanded the hand of Re- 
bekah for his young -master. Her relatives 
agreed to the match and received the cus- 
tomary presents, and Rebekah professing her 
willingness to go, Eliezer departed with the 
damsel the next morning. 

Isaac had gone out at eventide to meditate 
in the fields, under the quiet heavens, when he 
saw the camels of Eliezer returning home. 
He at once went forth to meet them, and Re- 
bekah, who was accompanied by her nurse 
and several female attendants, asked Eliezer 
who the stranger was. Upon being told that 
it was his " master," she alighted from her 
camel, and enveloped herself in the veil of a 
bride, by which Isaac might know her from 
her companions. Having learned from the 
steward all the events of his mission, Isaac 
took Rebekah to his mother's tent, which was 
now to belong to her, as the chief woman of 
the tribe, and he loved her, and she became 
his wife ; " and Isaac was comforted after his 
mother's death." 

Two Great Nations. 

For twenty years Rebekah was without 
children. At length Rebekah brought forth 
twins, whose destinies were predicted before 
their birth. They struggled violently, as if 
for the mastery of one over the other, and she 
entreated God to show her what this meant. 
She was told that two nations, two manners of 
people, were to be born, and that of these, the 
one people should be stronger than the other, 
and that the elder should serve the younger. 

When they were born, the elder had a very 
hairy appearance, and received the name of 
Esau (the hairy) from that circumstance. The 



younger had hold of his brother's heel in 
the birth, and received the name of Jacob 
(the supplanter). 

After this a sore famine caused Isaac to re- 
move to Gerar, in the country of the Philis- 
tines. He seems to have meditated going 
down into Egypt ; but God commanded him 
not to do so, assuring him that he would care 
for and protect him. 

He continued to reside in the land, and 
lived to see his children's children, and died at 
the age of one hundred and eighty years. He 
was buried with his parents in the Cave of 
Machpelah, where also his wife was buried. 

JACOB. 

As we have stated in our sketch of Isaac, 
Esau and Jacob were not born until their 
parents had been married more than twenty 
years. They were fifteen years old when their 
grandfather Abraham died. As they grew up 
to manhood, they developed characters en- 
tirely dissimilar. Esau became a famous hun- 
ter, and excelled in manly and athletic sports, 
while Jacob devoted himself to the quieter 
and more domestic pursuits of a purely pas- 
toral life, thus becoming eminently qualified 
to be the ancestor of a race which should one 
day be one of the most cultivated and polished 
in the world. 

Esau became his father's favorite, but the 
mother lavished her love upon the gentle 
Jacob, remembering, doubtless, the prediction 
which God had made to her concerning him 
before his birth. This prediction she repeated 
tc Jacob, Avho was thenceforth constantly on 
the watch to obtain from Esau the formal 
transfer of the higher natural claims which he 
might be supposed to derive from the accident 
of a few minutes' earlier birth. The opportu- 
nity for which he watched soon came. 

One day, while Jacob was preparing a savory 
mess of lentiles, after a new method which 
had but lately been introduced into that 
country from Egypt, Esau came in from a 
protracted hunting expedition, almost famished 
with hunger. The uncivilized, or semi-civil- 
ized man, is a child in his appetites at all 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



687 



times ; and the hunger of such a man is mad- 
ness. Jacob was shrewd enough to know this, 
and when Esau eagerly demanded a portion of 
the savory dish with which to stay his hunger, 
Jacob refused to give it until his brother 
agreed to relinquish his birthright to him, and 
thus played with his hunger until Esau agreed 
to the compact, and sealed it with an oath. 

Then Jacob fed him, and he departed. 
" Thus Esau despised his birthright." When 
Esau was forty years old, he took to himself 
two wives from amongst the daughters of 
Canaan, " which were a grief of mind unto 
Isaac and to Rebekah." 

Cunning- Deception. 

A great family trial was now in store for 
Isaac. The approach of his hundredth year, 
and the infirmity of his sight, warned him to 
perform the solemn act by which, as prophet 
as well as father, he was to hand down the 
blessing of Abraham to another generation. 
Of course he designed for Esau the blessing 
which, once given, was the authoritative and 
irrevocable act of the patriarchal power ; and 
he desired him to prepare a feast of venison 
for the occasion. Esau was not likely to con- 
fess the sale of his birthright, nor could Jacob 
venture openly to claim the benefit of his trick. 
Whether Rebekah knew of that transaction, 
or whether moved by partiality only, she came 
to the aid of her favorite son, and devised the 
stratagem by which Jacob obtained his father's 
blessing. 

She directed Jacob to kill and bring to her 
two kids of the goats, out of which she pre- 
pared a savory dish, such as Isaac loved. In 
order to deceive the patriarch, whose vision 
was too feeble to enable him to detect the cheat, 
Jacob put on a dress of Esau, and covered the 
exposed portion of his neck, and his hands, 
with the skins of the kids, for his brother was 
a hairy man. Thus prepared, he took the dish 
in to his father, and demanded his blessing, 
assuring him that he was Esau. 

Isaac detected the voice of Jacob, but was 
reassured by the hairy skins which the im- 
postor had donned. So Isaac ate of his son's 



venison, and drank the wine which he gave 
him, after which he called Jacob to him, and 
blessed him. Again his doubts were lulled to 
rest by the smell of his son's raiment, and he 
said, " See, the smell of my son is as the smell 
of a field which the Lord hath blessed. There- 
fore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and 
the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn 
and wine : Let people serve thee, and nations 
bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, 
and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee : 
cursed be every one that curseth thee, and 
blessed be he that blesseth thee." 

Having received the blessing, Jacob went 
out from his father's presence; but he had 
scarcely gone when Esau came in from his 
hunting, and having prepared his mess of 
venison, took it into his father. Surprised at 
his coming, and his entreaty to eat, Isaac de- 
manded his name, and was told that it was his 
son, Esau. "And Isaac trembled very exceed- 
ingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath 
taken venison, and brought it to me, and I 
have eaten of all before thou earnest, and have 
blessed him ? yea, and he shall be blessed." 

The whole imposture was now clear to Esau, 
who wept like a child for the loss of his bless- 
ing, and he cried out in anguish to his horror- 
stricken parent, " Bless me, even me also, O 
my father." Like Ishmael, he received a tem- 
poral blessing, the fatness of the earth and the 
dew of heaven, the warrior's sword, qualified 
by subjection to his brother, whose yoke, how- 
ever, he was at some time to break. 

The prophecy was fulfilled in the prosperity 
of the Idumseans, their martial prowess, and 
their constant conflicts with the Israelites, by 
whom they were subdued under David, over 
whom they triumphed at the Babylonian 
captivity, . and to whom they at last gave a 
king in the person of Herod the Great. But 
all this was no compensation for the loss of 
the higher and spiritual blessing which fell to 
the lot of Jacob, and which involved, in addition 
to all temporal prosperity, a dominion so 
universal that it could only be fulfilled by the 
kingdom of the Messiah, and a blessing on 
the whole human race. 



688 



JACOB. 



Esau, full of bitterness, resolved to kill his 
brother immediately after his father's death, 
which he believed to be near at hand. His 
resolution being reported to Rebekah, she 
irged Jacob to fly to her relatives at Haran, 
and obtained Isaac's consent to the arrange- 
ment, on the pretext that it would not do for 
Jacob to marry one of the daughters of 
Canaan, as Esau had done. The patriarch 
repeated the blessing of Abraham to his son, 
and sent him away. 

And so the heir of the promises retraced, 
as a solitary wanderer, with nothing but the 
staff he carried, the path by which Abraham 
had traversed Canaan. Proceeding north- 
ward, he lighted on a place, the site, doubtless, 
of Abraham's encampment, near Bethel, 
where he found some stones, which probably 
belonged to the altar set up by Abraham, one 
of which he made his pillow. Thus forlorn, 
amid the memorials of the covenant, he was 
visited by God in a dream, which showed him 
a flight of stairs leading up from earth to the 
gates of heaven, and trodden by angels, some 
descending on their errands as " ministering 
spirits " upon earth, and others ascending to 
carry their reports to Kim, whose '■ face they 
ever watch" in dutiful service. 

The Gate of Heaven. 

This symbol of God's providence was 
crowned by a vision of Jehovah, and his voice 
added to the renewal of the covenant a special 
promise of protection. Jacob awoke to 
acknowledge the awful presence of Jehovah, 
of which he had lain down unconscious, and 
to dedicate to Him himself and all God should 
give him. As a memorial of his vow, he set 
up his pillow for a monument, consecrating it 
with oil, and called the place Beth-El — the 
" House of God." The date of this, the turn- 
ing point in Jacob's life, is fixed by subse- 
quent computation to his seventy-seventh year. 

Jacob succeeded in reaching his relatives at 
Padan-Aram, and upon his arrival there was 
met by his cousin Rachel, the daughter of 
Laban, the brother of Rebekah. Jacob loved 
her, and agreed to serve Laban as a shep- 



herd for seven years for the hand of Rachel. 
The bargain was made, and service rendered. 
Laban's flocks prospered wonderfully under 
Jacob's management ; but when Jacob claimed 
his reward at the end of the seven years, he 
found himself met with deceit. Laban had 
two daughters. Leah, the elder, was afflicted 
with some weakness or dulness of the eyes ; 
but Rachel, the younger, was a beauty. 

Jacob Serving- for a Wife 

Feeling sure that Leah's defect would 
render it difficult to find a husband for her, 
Laban resolved to put her off on Jacob by a 
trick, rendered easy by the forms of an East- 
ern wedding, where the bride is closely veiled. 
Jacob discovered the trick after it was too late, 
and upon reproaching Laban for it, was met 
with the excuse that it was not the custom 
of the country to marry the younger sister 
before the elder ; but he gave Jacob Rachel 
also, on the condition of another seven years' 
service. 

After the birth of Joseph, who was the son 
of Rachel, Jacob wished to become his own 
master ; but Laban prevailed on him to serve 
him still for a part of the produce of his flocks, 
to be distinguished by certain marks. Jacob's 
artifice to make the most of his bargain may 
be regarded as another example of the de- 
fective morality of those times ; but, as far as 
Laban was concerned, it was a fair retribution 
for his attempt to secure a contrary result. 
Jacob was now commanded in a vision, by 
"the God of Bethel," to return to the land of 
his birth ; and he fled secretly from Laban, 
who had not concealed his envy, to go back 
to his father Isaac, after twenty years spent 
in Laban's service — fourteen for his wives, 
and six for his cattle. Jacob, having passed 
the Euphrates, struck across the desert by the 
great fountain of Palmyra; then traversed the 
eastern part of the plain of Damascus, and the 
plateau of Bashan, and entered Gilead, which 
is the range of mountains east of the Jordan, 
forming the frontier between Palestine and 
the Assyrian Desert. 

Rachel had carried away the household 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



689 



gods of her father, and Laban pursued his 
son-in-law, with a troop of his friends, to re- 
cover them. Rachel adroitly concealed the 
stolen property, and Laban, failing to find his 
images, concluded a covenant with Jacob, in 
which they mutually adjusted the territory 
over which they should range, and agreed not 
to molest one another. Jacob now continued 
his journey, and received a Divine encourage- 
ment to meet the new dangers of the land he 
was entering. His eyes were opened to see a 
troop of angels, " the host of God," sent for 
his protection, and forming a second camp be- 
side his own ; and he called the name of the 
place Mahanaim, " the two camps or hosts." 

The Angel Wrestles with Jacoh. 

His first danger was from the revenge of 
Esau, who had now become powerful in 
Mount Seir, the land of Edom. In reply to 
his conciliatory message, Esau came out to 
meet him with four hundred armed men. 
Jacob was greatly distressed by the news of 
his brother's approach, not knowing whether 
he came in friendship or anger. Jacob had 
now reached the valley of the Jabbok, and he 
divided his people and herds into two bands, 
that if the first were smitten, the second might 
escape. 

Then he turned to God in prayer. To 
prayer he adds prudence, and sends forward 
present after present, that their reiteration 
might win his brother's heart. This done, he 
rested for the night ; but, rising up before the 
day, he sent forward his wives and children 
across the ford of the Jabbok, remaining for a 
while in solitude to prepare his mind for the 
trial of the day. It was then that " a man " 
appeared, and wrestled with him till the morn- 
ing rose. This " man " was the "Angel Jeho- 
vah," and the conflict was a repetition in act 
of the prayer which we have already seen Jacob 
offering in words. 

Though taught his own weakness by the 
dislocation of his thigh at the angel's touch, 
he gained the victory over him by his impor- 
tunity — " I will not let thee go except thou 
bless me " — and he received the new name of 
44 



Israel, " a prince of God," as a sign that " he 
had prevailed with God, and should, therefore, 
prevail with man." Well knowing with whom 
he had to do, he called the place Peniel, "the 
face of God," " for I have seen God face to 
face, and my life is preserved." The memory 
of his lameness, which he seems to have car- 
ried with him to the grave, was preserved by 
the custom of the Israelites not to eat of the 
sinew in the hollow of the thigh. 

At sunrise Jacob descended into the valley 
of the Jabbok, and saw Esau and his warriors 
approaching. He divided his last and most 
precious band, placing first the handmaids 
and their children, then Leah and her chil- 
dren, and Rachel and Joseph last. Advanc- 
ing before them all, he made his obeisance to 
Esau, who " ran to meet him, and fell on his 
neck and kissed him, and they wept." After 
a cordial interview, Jacob prudently declined 
his brother's offer to march with him as a 
guard ; and Esau returned to Mount Seir, 
and we hear no more of him except the ge- 
nealogy of his descendants, the Edomites. 

Jacob pursued his journey westward and 
halted at Succoth, so called from his having 
there put up "booths" (succoth) for his cattle, 
as well as a house for himself. He then 
crossed the Jordan, and arrived at Shechem, 
which had grown since the time of Abraham 
into a powerful city, and was named after 
Shechem, the son of Haman, prince of the 
Amorites. From them he bought a piece of 
land, the first possession of the family in 
Canaan, on which he pitched his tent and built 
an altar to God, as the giver of his new name 
and the God of the race who were ever to bear 
it — " God, the God of Israel." Here he dug 
the well by which the Saviour of the world 
taught the woman of Samaria a better worship 
than that of sacred places. 

He was soon involved in a conflict with the 
Shechemites, through their violence to Dinah, 
his daughter, and the treacherous revenge of 
Simeon and Levi, which afterward brought on 
them their father's curse ; the city of Shechem 
was taken, but Jacob thought it prudent to 
avoid the revenge of the Canaanites by retir- 






690 



JOSEPH. 



ing from the neighborhood. It seems prob- 
able that he afterward returned and rescued 
" from the Amorites with his sword and bow" 
the piece of land he had before purchased, 
and which he left, as a special inheritance, to 
Joseph. 

Meanwhile Jacob returned, by the command 
of God, to Bethel, and performed the vows 
which he had there made when he fled from 
home, and received from God a renewal of the 
covenant. There Rachel's nurse, Deborah, 
died, and was buried beneath the " oak of 
weeping." As he journeyed southward and 
was near Ephrath, or Ephratah, the ancient 
name of Bethlehem, Rachel died in giving 
birth to Jacob's youngest son. The dying 
mother called him Ben-oni, " son of my sor- 
row ; " but the fond father changed his name 
to Benjamin, " son of the right hand." 

The grave of Rachel was long marked by 
the pillar which Jacob erected over it, and her 
memory was associated with the town of Beth- 
lehem. Jacob's next resting-place, near the 
tower of Edar, was marked by the incest of 
Reuben, which forfeited his birthright. At 
length he reached the encampment of his 
father Isaac, at the old station of Mamre, be- 
side Hebron. Here Isaac died at the age of 
one hundred and eighty, " old and full of days, 
and his Sons Esau and Jacob buried him." 

JOSEPH. 

Jacob was now an old man ; but his age was 
afflicted with the loss of his son, Joseph, 
who was carried away thirteen years before 
the death of Isaac. After many years Jacob 
learned providentially that Joseph was not 
only alive, but a great man in Egypt, and ac- 
cepting the invitation of his son, went down 
into Egypt, and died there at the age of one 
hundred and forty-seven. His body was carried 
into Canaan by Joseph with great pomp, and 
buried in the Cave of Machpelah. 

Although Rachel was the most tenderly 
loved wife of Jacob, she was for many years 
childless, while her sister Leah became the 
mother of several children. At length, how- 
ever, it pleased God to give her a son, and his 



name was called Joseph. For many years she 
bore no more children, and at length died in 
giving birth to Benjamin. Joseph was the 
best loved of all Jacob's children, and received 
proofs innumerable of his father's affection. 
This rendered him odious to his brethren, 
and appears to have made him so far forget 
himself as to become an informer upon them 
to their father. 

Joseph's Coat. 

This filled up the measure of their dislike, 
which was by no means diminished by Joseph 
receiving from his father a " coat of many 
colors," as a token of his great love. To in- 
crease their hatred, Joseph dreamed two 
dreams, which even his father, who seems to 
have discerned their prophetic character, cen- 
sured his imprudence in repeating. In the 
first dream, his brother's sheaves of corn 
bowed down to his, which stood upright in 
their midst; a most fit type, not only of their 
submission to him, but of their suing to him 
for corn in Egypt. The second dream was of 
a wider and higher import. It included his 
father and his mother, as well as his brethren 
(now defined as eleven), in the reverence done 
to him ; and the emblems chosen leave little 
doubt that the dream prefigured the homage 
of all nature to Him whose sign was the star 
of Bethlehem, and of whom Joseph was one 
of the clearest types. Joseph's brethren re- 
solved to avert the humiliation by his death, 
re-enacting the part of Cain and Abel. 

Jacob was now living at Hebron with Isaac, 
and his sons fed the flocks wherever they 
could find pasture. Sometimes Joseph accom- 
panied his brethren, and sometimes he acted 
as a messenger between them and Jacob. 
Upon one occasion, his brethren being at 
Dothan, he was sent to them with a message 
from Jacob. They discerned his approach 
afar off, and determined to kill him. Reuben, 
however, persuaded them to avoid the actual 
shedding of their brother's blood by casting 
him into an empty pit close at hand, from 
which he meant to rescue the lad, and restore 
him to his father. They seized the "dreamer" ■ 
on his approach, and cast him into the pit, 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



699 



and during Reuben's absence sold him to 
some Midianite merchants who passed by the 
place on their way to Egypt. Then they took 
his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a goat, 
and by showing it to Jacob, induced their sor- 
row-stricken father to believe that a wild beast 
had devoured Joseph. 

Joseph Sold Into Egypt. 

Meanwhile, the lad was carried by the Mid- 
ianite merchants into Egypt, and there sold 
to Potiphar, " an officer of Pharaoh, and cap- 
tain of the guard." Potiphar's wife, tempted 
by Joseph's youthful beauty, proposed to him 
to become her paramour in a shameful in- 
trigue. Rejecting her advances, he was falsely 
accused by her to his master, by whom he 
was thrown into prison. His service in Pot- 
iphar's house, and his prison life, make up a 
period of thirteen years, though it is uncertain 
how much time was embraced in either. He 
found favor with the " keeper of the prison," 
who seems to have been Potiphar's successor, 
and was given the general management of the 
prison and its inmates. 

Among the prisoners were two of the king's 
great officers, the chief of the cup-bearers, and 
the chief of the cooks. They were committed 
to Joseph's care, and having dreamed each a 
dream which impressed them very greatly, 
they asked Joseph to interpret their visions for 
them. This he did ; and, as he predicted, the 
one was hanged, and the other restored to his 
office within three days. 

The liberated officer had been requested, by 
Joseph, to endeavor to procure his liberty for 
him, and had promised to do so, but utterly 
forgot him for a space of two years. Then 
Pharaoh having been visited by two singular 
dreams, which none of his wise men could inter- 
pret, the chief of the cup-bearers remembered 
the Hebrew captive, who had so truthfully in- 
terpreted his own dream, and proposed to the 
king to send for him. 

Upon hearing this, Pharoah had the captive 
at once summoned into his presence, and, upon 
relating his dream, received the interpretation 
of it from Joseph, who informed him that he 



spake to him by the power of God, and not of 
his own learning. The dream had been two- 
fold, to mark its certain and speedy fulfilment. 
Seven years of an abundance, extraordinary 
even for fruitful Egypt, were to be followed by 
seven other years of the most terrible famine. 
In the first dream, the seven years of plenty 
were denoted by seven heifers, the sacred 
symbols of Isis, the goddess of production, 
which came up out of the river. These were 
beautiful and fat, and fed on the luxuriant 
marsh grass by the river's brink; but there 
came up after them seven lean and ugly cattle, 
which devoured the fat kine, but remained as 
lean as before. These typified the seven bad 
years. The second dream was still plainer : 
there sprang up a stalk of Egyptian wheat 
with seven full ears, denoting the seven years 
of plenty ; then there sprang up another stalk, 
bearing seven thin and blasted ears, which de- 
stroyed the good ears, thus typifying the seven 
years of famine. 

Egypt's Young- Ruler. 

Joseph went farther, and counselled Pharaoh 
to give some discreet person authority over all 
the land, that he might store up the surplus 
corn of the seven years of plenty against the 
seven years of famine. Pharaoh saw that none 
could be so fit for this office as Joseph himself, 
" in whom was the Spirit of God." He made 
him his vicegerent over Egypt, and gave him 
his own signet, the indisputable mark of royal 
power. He received the Coptic name of 
Zaphnath-Paaneah, "a revealer of secrets;" 
and married Asenath, the daughter of Poti- 
pherah, priest or prince of On (Heliopolis), 
who bore him two sons. As a token of the 
oblivion of his former life, he named his elder 
son Manasseh, "forgetting;" and' he called 
the other Ephraim, " double fruitfulness," in 
grateful commemoration of his blessings. 
When Joseph afterwards became his father's 
heir, the double share of the inheritance, 
which fell to him, was indicated by each of his 
sons ranking with the sons of Jacob as the 
head of a distinct tribe. 

Joseph spent the seven years of plenty in 



692 



JOSEPH. 



gathering up provisions against the famine. 
These he acquired by doubling the ordinary 
import of one-tenth, and " he took up the fifth 
part of the land of Egypt in the seven plen- 
teous years." The corn was stored in cities 
conveniently located, and wisely and firmly 
guarded by the royal officers. Then the famine 
set in, and " waxed sore in Egypt," and not 
only the Egyptians, but the neighboring coun- 
tries, Canaan, and probably parts of Syria, 
Arabia and Africa, sent into Pharaoh to buy 
corn, " because the famine was so sore in all 
lands." 

At the end of two years all the money of 
the Egyptians and Canaanites had been paid 
into Pharaoh's treasury. Then, at Joseph's 
suggestion, the king sold them corn for their 
cattle, first, and then for their lands. The 
people were removed from the country to the 
cities. They were permitted, however, to cul- 
tivate their lands, as tenants under the crown, 
paying a rent of one-fifth of the produce, and 
this became the permanent law of the tenure 
of land in Egypt ; but the land of the priests 
was left in their own possession. 

Joseph Visited by his Brethren. 

The pressure of the famine in Canaan forced 
Jacob to send his sons down to Egypt to buy 
corn ; but he kept back Benjamin, " lest mis- 
chief should befall him." Joseph knew his 
brethren at once, but they failed to recognize 
him, and did humble reverence to him in his 
capacity of vicegerent, thus fulfilling one of 
his dreams. He spoke to them harshly, and 
charged them with being spies come down to 
see the nakedness of the land. They pro- 
tested their innocence, and related their history 
to him, thus giving him the news of his father 
and brother, which he most longed to hear. 
Probably to punish them for their cruel treat- 
ment of himself, he put them all in prison, and 
kept them there three days. 

Then his anger cooled, and he dismissed 
them all but Simeon, whom he kept as a 
hostage for the appearance of Benjamin, whom 
they promised to bring down to him. This 
they did, Jacob reluctantly giving his consent 



to the journey of Benjamin into Egypt. Joseph 
had them all taken to his own house, where 
they dined with him. He was much affected 
by the sight of Benjamin, his own mother's 
son, and could scarcely refrain from making 
himself known to them. Yet, wishing to sat- 
isfy himself that they were true brothers to 
Benjamin, he caused his own cup to be put in 
the lad's sack, and, when they had gotten fairly 
started, sent his guard in pursuit of them. The 
pursuers found the cup in Benjamin's sack, and 
conducted him back to the city. 

A Joyful Meeting. 

His brethren voluntarily accompanied him 
to share his doom. Joseph, when they were 
brought before him, told them that all might 
return home but the one in whose sack the 
cup had been found. Judah, who had been 
the first to propose that Joseph should be sold 
as a slave, now ventured to address the vice- 
gerent in a speech of touching eloquence, 
urging him to send the lad back to his father, 
and take him (Judah) as a slave in his place. 

His noble appeal broke down the self-con- 
trol of the great prince, and in a broken voice 
he declared to them that he was their long- 
lost brother, and to quiet their fears, said, " Be 
not grieved nor angry with yourselves that 
you sold me hither. It was not you that sent 
me hither, but God." Then followed that 
tender reconciliation which is so beautifully 
described in the sacred narrative. 

When the king heard that the strangers 
were Joseph's brethren, he was delighted, and 
sent them a cordial invitation to bring their 
father and their families, and all their posses- 
sions, and come and dwell in the land of Egypt. 
He also provided them with wagons and pro- 
visions. 

The removal of the chosen family to Egypt 
was an essential part of the great plan which 
God had traced out to their father, Abraham. 

Jacob was greatly astonished by the message 
of Joseph and Pharaoh, but was encouraged 
by God, who appeared to him in a vision, and 
told him to go down into Egypt, promising to 
bring him up again in the person of his de- 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



693 



scendants. Thus encouraged, he set out at 
once with all his house, including himself and 
excluding Joseph and his two sons, seventy- 
seven in all. He was warmly welcomed by 
Joseph, who presented his father and his 
brethren to Pharaoh. The king gave them 
the land of Goshen or Rameses, the best past- 
ure-ground in Egypt, for a dwelling-place, 
and assigned them the care of his own flocks, 
and Joseph fed them during the remaining five 
years of the famine. 

Jacob died seventeen years after his removal 
to Egypt, and his body was carried by Joseph 
to Canaan, with great pomp, and buried in the 
tomb of his fathers. 

On their return into Egypt, Joseph's breth- 
ren, fearing the effect of their father's removal, 
sought his forgiveness and made submission to 
him. He generously assured them that he 
harbored no ill against them, " and comforted 
them and spoke kindly unto them." 

Death of Joseph. 

Joseph survived his father for fifty-four years, 
still enjoying as we may assume his honors at 
the court under the same dynasty, though 
possibly under a succession of kings. He 
saw Ephraim's children of the third genera- 
tion, and had Manasseh's grand-children on his 
knees. At length he died at the age of 1 10. He 
was embalmed and placed in a sarcophagus, but 
not buried ; for before his death he had pre- 
dicted to his brethren their return from Egypt 
to the promised land ; and he had bound them 
by an oath to carry his remains with them. 

Through all their afflictions, the children of 
Israel kept the sacred deposit of Joseph's 
bones, and when God led the people out of 
Egypt, Moses did not forget the trust. When 
they were settled in Canaan, they buried Joseph 
at Shechem. 

" Now there arose up a new king over 
Egypt, which knew not Joseph." So begins 
the story of the affliction of the Israelites in 
Egypt, and of that marvelous deliverance, 
which has given to the second book in the 
Bible its Greek title of Exodus. The date of 
this event may be placed about or after the 



beginning of the sixteenth century, b. c, ac- 
cording to the common chronology ; and it 
probably signifies a change of dynasty. But 
whether that change consisted in the expul- 
sion of the Shepherds, and the rise of the 
great Eighteenth Dynasty of native kings, is 
unfortunately most uncertain. 

MOSES. 

At all events we see the new monarch 
dreading some war, in which the enemy might 
be aided by the people of Israel, who were 
" more numerous and mightier than his own 
subjects," and dreading also their escape out 
of the land. He, therefore, adopted the policy 
of reducing them to slavery ; which was made 
more rigorous the more the people increased. 
Their labor consisted in field work, and espe- 
cially in making bricks and building the 
" treasure cities" (probably for storing corn), 
Pithom and Raamses. Still they multiplied 
and grew ; and Pharaoh adopted a more cruel 
and atrocious course. He commanded the 
Hebrew midwives to kill the male children at 
their birth ; but to preserve the females. The 
midwives, however, " feared God," and dis- 
obeyed the king ; and they were rewarded by 
the distinction given to their families in Israel. 
Their names were Shiphrah and Puab. The 
king then commanded the Egyptians to drown 
the new-born sons of the Israelites in the 
river, but to save the daughters. 

Pharaoh's edict of infanticide led, by the 
providence of God, to the rearing up at his 
own court of the future deliverer of Israel. 
Amram, the son of Kohath, son of Levi, had 
espoused Jochebed, who was also of the tribe 
of Levi, and they already had two children, 
a daughter called Miriam (the same name as 
the Mary of the New Testament) and a son 
named Aaron. Another son was born soon 
after the king's edict, and the beauty of the 
new-born babe induced the mother to make 
extraordinary efforts for its preservation from 
the general destruction of the male children 
of Israel. For three months the child was 
concealed in the house. Then his mother 
placed him in a small boat or basket of pa- 






694 



MOSES. 



pyrus, closed against the water by bitumen. 
This was placed in the bulrushes, by the side 
of one of the canals of the Nile. 

The Princess and the Bahe. 

Then the mother departed, as if unable to 
bear the sight ; but the sister remained to 
watch her brother's fate. Soon after the 
daughter of the king came down to bathe in 
the sacred stream, and seeing the basket in 
the flags, sent one of her attendants to bring 
it to her. Upon opening the basket, she at 
once recognized the infant as a Hebrew child ; 
but its cry touched her heart, and she deter- 
mined to rear it as her' own. Overjoyed at 
this the babe's sister vencured to recommend to 
the princess a Hebrew nurse, and upon the 
acceptance of her offer, brought the child's 
own mother, to whom the princess confided 
it. The child was brought up as the son of 
Pharaoh's daughter, and the memory of the 
incident was cherished in the name given to 
the foundling of the water-side. It was called 
Moses, meaning " to draw out " — " because I 
have drawn him out of the water." 

From this time, for many years, Moses 
must be considered as an Egyptian. In the 
Pentateuch this period is a blank ; but in the 
New Testament he is represented as " educated 
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and as 
" mighty in words and deeds." But the time 
at last arrived when he was resolved to 
reclaim his nationality. 

He was now forty years old, and the suffer- 
ings of his countrymen began to move him as 
they had never done before. Seeing an Israelite 
suffering the bastinado from an Egyptian, and 
thinking they were alone, he slew the Egyp- 
tian, and buried the corpse in the sand. The 
fire of patriotism, which thus turns him into a 
deliverer from the oppressors, turns him into 
the peace-maker of the oppressed. The ma- 
lignity of his countrymen brought the story 
of the death of the Egyptian to the ears of 
Pharaoh, and the life of Moses was threat- 1 
ened ; not for the first time, if we may believe j 
the tradition. He fled into Midian. 

Beyond the fact that it was in or near the 



Peninsula of Sinai, its precise situation is 
unknown. There was a famous well sur- 
rounded by tanks for the watering of the 
flocks of the Bedouin herdsmen. By this 
well the fugitive seated himself, and watched 
the gathering of the sheep. There were the 
Arabian shepherds, and there were also 
seven maidens, whom the shepherds rudely 
drove away from the water. Moses, indignant 
at such an outrage, came to the assistance of 
the maidens, and drove off the shepherds, 
" and watered their flock." They returned 
unusually soon to their father, and told him of 
their adventure, and, in gratitude for the ser- 
vice thus rendered, the man invited Moses to 
his house. The matter ended in Moses' 
marrying Zipporah, daughter of his host, 
who was Jethro, the priest or prince of 
Midian. He also became his shepherd and 
slave, and for forty years we must regard him 
as an Arab:'an. 

Moses Called to be a Prophet. 

The chief effect of this stay in Arabia is on 
Moses himself. It was in the seclusion and 
simplicity of his shepherd life that he received 
his call as a prophet. The king from whose 
anger he had fled had died, but the oppression 
of the Israelites under his successor was even 
more severe. " They cried, and their cry 
came up to God by reason of their bondage. 
And God heard their groaning, and God 
remembered his covenant with Abraham, with 
Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon 
the children of Israel, and God knew them." 

The scene chosen for the revelation to 
Moses of his Divine mission was the same 
amid which the Israelites, led out by him 
from Egypt, were to see God's presence again 
revealed, and to receive the law from his own 
voice. Unchanged in its awful solitary gran^ 
deur from that day to this, it is one of thfi 
most remarkable spots on the surface of the 
earth. The Peninsula of Sinai is the promon-. 
tory enclosed between the two arms of the 
Red Sea, and culminating at its southern part 
in the terrific mass of granite rocks known as 
Sinai. This adjoined the country of Jethro. 






GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



695 



While Moses kept his flocks on this 
mountain, he beheld one of the well-known 
acacia trees (or thorn tree of the desert) burn- 
ing and crackling with a fierce fire, " and the 
bush was not consumed." As he came near, 
to discover the cause of this strange sight, he 
was saluted by an awful voice, which informed 
him that he stood in the presence of God, and 
commanded him to put off his shoes, for the 
place was holy ground. Moses did as he was 
commanded, and " hid his face," for he could 
not bear to look upon the awful sight. The 
Almighty the ninformed him that He had heard 
the cry of the Israelites, and was come down 
to deliver them, and to lead them into the 
promised land ; and called Moses to be His 
messenger to Pharaoh, and the leader of His 
people. Moses pleaded his unworthiness, but 
was assured of God's presence till his mission 
should be fulfilled by bringing God's people to 
worship in that mountain. 

The Divine Name. 

Then another difficulty arose. So corrupted 
were the people by the idolatry of Egypt, that 
they would not know what deity was meant by 
| the God of their fathers." They would ask, 
I What is His name ? " Besides the common 
name expressive of their divinity, the gods of 
the heathen had proper names, Amun, Baal, 
and the like ; and that He might be distin- 
guished from all these, God revealed to Moses 
the name by which the God of the Hebrews 
has ever since been known, Jehovah, the self- 
existent and eternally the same : — He that is, 
and was, and ever will be what He is — " I am 
that I am ! — What that is, I have written on 
the consciousness of man ; I have revealed it 
by word and act to your fathers ; and I ever 
will be to my people what I was to them ; " 
for He repeats this character once more, and 
adds, " This is my name forever, and this is 
my memorial unto all generations." 

God then unfolded his plan of deliverance. 
He bade Moses repeat to the elders of Israel 
the revelation he had now received. He as- 
sured him that they would believe, and bade 
him go with them and demand of Pharaoh, in 



the name of God, leave to go three days' 
journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice to 
Jehovah. He warned him of Pharaoh's re- 
fusal, and announced the signs and wonders He 
would work to make him yield, and ended by 
commanding the people to spoil the Egyptians 
of their jewels. 

Miraculous Signs. 

To these assurances God added two signs, 
to relieve the doubts of Moses about his re- 
ception by the people. Each of them had its 
significance. The hand made leprous and 
again cured, indicated the power by which he 
should deliver the people whom the Egyptians 
regarded as lepers. The shepherd's staff, first 
transformed into a serpent, the Egyptian sym- 
bol for the Evil Spirit (Typhon), and then 
restored to its former shape, became the " rod 
of Moses " and " of God," the sceptre of His 
rule as the shepherd of His people, and the 
instrument of the miracles which helped and 
guided them, and which confounded and de- 
stroyed their enemies. To these signs, which 
were exhibited on the spot, was added a third, 
the power to turn the water of the Nile to 
blood. 

But the more his mission is made clear to 
him, the more is Moses staggered by its great- 
ness. He pleads his want of eloquence, which 
seems to have amounted to an impediment in 
his speech, a sorry qualification for an ambas- 
sador to a hostile king. Notwithstanding the 
promise, that He who made man's mouth, and 
has command of all the senses, would be with 
him, and teach him what he should say, he 
desires to devolve the whole mission on some 
other. 

Then did God, in anger, punish his reluc- 
tance, though in mercy He met his objections, 
by giving a share of the honor, which might 
have been his alone, to his brother Aaron, a 
man who could speak well. But yet the word 
was not to be Aaron's own. He was to be the 
mouth of Moses ; and Moses was to be to him 
as God, the direct channel of the Divine rev- 
elation. The God of power became "Aaron's 
rod," though the power itself was put forth by 



696 



MOSES. 



the word of Moses. The two great functions 
conferred by the Divine mission were divided : 
Moses became the prophet, and Aaron the 
priest; and the whole arrangement exhibits 
the great principle of mediation. 

A Message to Pharaoh. 

Moses obtained his father-in-law's permis- 
sion to return to his brethren in Egypt ; and 
he received the signal of God for his departure, 
in the assurance that " the men were dead that 
sought his life." He set out, accompanied by 
his wife, and at an inn at which he tarried for 
the night was met by God, and compelled to 
circumcise his son, which rite had hitherto 
been neglected. He then sent his wife and 
son back to his father-in-law, where they re- 
mained until Moses joined them at Rephidim. 

The mission of Moses to Pharaoh was 
summed up in the statements : — that God 
claimed the liberty of Israel as his first-born 
son ; and if Pharaoh refused to let him go, He 
would slay his first-born. To this last in- 
fliction, all the plagues of Egypt were but pre- 
ludes. After parting with his family, Moses 
continued his journey, and was met by Aaron, 
as God had foretold to him, and together they 
went down into Egypt, and assembled the 
elders of the Israelites. "And Aaron spake 
all the words which Jehovah had spoken to 
Moses, and did the signs in the sight of all the 
people. And the people believed ; and when 
they heard that Jehovah had visited the chil- 
dren of Israel, and that He had looked upon 
their affliction, then they bowed their heads 
and worshipped." 

Moses and Aaron next sought the presence 
of Pharaoh, and in the name of Jehovah, the 
God of Israel, demanded leave for His people 
to hold a feast in the wilderness. Pharaoh 
not only refused to let the people go but also 
ignored Jehovah as a God, and increased the 
burdens of the Israelites. 

The Plagues of Egypt. 

Then began that great series of plagues by 
which the Israelites and Egyptians received 
such incontestible proofs of the power of 



God. First, the water of the Nile was turned 
to blood ; then the land was cursed with frogs, 
then with lice which swarmed on both man 
and beast ; then the air was filled with such 
dense swarms of flies or beetles, that they 
" devoured the land." 

This caused Pharaoh to consent to the pro- 
posed journey of the Israelites- but as soon 
as the plague was removed, he refused to let 
them go. Then God smote all the beasts of 
Egypt with a disease. These cattle were not 
only property, but Egyptian deities ; but they 
died with the plague. The king, however, 
still refused to let the people go. Then the 
Egyptians were smitten in their own persons 
with the plague of boils and blains, a terrible 
species of black leprosy; but still Pharaoh's 
heart was hardened. Then the land was visited 
with a terrific storm of hail, mingled with 
fire, which destroyed all the growing crops, 
and every man and beast exposed to it. 

Exciting Events. 

Pharaoh entreated Moses to intercede and 
procure the cessation of the plague, but, when 
this was done, still refused to let the people go. 
Then God covered the land with locusts, which 
ate up all the fire and hail had spared, anc 
caused the Egyptians such sore trouble that 
the king again consented to let the people go; 
but when the plague was removed, he agaii 
withdrew his consent. Then God sent a thick 
darkness over the land, which lasted three 
days. This darkness was frightful, and in- 
duced the king once more to consent to let the 
people go, if they would leave their flocks 
and herds behind. This concession made, he 
forbade Moses and Aaron from coming to him 
again. 

The land of Goshen, in which the Israelites 
dwelt, had been exempted from these plagues ; 
and now that the last and most fearful of all 
was at hand, God commanded His people to 
institute a ceremony called the Passover, which 
should always be to them a memorial of their 
great deliverance from the terrible judgments 
with which He visited Egypt. 

The day, reckoned from sunset to sunset, in 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



697 



the night of which the first-born of Egypt 
were slain, and the Israelites departed, was the 
fourteenth of the Jewish month, Nisan, or 
Abib (March to April), which began about the 
time of the vernal equinox, and which was 
now made the first month of the ecclesiastical 
year. This was the great day of the feast, 
when the paschal supper was eaten. But the 
preparations had already been made by the 
command of God. 

On the tenth day of the month each house- 
hold had chosen a yearling lamb (or kid, for 
either might be used), without blemish. This 
"paschal lamb" was set apart till the evening 
which began the fourteenth day, and was killed 
as a sacrifice at that moment in every family 
of Israel. But before it was eaten its blood 
was sprinkled, with a bunch of hyssop, on the 
lintel and door-posts of the house ; the divinely 
appointed sign that Jehovah might pass ove, 
that house when He passed through the land 
to destroy the Egyptians. 

Thus guarded, and forbidden to go out of 
doors till the morning, the families of Israel 
ate the lamb, roasted and not boiled, with un- 
leavened bread and bitter herbs. The bones 
were not suffered to be broken, but they must 
be consumed by fire in the morning, with any 
of the flesh that was left uneaten. The people 
were to eat in haste, and equipped for their 
coming journey. For seven days after the 
feast, from the fourteenth to the twenty-first, 
they were to eat only unleavened bread, and to 
have no leaven in their houses, under penalty 
of death. The fourteenth and twenty-first 
were to be kept with a holy convocation and 
Sabbatic rest. 

The Passover was to be kept to Jehovah 
throughout their generations, " a feast by an 
ordinance forever." No stranger might share 
the feast, unless he were first circumcised; but 
strangers were bound to observe the days of 
unleavened bread. To mark more solemnly 
the perpetual nature and vast importance of 
the feast, fathers were specially enjoined to in- 
struct their children in its meaning through 
all future time, and require from them a rigid 
observance of it. 



As the Passover was killed at sunset, we 

may suppose that the Israelites had finished 
the paschal supper, and were waiting in awful 
suspense the next great event, when the mid- 
night cry of anguish arose through all the 
land of Egypt. At that moment Jehovah 
slew the first-born in every house, from the 
king to the captive ; and, by smiting also all 
the first-burn of cattle, He "executed judg- 
ment on all the gods of Egypt." 

The hardened heart of Pharaoh was broken 
by the stroke; and all his people joined with 
him to hurry the Israelites away. The Egyp- 
tians willingly gave them the jewels of silver 
and gold and the raiment, which they asked 
for by the command of Moses; and so "they 
spoiled the Egyptians." They had not even 
time to prepare food, but took the dough be- 
fore it was leavened, in their kneading-troughs, 
bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders, 
and baked unleavened cakes at their first halt. 
But amid all this haste, some military order 
of march was observed, and Moses forgot not 
to carry away the bones of Joseph. 

Fleeing from Egypt. 

The host numbered 600,000 men on foot, 
besides children, from which the total of souls 
is estimated at not less than 2,500,000. But 
they were accompanied by a " mixed multi- 
tude," r>r great rabble, composed probably of 
Egyptians of the lowest caste, who proved a 
source of disorder. Their march was guided 
by Jehovah Himself, who, from its commence- 
ment to their entrance into Canaan, displayed 
His banner, the Shekinah, in their van. " Je- 
hovah went before them by day in a pillar 
of cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night 
in a pillar of fire, to give them light." 

The Exodus, or departure of the Israelites 
from Egypt, closed the 430 years of their pil- 
grimage, which began from the call of Abram 
out of Ur of the Chaldees. They set out from 
Rameses, in the land of Goshen, and marched 
directly to the head of the Red Sea, which 
they reached at the close of the third day. 
Here they were overtaken by the army of 
Pharaoh, which the king in his madness had 



698 



MOSES. 



led out against them. They were unprepared 
for battle, and were greatly alarmed by the ap- 
pearance of the Egyptians ; but God made 



the pursuers were washed ashore, and fur- 
nished Israel with the implements of warfare. 
For a short distance the march lay along 




FIRST-BORN 



xii. 29. 



them a passage through the waters of the Red 
Sea, and brought them in safety to the opposite 
shore. The Egyptians, attempting to pursue 
them, we're drowned in the sea. The arms of 



the Red Sea, after which the host entered the 
Wilderness of Sin. Here the people mur- 
mured because their provisions were exhausted, 
and God sent them manna, which was rained 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



down from heaven, and continued this supply 
until they reached the promised land. Soon 
after the appearance of the manna, they were 
treacherously attacked by the Amalekites, 
whom they defeated in a great battle. Then 
they pressed on towards Sinai and encamped 
at the foot of the mountain on the first day of 
the third month after their leaving Egypt. 

Here they remained eleven months and 
twenty days, and during this time the Law 
was given to Moses, with such wonderful and 
magnificent displays of the power and glory 
of God that the people were sore afraid. But 
in spite of this they made a golden calf and 
worshipped it as a god, and thus called down 
upon themselves the anger of the Lord. They 
were severely punished, and the Law was a 
second time given to Moses, as he had broken 
the first tables in his just anger at the idolatry 
•of the people. 

Entering- the Promised Land. 

For forty years Moses led the Israelites 
through the wilderness, commanding their 
armies in battle, directing their movements in 
the long march which was imposed upon them 
for their sin in refusing to enter the land when 
first led to it, and pleading with Jehovah for 
them when their sins called down upon them 
the terrors of the Divine wrath. 

The people tried him sorely, but he never 
failed in his duty, but as far as man could do 
so, kept them true to the worship of Jehovah, 
and was to them a prophet, a lawgiver, a great 
leader, a judge, a general, and a most loving 
father. We have not space to present here 
even an outline of the great events of his life, 
but must refer the reader to the sacred narra- 
tive for them. 

After thirty-eight years of wandering in the 
Arabian desert, the chosen people again ap- 
proached the borders of Palestine, this time to 
enter in and possess the promised land. Moses 
therefore knew that the day of his death could 
not be distant, for he had been warned that it 
was not his privilege to lead the people who 
had so long engaged his care to their inheri- 
tance, but only to behold it afar off. Indeed, 



his years had already been protracted to the 
utmost span to which man's life then reached; 
but although not less than one hundred and 
twenty years old, his eye was not yet dim nor his 
natural strength abated. " His last care," says 
Professor Jahn, " was to write for the people an 
earnest exhortation to obedience, in which he 
alluded to the instances of the kindness, sever- 
ity, and providence of God, which the Hebrews 
had already experienced ; he exhibited in a 
strong light the sanctions of the law ; he repeat- 
ed the most important statutes, and added a few 
new ones to the code. These exhortations 
(which compose his fifth book, or Deuter- 
onomy) he delivered to the magistrates as his 
farewell address, at a time when their minds 
were well prepared to receive wholesome in- 
struction by the accomplishment of the Divine 
promises which had already commenced. The 
genealogists, each in his own circle, communi- 
cated all to the people, including the women 
and the children. 

" That the latest generations might have a 
visible and permanent memorial of their duty, 
he directed that, after they had taken posses- 
sion of Canaan, the law (or at least its funda- 
mental principles, and the first development 
of its sanctions, as exhibited in Exodus xx. 
-xxiv.) should be engraved on pillars of 
stone, plastered with lime, and that these 
pillars should be erected with appropriate 
solemnity at Shechem on Mount Ebal, or, 
more probably, Mount Gerizim. On this 
occasion the priests were to utter particular 
imprecations against all the secret trans- 
gressors of the law, to which the people were 
to assent by responding 'Ame7i / ' at the end 
of each imprecation. 

" Moses then developed a second time, and 
still more minutely than before, the conditions 
on which Jehovah, their God and King, would 
govern them. He cast a prophetic glance into 
the most distant futurity, while he declared 
the different destinies which awaited them to 
the latest generations, according to their con- 
duct in regard to the law. In full view of 
these conditions, and in order to impress 
them the more deeply on their minds, he 



700 



MOSES. 



caused the whole people, even the women and 
children, again to take a solemn oath of obedi- 
ence ; and that, not only for themselves, but 
also for their posterity." 

This done, he commissioned Joshua to lead 
Israel into the land of promise, after which he 
uttered his prophetic blessing of the tribes, 
and went up the mountain-side to render him- 



plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm 
trees, unto Zoar. So Moses, the servant of 
the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, ac- 
cording to the word of the Lord. And He 
buried him in a valley in the land of Moab,. 
over against Beth-peor, but no man knoweth 
of his sepulchre unto this day." 

The children of Israel mourned for Moses 




CONSECRATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS. Ex. Xxix 



self into the hands of his Maker. "And 
Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto 
the mountain of Nebo, the summit of Pisgah, 
that is over against Jericho. And Jehovah 
showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan, 
and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim 
and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, even 
to the uttermost sea, and the south, and the 



in the plains of Moab thirty days ; and they 
rendered obedience unto Joshua, the son of 
Nun, on whom Moses had laid his hands, and 
who was full of the spirit of wisdom. 

Centuries afterwards we behold the great law- 
giver, standing in glory on the Mount of the 
Transfiguration, with Elias, the great vindicator 
of the law which had been given through him, 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



701 



and conversing with the great Messiah of the 
great act which was at once to fulfil the whole 
law, and to inaugurate the new and better era 
of grace. No greater honor could have been 
paid him than to be permitted thus to* bear 
witness of the Messiah of whom " he wrote." 

JOSHUA. 

The successor of Moses was a man worthy 
-of the great honor to which Jehovah called 
him. He was the son of Nun, of the tribe of 
Ephraim, and grew up a slave in the brick- 
fields of Egypt. Born about the time when 
Moses fled into Midian, he was a man of 
nearly forty years when he saw the ten 
plagues, and shared in the hurried triumph 
of the Exodus. He is mentioned first in con- 
nection with the fight against Amalek, at 
Rephidim, when he was chosen by Moses to 
lead he Israelites. 

When Moses ascended Mount Sinai to re- 
ceive for the first time the two tables, Joshua, 
who is called his minister or servant, accom- 
panied him part of the way, and was the first 
to accost him in his descent. Soon afterwards 
he was one of the twelve chiefs who were sent 
to explore the land of Canaan, and one of the 
two who gave an encouraging report of their 
journey. The forty years of wandering were 
almost passed, and Joshua was one of the few 
survivors, when Moses, shortly before his 
death, was directed to invest Joshua solemnly 
and publicly with definite authority in connec- 
tion with Eleazar the priest, over the people. 
And after this was done, God himself gave 
Joshua a charge by the mouth of the dying 
lawgiver. 

Destruction of Ai. 

Under the direction of God, again renewed, 
Joshua, now in his eighty-fifth year, assumed 
the command of the people at Shittim, sent 
spies into Jericho, crossed the Jordan, fortified 
a camp at Gilgal, circumcised the people, kept 
the Passover, and was visited by the Captain of 
the Lord's host. A miracle made the fall of 
Jericho more terrible to the Canaanites. In the 
first attack upon Ai the Israelites were re- 
pulsed : it fell at the second assault, and the in- 



vaders marched to the relief of Gibeon. In the 
great battle of Beth-horon the Amorites were 
signally routed, and the south country was 
open to the Israelites. Joshua returned to the 
camp at Gilgal, master of half of Palestine. In 
the north, at the waters of Merom, he defeated 
the Canaanites under Jabin king of Hazor; 
and pursued his success to the gates of Zidon, 
and into the Valley of Lebanon under Her- 
mon. In six years six tribes with thirty-one 
petty chiefs were conquered ; amongst others 
the Anakin — the old terror of Israel — are 
especially recorded as destroyed everywhere 
except in Philistia. 

Joshua, now stricken in years, proceeded, in 
conjunction with Eleazar and the heads of the 
tribes, to complete the division of the con- 
quered land; and when all was allotted, Tim- 
nath-serah in Mount Ephraim was assigned 
by the people as Joshua's peculiar inheritance. 

Story of Achan. 

The Tabernacle of the congregation was 
established at Shiloh, six cities of refuge were 
appointed, forty-eight cities assigned to the 
Levites, and the warriors of the trans- Jordanic 
tribes dismissed in peace to their homes. After 
an interval of rest, Joshua convoked an as- 
sembly from all Israel. He delivered two 
solemn addresses, reminding them of the mar- 
velous fulfilment of God's promises to their 
fathers, and warning them of the conditions 
on which their prosperity depended ; and lastly, 
he caused them to renew their covenant with 
God, at Shechem, a place already famous in 
connection with Jacob and Joseph. He died 
at the age of one hundred and ten years, and 
was buried in his own city, Timnath-serah. 

At the capture of Jericho by the Israelites 
all the spoil taken was destroyed or dedicated 
to God. The Israelites were forbidden to keep 
anything for their own use. There was one 
man among them, however, whose lust of 
spoil made him unfaithful. His act brought a 
curse upon all Israel, so that they failed in 
their next enterprise, the attack on Ai. This 
disaster was so unexpected that Joshua and 
the elders besought God to show them the 



702 



OSHUA. 



cause of it. The oracle replied that Israel 
had sinned in taking of the accursed thing and 
concealing it among their goods ; and Joshua 



a member of the tribe of Judah, as the of- 
fender. He confessed that he had taken from 
the spoil of Jericho a goodly Babylonish gar- 




INHAB1TANTS OF AI WITNESSING THE DEFEAT OF THEIR ARMY. Josh. viii. 24. 

ment, and 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge 
of gold of fifty shekels weight, and had hid 
them in his tent, where they were found by 



was commanded to ascertain the offender by 
lot, and when found, to slay him and burn 
him with all belonging to him. 



The lot revealed Achan, the son of Carmi, 1 men sent by Joshua. The offender was taken 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



703 



without the camp, and stoned to death, and 
afterwards burned with his children, his cattle, 
and his tents; and a heap of stones was raised 
over them to mark the place. The historian 
says : " that man perished not alone in his 
iniquity." He refers to the thirty-six men 
who were slain before Ai, as well as to the 
family of Achan, which had perished with 
him. Rulers should endeavor to restrain vice, 
lest it become national, and bring God's judg- 
ments on the community. 

SAMSON. 

An angel appeared to Manoah's wife,, and 
promised she should have a son. Manoah 
made the promise the subject of special prayer, 
and inquired earnestly how the promised child 
should be educated. " And Manoah arose, and 
went after his wife, and came to the man, and 
said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest 
unto the woman ? And he said, I am. And 
Manoah said" — with great boldness, the bold- 
ness of Christian faith, not of human pre- 
sumption — " Now let thy words come to pass. 
How shall we order the child, and how shall 
we do unto him ? " He was most anxious that 
so remarkable a child should have a rare and 
remarkable education. Being a Divine gift, he 
desired that his instruction should be inspired 
by the Divine presence. 

The angel repeated all he had already said 
to the woman, and indicated her duty strictly 
to observe all he had commanded. Manoah 
said, " Let us detain thee, until we shall have 
made ready a kid for thee." This being ap- 
peared in human nature, and was recognized 
and visible as a man. " But he answered, 
Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy 
bread ; " as much as to say, I am a spiritual 
being ; I subsist not by earthly bread ; and, 
therefore, to ask me to partake of thy hospi- 
tality is to mistake my nature, my mission, and 
my office. "And if thou wilt offer a burnt- 
offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord." 
These words imply that it was to be offered 
unto himself, for it is added, " Manoah knew 
not that he was an angel of the Lord ; " lit- 
erally translated, " the angel Jehovah." 



Samson was born, grew up, and proved him- 
self a man of extraordinary physical strength 
— a judge, a soldier, and a hero. He married 
a woman of the Philistines against his duty, 
against the will of the nation, the Church, and 
the people whose avenger he had become ; 
and he therefore began to taste the bitter fruits 
of a marriage, not, as the apostle requires it 
always to be, " in the Lord," but dictated by 
his own passion and preference. Accordingly, 
as he had mingled in family connection with 
people that hated the living and the true God, 
the almost universal result came to ensue. 
He was contaminated by their principles, and 
his married life became a thorn in the flesh, 
that lasted till the very day of his death. 

An Unfortunate Marriage. 

It is a lesson that one ought never to omit 
to inculcate — all marriages should be, as the 
apostle says, in the Lord. The father of his 
wife wanted to take her from him, and to give 
her to another — that is, to the friend of the 
bridegroom. Wishing to see her in the harem, 
the place in which the women in eastern 
countries still are and in ancient times were 
accustomed to meet, he found that her father 
would not suffer him even to see her, while, 
with true Philistine morality, he offered Samson 
the sister instead of the wife, whom he had 
disposed of after his own taste. A moral retri- 
bution runs through all this. 

Samson's wrath was kindled against all the 
Philistines, not from a Divine spark, but from 
passion and in revenge. He seized three hun- 
dred foxes, and fastening them together, tail to 
tail, he tied to each couple a resinous ignited 
brand, let them loose in the corn-fields, and 
thus destroyed the crops of the Philistines. 

Instruments God does not approve are often 
compelled, in providence, to fulfil his purposes. 
The Philistines were a doomed, because a 
guilty race, and the very means that punished 
annoyed by their apparent insignificance. 

As soon as the Philistines heard this, they 
resolved to punish Samson by destroying his 
wife and her father also. The moral retribu- 
tion speedily came. Samson was punished, as 



704 



SAMSON. 



recorded ; and his wife, who had acted so un- i terms with them, and submitted to the yoke 



faithfully, and her father, who had acted so 
criminally, were both involved in the same 
dreadful retribution. 

Samson determined to be avenged ; and 
therefore he smote them hip and thigh — as it 
■were, completely, leaving not one behind — 



of that very people whom they, out of false 
compassion, spared. These Hebrews resolved 
to bind Samson, in order to propitiate their 
masters. They had lost all patriotism, and all 
sense of duty and morality, all heroism of 
mind, all purity of heart; and were prepared, 




THE STONING OF ACHAN. Josh. vii. 2$. 



with a great slaughter, and went to the top of 
Mount Etam. 

The men of Judah — and this shows how 
debased they had become — instead of main- 
taining a bold front of opposition to the Philis- 
tines, and prosecuting the mission intrusted to 
them, namely, to extirpate that race, came to 



at any price, to have peace with their masters, 
so as no longer to give them occasion to in- 
sult them. They therefore seized, or rather 
sought the submission of, their greatest bene- 
factor, bound him with cords, intending to 
hand him over' the Philistines, to do with him 
as they pleased. 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



705 



But, on their binding him, he burst the cords 
as if they had been flax exposed to the flame, 
and thereby showed the prodigious physical 
strength with which he was endued. As if to 
evince, at the same time, the greater degrada- 
tion of the Philistines, and to make the instru- 
ment with which he destroyed them a memorial 
of their shame, he took a new jaw-bone — that 
is, not decayed, and therefore retaining great 
strength in it — of an ass, and with that mean 
instrument, so mean as to make the memory 
of the slain ignoble and degraded, he slew a 
thousand men. And he called the place where 
he threw it down Ramath-lehi. 

Being thirsty, and expecting to die of thirst, 
and to fall into the hands of theuncircumcised, 
God heard his prayer, and clave a fountain, in 
the place in which he threw down the jaw- 
bone, namely, on the ground. The fountain 
was hollowed out by the hand of God, and 
thence came water. And he called the name 
of the place, most beautifully, En-hakkor ; 
namely, " the place provided for him that 
called upon his God ; " " and it is in Lehi unto 
this day." 

The Secret of Strength. 

Samson was the representation of the 
greatest physical strength ; Solomon was the 
type of the richest intellectual wisdom. Each 
had his gift by special grant, and both were 
employed for special ends. 

His wife, really his enemy, pressed him till 
his soul was vexed unto death by her per- 
sistent entreaties, her eloquent and touching 
appeals. At last, worn out, weary, able to 
stand it no more, he let out his secret. The 
secret of his strength was not in his hair, but 
in his vow as a Nazarite ; the condition of 
which was, that as long as he allowed his hair 
to grow, which a Nazarite was bound to do, 
and not taste wine, so long his great strength 
would be in him; but the moment he did 
what was incompatible with the vow, shave 
off his hair, he would become as other men. 

He fell asleep after he had told her, resting 
his head upon her knee. In India one may often 
see a young man of eighteen or twenty — the 
mother seated on the carpet, not in a chair, as 



is the case in European latitudes — lean his 
head upon his mother's knee, and fall sweetly 
asleep. Samson, according to eastern customs, 
did so ; and then they brought a razor, and 
shaved his hair from his head. How could 
this be done without his waking? Easily. The 
sensation is rather soothing and agreeable 
than the reverse. What was done here was 
neither impossible nor improbable. Having 
thus taken off his hair, she roused him by 
crying, "The Philistines be upon thee! And 
he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go 
out as at other times before, and shake my- 
self" — little knowing his strength was gone. 

Honor to Dagon. 

The lords of the Philistines gave their god 
Dagon all the credit of their success and re- 
solved to glorify that god by the destruction 
of Samson, the enemy of their country. He 
must be made a show first. There were as- 
sembled all the aristocracy, and all the soldiers, 
and men, and great ladies of the Philistines, 
on the roof, and probably on scaffoldings 
erected for the grand exhibition which was to 
take place of this vanquished, strong man. It 
has been matter of great dispute how it was 
possible that his ■ pulling down the two pillars 
could upset the whole house. 

Sir Christopher Wren, the eminent architect, 
the builder of St. Paul's in London, was con- 
sulted upon this subject ; and the explanation 
he gave was, that in all probability it was a 
roof of cedar, that there might have been one 
hundred, or one hundred and twenty, enor- 
mous beams, of great strength, all meeting at 
the centre. But as it would be impossible, or 
very improbable, that any pillar could be 
found on which all the ends of these beams 
could rest, as each approached a radius from 
the circumference — that there were two pillars, 
and an architrave connected with them, and 
that all the beams met together upon this 
short architrave, sustained by two pillars, each 
beam coming from the circumference of the 
vast building — that Samson stood between the 
pillars on which the architrave was; his 
strength was restored by his repentance, and 



706 



SAMUEL. 



he put forth his whole strength, and brought 
down the vast edifice, involving in its ruin the 
lords of the Philistines, and perishing himself 
in the catastrophe. 

SAMUEL 

The last judge, the first of the regular 
succession of prophets, and the founder of the 
monarchy. He was the son of Elkanah, an 
Ephrathite or Ephraimite, and Hannah or 
Anna. The descent of Elkanah is involved in 
great obscurity. His birthplace is one of 
the vexed questions of sacred geography, as 
his descent is of sacred genealogy. The com- 
bined family must have been large. Pehinnah 
had several children ; and Hannah had, be- 
sides Samuel, three sons and two daughters. 

It is on the mother of Samuel that our 
chief attention is fixed in the account of his 
birth. She is described as a woman of a 
high religious character. Almost a Nazarite 
by practice, and a prophetess in her gifts, she 
sought from God the gift of the child, for 
which she longed with a passionate devotion 
of silent prayer of which there is no other ex- 
ample in the Old Testament ; and, when the 
son was granted, the name which he bore, 
and thus first introduced into the world, ex- 
pressed her sense of the urgency of her en- 
treaty — " Samuel," " the Asked or Heard of 
God." 

Living in the great age of vows, she had 
before his birth dedicated him to the office of 
a Nazarite. As soon as he was weaned she 
herself, with her husband, brought him to the 
tabernacle at Shiloh, where she had received 
the first intimation of his birth, and there 
solemnly consecrated him. The hymn which 
followed on this consecration is the first of the 
kind in the Sacred Volume. From this time, 
the child is shut up in the tabernacle. He 
seems to have slept within the Holiest Place, 
and his special duty was to put in order the 
sacred candlestick, and to open the doors at 
sunrise. In this way his childhood was 
passed, and he was in training then for his 
illustrious career. 

It was whilst thus sleeping in the taber- 



nacle, that he received his first prophetic call. 
From this moment the prophetic character of 
Samuel was established. His words were 
treasured up, and Shiloh became the resort of 
those who came to hear him. In the over- 
throw of the sanctuary, which followed 
shortly on this vision, we hear not what be- 
came of Samuel. 

He next appears, probably twenty years 
afterwards, suddenly amongst the people 
warning them against their idolatrous practices. 
He convened an assembly at Mizpeh. It was 
at the moment that he was offering up a 
sacrifice, that the Philistine host suddenly 
burst upon them. A violent thunder-storm 
came to the timely assistance of Israel. The 
Philistines fled, and exactly at the spot where 
twenty years before they had obtained their 
great victory, they were totally routed. A 
stone was set up, which long remained as a 
memorial of Israel's triumph, and gave to the 
place its name of Eben-ezer, " the Stone of 
Help." 

This was Samuel's first, and, as far as we 
know, his only military achievement. But it 
was apparently this which raised him to the 
office of " Judge." He visited, in discharge 
of his duties as ruler, the three chief sanc- 
tuaries on the west of Jordan — Bethel, Gil gal 
and Mizpeh. His own residence was still his 
native city, Ram ah or Ramathaim, which he 
further consecrated by an altar. Here he 
married, and two sons grew up to repeat 
under his eyes the same perversion of high 
office that he had himself witnessed in his 
childhood in the case of the two sons of Eli. 
In his old age he shared his power with 
them. 

A Midnight Vision. 

Down to this point in Samuel's life there is 
but little to distinguish his career from that of 
his predecessors. But his peculiar position in 
the sacred narrative turns on the events which 
follow. He is the inaugurator of the transition 
from what is commonly called the theocracy 
to the monarchy. The misdemeanor of his 
own sons precipitated the catastrophe which 
had been long preparing. The people de- 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



707 



manded a king. For the whole night he lay- 
fasting and sleepless, in the perplexity of doubt 
and difficulty. In the vision of that night, as 
recorded by the sacred historian, is given the 
dark side of the new institution, on which 
Samuel dwells on the following day. This 
presents his reluctance to receive the new order 
of things. 

The whole narrative of the reception and 
consecration of Saul gives his acquiescence in 
it. The final conflict of feeling and surrender 
of his office is given in the last assembly over 
which he presided, and in his subsequent rela- 
tions with Saul. The assembly was held at 
Gilgal, immediately after the victory over the 
Ammonites. The monarchy was a second 
time solemnly inaugurated, and " Samuel and 
all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly." Then 
takes place his farewell address. It is the most 
signal example afforded in the Old Testament 
of a great character reconciling himself to a 
changed order of things, and of the Divine 
sanction resting on his acquiescence. 

A Renowned Seer. 

His subsequent relations with Saul are of 
the same mixed kind. The two institutions 
which they respectively represented ran on side 
by side. Samuel was still judge. He judged 
Israel " all the days of his life," and from time 
to time came across the king's path. But 
these interventions are chiefly in another ca- 
pacity, which tli is is the place to unfold. 
Samuel is called emphatically " the prophet." 
He was especially known in his old age as 
" Samuel the Seer." He was consulted far and 
near on the small affairs of life. From this 
faculty, combined with his office of ruler, an 
awful reverence grew up around him. No 
sacrificial feast was thought complete without 
his blessing. A peculiar virtue was believed 
to reside in his intercession. There was some- 
thing peculiar in the long-sustained cry or 
shout of supplication, which seemed to draw 
down as by force the Divine answer. But 
there are two other points which more espe- 
cially placed him at the head of the prophetic 
order as it afterwards appeared. The first is 



brought out in his relation with Saul, the 
second in his relation with David. 

He represents the independence of the moral 
law, of the Divine will, as distinct from regal or 
sacerdotal enactments, which is so remarkable 
a characteristic of all the later prophets. He 
was, if a Levite, yet certainly not a priest; and 
all the attempts to identify his opposition to 
Saul with a hierarchical interest are founded 
on a complete misconception of the facts of 
the case. From the time of the overthrow of 
Shiloh, he never appears in the remotest con- 
nection with the priestly order. When he 
counsels Saul, it is not as the priest, but as the 
prophet. 

Saul's sin, in both cases where he came into 
collision with Samuel, was not of intruding 
into sacerdotal functions, but of disobedience 
to the prophetic voice. The first was that of 
not waiting for Samuel's arrival, according to 
the sign given by Samuel at his original meet- 
ing at Rama ; the second was that of not carry- 
ing out the stern prophetic injunction for the 
destruction of the Amalekites. The parting 
was not one of rivals, but of dear, though di- 
vided friends. The king throws himself on 
the prophet with all his force ; not without a 
vehement effort, the prophet tears himself 
away. 

Schools of the Prophets. 

He is the first of the regular succession of 
prophets. Moses, Miriam, and Deborah, per- 
haps Ehud, had been prophets. But it was 
only from Samuel that the continuous succes- 
sion was unbroken. His mother, though not 
expressly so called, was in fact a prophetess. 
But the connection of the continuity of the 
office with Samuel appears to be still more 
direct. It is in his lifetime, long after he had 
been "established as a prophet," that we hear 
of the companies of disciples, called in the 
Old Testament " the sons of the prophets," 
by modern writers " the schools of the proph- 
ets." 

In those schools, and learning to cultivate 
the prophetic gifts, were some whom we know 
for certain, others whom we may almost cer- 
tainly conjecture to have been so trained or 






708 



DAVID. 



influenced. One was Saul. Twice, at least, 
he is described as having been in the company 
of Samuel's disciples. Another was David. 
The first acquaintance of Samuel with David 
was when he privately anointed him at the 
house of Jesse. But the connection thus 
begun with the shepherd-boy must have been 
continued afterwards. David at first fled to 
" Naioth in Ramah," as to his second home. 
It is needless to enlarge on the importance 
with which these incidents invest the appear- 
ance of Samuel. He there becomes the spiritual 
father of the psalmist king. He is also the 
founder of the first regular institutions of re- 
ligious instruction, and communities for the 
purposes of education. 

The death of Samuel is described as taking 
place in the year of the close of David's wan- 
derings. It is said with peculiar emphasis, as 
if to mark the loss, that "all the Israelites 
were gathered together" from all parts of this 
hitherto divided country, and " lamented him," 
and " buried him," not in any consecrated 
place, nor outside the walls of his city, but 
within his own house, thus in a manner con- 
secrated by being turned into his tomb. The 
place long pointed out as his tomb is the 
height, most conspicuous of all in the neigh- 
borhood of Jerusalem, immediately above the 
town of Gibeon, known to the Crusaders as 
" Montjoye," as the spot whence they first saw 
Jerusalem, now called " Neby Samwil," "the 
Prophet Samuel." Heman, his grandson, was 
one of the chief singers in the Levitical choir. 

On the eve of the great battle of Gilboa, 
Saul in the midst of his despair resorted to a 
woman known as a witch, living at Endor, and 
demanded of her that she should summon up 
the spirit of Samuel ; and God permitted the 
shade of the departed prophet to appear be- 
fore the doomed king, to give him warning 
of the fate which should befall him on the 
morrow. 

Of all the characters of the Old Testament, 
there are few of which we know so much with 
certainty, or which appeal so warmly to our 
admiration, as David, the great king of Israel. 
He was the son of Jesse, who was the grand- 



son of Ruth, and was the youngest son, prob- 
ably the youngest child, of a family of ten. His 
mother's name is unknown. His father was 
of a great age when David was still young, but 
both his parents lived till after his final rup- 
ture with Saul. His birthplace was Beth- 
lehem, but he kept up his connection with his 
Moabitish relatives. 

DAVID. 

The first time David appears in history was 
after Samuel's final rupture with Saul, and 
when the prophet had been commanded by 
Jehovah to set apart a successor to the king- 
dom. There was a practice once a year at 
Bethlehem, probably the first new moon of 
the year, of holding a sacrificial feast, at which 
Jesse, as the chief proprietor of the place, 
would preside, with the elders of the town. 
At this, or such like feast, suddenly appeared 
the great prophet, Samuel, driving a heifer 
before him, and having in his hand a horn of 
the consecrated oil of the tabernacle. 

His arrival caused much alarm, but he as- 
sured the elders that he came in peace, and 
bade them and the house of Jesse to sanctify 
themselves for the sacrifice. There the family 
of Jesse made a goodly show ; and he was 
surrounded by all his eight sons, except the 
youngest, who seems to have been of small 
consideration in the family, and accordingly 
was sent abroad to tend the sheep. Struck 
with the noble figure of the eldest son, Eliab, 
the very counterpart of Saul, Samuel said to 
himself, " Surely the anointed of Jehovah is 
before me!" But he was warned not to judge 
a second time by so false a standard. Jehovah 
said to him, " Look not on his countenance, 
or on the height of his stature, because I have 
refused him; for it is not as man seeth ; for 
man looketh on the outward appearance, but 
Jehovah looketh on the heart." 

In like manner the prophet rejected all the 
rest of the seven. Samuel then asked Jesse, 
" Are all thy children here ?" No ; there still 
remained the youngest, who was with the 
sheep. " Send and fetch him," said the prophet; 
" for we will not sit down till he come." 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



709 



Soon there entered a fair youth, with reddish 
or auburn hair and keen bright eyes, his beau- 
tiful countenance flushed with his healthy oc- 
cupation, and his whole aspect pleasant to 
behold. Then Jehovah said to Samuel, " Up, 
and anoint him : for this is he!" In the pres- 
ence of his brethren, Samuel poured the sacred 
oil upon his head, and then returned to his 
house at Ramah, having performed his last 
public act. " And the Spirit of the Lord came 
upon David from that day forward." 

A Kicli Country. 

It is not strange that a king should have 
been taken from the pastures. The people 
were not massed in cities ; they were keepers 
of flocks, and were spread over the country. 
The Holy Land was in ancient times a very 
fertile country, and even now some portions 
of it bear remarkably fine crops of grain and 
fruits. The Bible is full of allusions to the 
ancient fertility of the land, and the Jews were 
devoted to the labors of the husbandman. 
They were also very rich in cattle and flocks, 
which not only furnished them with abundant 
food, but provided the means of sacrifice. 
Large numbers of these were annually offered 
to the Lord, portions of them being consumed 
on the altar, and the remainder going to the 
support of the priests and Levites. Josephus 
(whose statements, however, must always be 
accepted with caution) informs us that at the 
Passover of a. d. 65, the last before the de- 
struction of Jerusalem by Titus, 256,500 pas- 
chal lambs were offered in the Temple. This 
will give some idea of the pastoral wealth of 
the Jews, besides which their land yielded 
plentifully grain, corn, wine, and oil. David 
was the son of Jesse, and, like most of his 
countrymen, he was a keeper of sheep. The 
glow of youth and health was on his cheek. 

This is all that we are distinctly told con- 
cerning David's early life in the Scriptures, save 
the adventure with the lion and the bear, which 
he slew in defence of his father's flocks, and 
which incident he himself relates to Saul. 
Saul's companions, in recommending him to 
the king as a minstrel, speak of him also as 



" a mighty, valiant man, and a man of war ; " 
from which it may be inferred, that his youth 
was not entirely given up to the peaceful pur- 
suits of a shepherd, but that he early gained an 
enviable reputation in conflicts with Bedouin 
robbers or Philistine marauders. 

Some time after this, Saul was in spirit op- 
pressed by the war against the Philistines, and 
by the foresight of the fate denounced against 
him by Samuel, and because almost insane in 
his fits of gloom and violence ; for " the spirit 
of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil 
spirit from the Lord troubled him." His ser- 
vants, who began to experience the terrible 
caprices of a despot's incipient madness, ad- 
vised him to try the charms of music, always 
powerful against melancholy, and believed in 
the East to possess a magical influence over 
wild and venomous beasts, as well as savage 
men. 

Saul consented, and sent to Bethlehem for 
David, who was recommended to him as a 
minstrel of extraordinary talent. Jesse sent 
his son with a present to the king : and that 
harp, which has since cheered many a per- 
turbed spirit, refreshed the soul of Saul, and 
dispelled his evil fancies. The narrator of this 
incident very naturally connects the favor 
gained by David's success with his ultimate 
advancement at the court of Saul, who ob- 
tained Jesse's consent to David's remaining 
with him, and made him his armor-bearer. 

Goliath of Gath. 

But it does not follow that this took place 
at once; and such a view is quite inconsistent 
with the plain statement that David returned 
from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Beth- 
lehem. His departure from the court explains 
Saul's forgetfulness, and Abner's ignorance of 
his person and family. The commander of the 
forces was not likely to trouble himself about 
the young shepherd-minstrel ; and, to say 
nothing of the proverbially short memory of 
kings for their benefactors, Saul had chiefly 
seen him in his hours of madness. 

The army of Israel was encamped at Ephes- 
Dammim, in the frontier hills of Judah. On 



710 



DAVID. 



the opposite side of the valley or ravine lay 
the hosts of the Philistines. The water-course 
of Elah, or " the Terebinth," flowed between 
them. The two armies fronted each other in 
battle array morning after morning, but a 
strange cause delayed their conflict. A Phil- 
istine of gigantic stature, clothed in complete 
armor, Goliath of Gath, stalked down into the 



This scene had been repeated for forty days, 
when David returned to the camp, on a visit 
to his brethren. He reached the circle of the 
baggage outside the camp at the moment when 
both armies were drawn up, and the battle-cry 
was already raised. The martial spirit of the 
boy was stirred at the sound; he left his pro- 
visions with the baggage-master, and darted 




ANCIENT JEWISH LABORERS 

valley every day. to defy the champion of the 
Israelites to single combat, and proposed that 
the nation whose champion was defeated should 
serve the other. His appearance struck dismay 
into Saul and all his people; they stood mo- 
tionless throughout the day; and at length, the 
defiance having been repeated in the evening, 
both armies retired to their camp. 



RETURNING FROM THE HARVEST FIELD. 



to join his brothers, like one of the royal mes- 
sengers, into the midst of the lines. There he 
heard the challenge, now made for the fortieth 
time — saw the dismay of his countrymen, and 
demanded indignantly, " Who is this Philis- 
tine, that he should defy the armies of the 
living God?" The bystanders told him that 
Saul would give his daughter to the man who 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



711 



should kill the Philistine, and enrich him 
greatly, and make his house free in Israel. 

Heedless of the taunts of Eliab, who re- 
buked his presumption with the authority of 
an elder brother, David repeated his inquiries 
till his words came to the ears of Saul, who 
sent for him. When brought before the king, 
he bade Israel dismiss their fear, for he would 
go and fight with the Philistine. Not with 
proud contempt, but with generous anxiety, 
Saul reminded him that he was but a youth, 
and the Philistine a warrior from his youth. 
But David had a shepherd's exploits against 
wild beasts, not to boast of, but to plead in 
support of his faith, that "Jehovah who de- 
livered him out of the paw of the lion and out 
of the paw of the bear, would deliver him out 
of the hand of the Philistine." "Go! and 
Jehovah be with thee," said Saul, his own 
early trust in God revived by the contagion of 
example. 

The Slingr and Pebbles. 

He armed David for the combat in his own 
armor, which was one of the few perfect suits 
in the camp of Israel, and girded him with his 
own sword ; but David, after the first few steps, 
cast them off as an untried encumbrance, and 
betook himself to those shepherd's weapons, 
for their skill in which his countrymen were 
famous. The only arms of David were his 
shepherd's staff and sling, with five pebbles 
which he took from the water-course, and 
placed in his pouch. 

The Philistine's scorn for this ruddy youth 
swelled into rage at the mode of his attack : 
"Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with 
staves ? " He seems to have overlooked the 
sling, "and he cursed him by his gods." 
David answered his threats with the calm cer- 
tainty of victory, which befitted a champion 
who avowed that the battle was Jehovah's. 
Both advanced, David with the swiftness of 
foot for which he was famous; but before his 
foe came close, he took a stone from his bag, 
and slung it into the forehead of the Philistine, 
who fell to the ground upon his face. David 
rushed in and stood upon him, and drawing 



the Philistine's own sword from its sheath, he 
cut off his head. 

At this sight the Philistine army fled, pur- 
sued by Israel with great slaughter as far as 
Gath, and even to the gates of Ekron, whence 
the victors returned to spoil their camp. 
David's own trophies were the head, the armor, 
and the sword of the fallen champion. The 
first he exposed at Jerusalem ; the second he 
put in his own tent ; and the last he laid up 
in the tabernacle at Nob, till he took it for his 
own weapon in the time of need. 

One Greater Thau Saul. 

The victory over Goliath was the turning- 
point in David's career. Saul inquired his 
parentage, and took him finally to his court. 
Jonathan was inspired by the romantic friend- 
ship which bound the two youths together to 
the end of their lives. The triumphant songs 
of the Israelitish women announced that they 
felt that in him Israel had now found a de- 
liverer mightier even than Saul ; and in these 
songs, and in the fame which David thus 
acquired, was laid the foundation of that un- 
happy jealousy of Saul towards him, which, 
mingling with the king's constitutional malady, 
poisoned his whole future relations to David. 

Three new qualities now began to develop 
themselves in David's character. The first was 
his prudence. It was that peculiar Jewish 
caution which has been compared to the sagac- 
ity of a hunted animal, such as is remarked 
in Jacob, and afterwards in the persecuted 
Israelites of the middle ages. Secondly, we 
now see his magnanimous forbearance called 
forth, in the first instance, towards Saul, but 
displaying itself (with a few painful exceptions) 
in the rest of his life. He is the first example 
of the virtue of chivalry. Thirdly, his hair- 
breadth escapes, continued through so many 
years, impressed upon him a sense of depend- 
ence on the Divine help, clearly derived from 
this epoch. 

This course of life subdivides itself into four 
portions : First, his life at the court of Saul 
till his final escape. His office is not exactly 
defined. But it would seem, that, having been 



712 



DAVID. 



first armor-bearer, then made captain over a 
thousand — the subdivision of a tribe — he 
finally, on his marriage with Michal.the king's 
second daughter, was raised to the high office 
of captain of the king's -body-guard, second 
only, if not equal, to Abner, the captain of the 
host, and Jonathan, the heir-apparent. 

The Hebrew Minstrel. 

David was now chiefly known for his suc- 
cessful exploits against the Philistines, by one 
of which he won his wife, and drove back the 
Philistine power with a blow from which it 
only rallied at the disastrous close of Saul's 
reign. He also still performed from time to 
time the office of minstrel. But the successive 
snares laid by Saul to entrap him, and the open 
violence into which the king's madness twice 
broke out, at last convinced him that his life 
was no longer safe. He had two faithful 
allies, however, in the court — the son of Saul, 
his friend Jonathan — the daughter of Saul, his 
wife Michal. 

Warned by the one, and assisted by the 
other, he escaped by night, and was from 
thenceforward a fugitive. Jonathan he never 
saw again, except by stealth. Michal was 
given in marriage to another (Phaltiel), and he 
saw her no more till long after her father's 
death. 

Second, his escape. He first fled to Naioth 
(or the pastures) of Ramah to Samuel. This 
is the first recorded occasion of his meeting 
with Samuel since the original interview during 
his boyhood at Bethlehem. Up to this time 
both the king and himself had thought that a 
reunion was possible. 

Saul's Madness. 

But the madness of Saul now became more 
settled and ferocious in character, and David's 
danger proportionably greater. The secret in- 
terview with Jonathan confirmed the alarm 
already excited by Saul's endeavor to seize 
him at Ramah, and he now determined to leave 
his country, and take refuge, ,like Coriolanus 
or Themistocles in like circumstances, in the 
court of his enemy. Before his last resolve, 



he visited Nob, the seat of the tabernacle, 
partly to obtain a final interview with the high- 
priest, partly to obtain food and weapons. On 
the pretext of a secret mission from Saul he 
gained an answer from the oracle, some of the 
consecrated loaves, and the consecrated sword 
of Goliath. His stay at the court of Achish 
was short. Discovered possibly by " the sword 
of Goliath," his presence revived the national 
enmity of the Philistines against their .former 
conqueror, and he only escaped by feigning 
madness. 

Third, his life as an independent outlaw. 
His first retreat was the cave of Adullam, 
probably the large cavern, not far from Beth- 
lehem. From its vicinity to Bethlehem, he 
was joined there by his whole family, now 
feeling themselves insecure from Saul's fury. 
This was probably the foundation of his in- 
timate connection with his nephews, the sons 
of Zeruiah. Besides these, were outlaws and 
debtors from every part. His next move was 
to a stronghold, either the mountain, after- 
wards called Herodium, close to Adullam, or 
the fastness called by Josephus Masada, in the 
neighborhood of En-gedi. While there, he 
had deposited his aged parents, for the sake of 
greater security, beyond the Jordan, with their 
ancestral kinsman of Moab. The neighboring 
king, Nahash of Ammon, also treated him 
kindly. 

Brave Men. 

Here occurred the chivalrous exploit of the 
three heroes to procure water from the well of 
Bethlehem, and David's chivalrous answer, like 
that of Alexander in the desert of Gedrosia. 
He was joined here by two separate bands. 
One a little body of eleven fierce Gadite moun- 
taineers, who swam the Jordan in flood-time 
to reach him. Another was a detachment of 
men from Judah and Benjamin, under his 
nephew Amasa, who henceforth attached him- 
self to David's fortunes. 

At the warning of Gad, he fled next to the 
forest of Hareth, and then again fell in with 
the Philistines, and again, apparently advised 
by Gad, made a descent on their foraging par- 
ties, and relieved Keilah, where he remained. 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



713 



Whilst there, now for the first time in a 
fortified town of his own, he was joined by a 
new and most important ally — Abiathar, the 
last survivor of the house of Ithamar. By 
this time the four hundred who had joined him 
at Adullam had swelled to six hundred. The 
situation of David was now changed by the 
appearance of Saul himself on the scene. Ap- 
parently the danger was too great for the little 
army to keep together. They escaped from 
Keilah, and dispersed, "whithersoever they 
could go," amongst the fastnesses of Judah. 
Henceforth it becomes difficult to follow his 
movements with exactness. But thus much 
we discern. He is in the wilderness of Ziph. 
Once (or twice) the Ziphites betray his move- 
ments to Saul, and his life is endangered. 

David Fleeing for his Life. 

From thence Saul literally haunts Jiim like 
a partridge, the treacherous Ziphites beating 
the bushes before him, and three thousand 
men stationed to catch even the print of his 
footsteps on the hills. David finds himself 
driven to the extreme south of Judah, in the 
wilderness of Maon. On two, if not three oc- 
casions, the pursuer and pursued catch sight 
of each other. Whilst he was in the wilder- 
ness of Maon occurred David's adventure with 
Nabal, instructive as showing his mode of 
carrying on the freebooter's life, and his mar- 
riage with Abigail. His marriage with Ahi- 
noam, from Jezreel, also in the same neighbor- 
hood, seems to have taken place a short time 
before. 

Fourth, his service under Achish. Wearied 
with his wandering life, he at last crosses the 
Philistine frontier, not, as before, in the capac- 
ity of a fugitive, but the chief of a powerful 
band — his six hundred men now grown into an 
organized force, with their wives and families 
around them. After the manner of Eastern 
potentates, Achish gave him for his support a 
city — Ziklag on the frontier of Philistia. There 
we meet with the first note of time in David's 
life. He was settled there for a year and four 
months, and a body of Benjamite archers and 
slingers, twenty-two of whom are specially 



named, joined him from the very tribe of his 
rival. He deceived Achish into confidence by 
attacking the old Nomadic inhabitants of the 
desert frontier, and representing the plunder 
to be of portions of the southern tribes or the 
Nomadic allied tribes of Israel. 

But this confidence was not shared by the 
Philistine nobles, and accordingly David was 
sent back by Achish from the last victorious 
campaign against Saul. During his absence, 
the Bedouin Amalekites, whom he had plun- 
dered during the previous year, had made a 
descent upon Ziklag, burnt it to the ground, 
and carried off the wives and children of the 
new settlement. 

Invaders Repulsed. 

A wild scene of frantic grief and recrimina- 
tion ensued between David and his followers. 
It was calmed by an oracle of assurance from 
Abiathar. Assisted by the Manassites who 
had joined him on the march to Gilboa, he 
overtook the invaders in the desert, and re- 
covered the spoil. Two days after this victory, 
a Bedouin arrived from the north with the 
fatal news of the defeat of Gilboa. The recep- 
tion of the tidings of the death of his rival 
and of his friend, the solemn mourning, the 
vent of his indignation against the bearer of 
the message, the pathetic lamentation that 
followed, will close the second period of 
David's life. 

David's reign as king of Judah began at 
Hebron, where he reigned seven and a half 
years. Hebron was selected, doubtless, as the 
ancient sacred city of the tribe of Judah, the 
burial-place of the patriarchs and the inheri- 
tance of Caleb. Here David was first formally 
anointed king. To Judah his dominion was 
nominally confined. Gradually his power in- 
creased, and during the two years which fol- 
lowed the elevation of Ishbosheth, a series of 
skirmishes took place between the two king- 
doms. Then rapidly followed, though with- 
out David's consent, the successive murders 
of Abner and of Ishbosheth. The throne, so 
long waiting for him, was now vacant, and the 
united voice of the whole people at once 



714 



DAVID. 



called him to occupy it. A solemn league 
was made between him and his people. For 
the third time David was anointed king, and 
a festival of three days celebrated the joyful 
event. His little band had now swelled into 
" a great host, like the host of God." The 
command Of it, which had formerly rested on 
David alone, now devolved on his nephew, 
Joab. Active preparations were carried on for 
overcoming the enemies of Israel. 

Jerusalem Founded. 

Now occurred the foundation of Jerusalem. 
One fastness alone in the centre of the land 
had hitherto defied the arms of Israel. On 
this, with a singular prescience, David fixed 
as his future capital. By one sudden assault 
Jebus was taken. The reward bestowed on 
the successful scaler of the precipice was the 
highest place in the army. Joab henceforward 
became captain of the host. The royal resi- 
dence was instantly fixed there — fortifications 
were added by the king and by Joab — and it 
was known by the special name of the " city of 
David." The Philistines made two ineffectual 
attacks on the new king, and a retribution on 
their former victories took place by the cap- 
ture and conflagration of their own idols. 

Tyre, now for the first time appearing in the 
sacred history, allied herself with Israel ; and 
Hiram sent cedar-wood for the buildings of 
the new capital, especially for the palace of 
David himself. Unhallowed and profane as 
the city had been before, it was at once elevated 
to a sanctity which it has never lost, above 
any of the ancient sanctuaries of the land. The 
ark was now removed from its obscurity at 
Kirjath-jearim with marked solemnity. A tem- 
porary halt (owing to the death of Uzza) de- 
tained it at Obed-edom's house, after which it 
again moved forward with great state to Jeru- 
salem. It was the greatest day of David's 
life. One incident only tarnished its splendor 
— the reproach of Michal, his wife, as he was 
finally entering his own palace, to carry to his 
own household the benediction which he had 
already pronounced on his people. His act 
of severity towards her was an additional mark 



of the stress which he himself laid on the 
solemnity, and the deep emotion it excited. 

Royal Power and Glory. 

The erection of the new capital at Jerusalem 
introduces us to a new era in David's life, and 
in the history of the monarchy. He became 
a king on the scale of the great Oriental sov- 
ereigns of Egypt and Persia, with a regular 
administration and organization of court and 
camp; and he also founded an imperial do- 
minion, which for the first time realized the 
prophetic description of the bounds of the 
chosen people. The internal organization now 
established lasted till the final overthrow of 
the monarchy. 

The empire was of much shorter duration, 
continuing only through the reigns of David 
and his successor, Solomon. But, for the 
period of its existence, it lent a peculiar char- 
acter to the sacred history. In the internal 
organization of the kingdom, the first new 
element that has to be considered is the royal 
family, the dynasty of which David was the 
founder, a position which entitled him to the 
name of " Patriarch," and (ultimately) of the 
ancestor of the Messiah. Of these, Absalom 
and Adonijah both inherited their father's 
beauty, but Solomon alone possessed any of 
his higher qualities. It was from a union of 
the children of Solomon and Absalom that the 
royal line was carried on. David's strong 
parental affection for all of them is remark- 
able. 

A Clouded Life. 

Within ten years from the capture of Jeru- 
salem, David had reduced to a state of perfect 
subjection the Philistines on the west; the 
Moabites on the east ; the Syrians on the 
north-east as far as the Euphrates ; the Edom- 
ites on the south ; and finally the Ammonites, 
who had broken their ancient alliance and 
made one grand resistance to the advance of 
his empire. 

Three great calamities may be selected as 
marking the beginning, middle, and close of 
David's otherwise prosperous reign. Of these, 
the first introduces us to the last notices of 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



715 



David's relations with the house of Saul. This 
is the three years' famine. There has often 
arisen a painful suspicion in later times, as there 
seems to have been at the time, that the oracle, 
which gave as the cause of the famine Saul's 
massacre of the Gibeonites, may have been 
•connected with the desire to extinguish the last 
remains of the fallen dynasty. But such an 
explanation is not needed. The massacre was 
probably the most recent national crime that 
had left any deep impression ; and the whole 
tenor of David's conduct towards Saul's family 
is of an opposite kind. 

The second group of incidents contains the 
tragedy of David's life, which grew, in all its 
parts, out of the polygamy, with its evil con- 
sequences, into which he had plunged on be- 
coming king. Underneath the splendor of his 
last glorious campaign against the Ammonites 
was a dark story, known probably at that time 
-only to, a very few. The crimes are undoubt- 
edly those of a common Oriental despot. But 
the rebuke of Nathan; the sudden revival of 
the king's conscience ; his grief for the sickness 
of the child ; the gathering of his uncles and 
elder brothers around him ; his return of hope 
and peace, are characteristics of David, and 
of David only. But the clouds from this time 
gathered over David's fortunes, and hencefor- 
ward " the sword never departed from his 
house." 

"The Young- Man Absalom." 

The outrage on his daughter Tamar; the 
murder of his eldest son Amnon ; and then 
the revolt of his best-beloved Absalom, brought 
on the crisis which once more sent him forth 
a wanderer, as in the days when he fled from 
.Saul ; and this, the heaviest trial of his life, 
was aggravated by the impetuosity of Joab, 
now perhaps, from his complicity in David's 
■crime, more unmanageable than ever. The 
rebellion was fostered apparently by the grow- 
ing jealousy of the tribe of Judah at seeing 
their king absorbed into the whole nation. 

Mahanaim was the capital of David's exile, 
as it had been of the exiled house of Saul. 
His forces were arranged under the three 



great military officers who remained faithful 
to his fortunes — Joab, captain of the host; 
Abishai, captain of " the mighty men ; " and 
Ittai, who seems to have taken the place of 
Benaiah, as captain of the guard. On Absa- 
lom's side was David's nephew Amasa. The 
final battle was fought in the " forest of Eph- 
raim," which terminated in the accident lead- 
ing to the death of Absalom. At this point 
the narrative resumes its minute detail. The 
return was marked at every stage by rejoicing 
and amnesty. Judah was first reconciled. 
The embers of the insurrection, still smoulder- 
ing in David's hereditary enemies of the tribe 
of Benjamin, were trampled out by the mix- 
ture of boldness and sagacity in Joab, now, 
after the murder of Amasa, once more in his 
old position. And David again reigned in 
undisturbed peace at Jerusalem. 

Numbering- the People. 

The closing period of David's life, with the 
exception of one great calamity, may be con- 
sidered as a gradual preparation for the reign 
of his successor. This calamity was the three 
days' pestilence which visited Jerusalem at the 
warning of the prophet Gad. The occasion 
which led to this warning was the census of 
the people taken by Joab at the king's orders. 
Joab's repugnance to the measure was such 
that he refused altogether to number Levi 
and Benjamin. The plague and its cessation 
were commemorated down to the latest times 
of the Jewish nation. 

Outside the walls of Jerusalem, Araunah, 
or Oman, a wealthy Jebusite — perhaps even 
the ancient king of Jebus — possessed a thresh- 
ing-floor ; there he and his sons were engaged 
in threshing the corn gathered in from the 
harvest. At this spot an awful vision appeared, 
such as is described in the later days of Jeru- 
salem, of the Angel of the Lord stretching out 
a drawn sword between earth and sky over 
the devoted city. The scene of such an ap- 
parition at such a moment was at once marked 
out for a sanctuary. David demanded, and 
Araunah willingly granted, the site; the altar 
was erected on the rock of the threshine-floor: 



716 



SOLOMON. 



the place was called by the name of" Moriah," 
and for the first time a holy place, sanctified 
by a vision of the Divine presence, was recog- 
nized in Jerusalem. It was this spot which 
afterwards became the altar of the Temple, 
and therefore the centre of the national wor- 
ship, with but slight interruption, for more 
than 1 ,000 years, and it is even contended that 
the same spot is the rock in the centre of the 
Mussulman " Dome of the Rock." 

A formidable conspiracy to interrupt the 
succession broke out in the last days of David's 
reign, which detached from his person two of 
his court, who, from personal offence or ad- 
herence to the ancient family, had been alien- 
ated from him — Joab and Abiathar. But 
Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, Shimei, and Rei 
remaining firm, the plot was stifled, and Solo- 
mon's inauguration took place under his father's 
auspices. By this time David's infirmities had 
grown upon him. The warmth of his ex- 
hausted frame was attempted to be restored 
by the introduction of a young Shunamite, of 
the name of Abishag, mentioned apparently 
for the sake of an incident which grew up in 
connection with her out of the later events. 

Last Words. 

His last song is preserved — a striking union 
of the ideal of a just ruler which he had placed 
before him, and of the difficulties which he had 
felt in realizing it. His last words, as recorded, 
to his successor, are general exhortations to 
his duty, combined with warnings against 
Joab and Shimei, and charges to remember 
the children of Barzillai. He died, according 
to Joseph us, at the age of seventy, and " was 
buried in the city of David." After the return 
from the captivity " the sepulchres of David " 
were still pointed out " between Siloah and the 
house of the mighty men," or "the guard- 
house." His tomb, which became the general 
sepulchre of the kings of Judah, was pointed 
out in the latest times of the Jewish people. 
The edifice shown as such from the Crusades 
to the present day, is on the southern hill of 
modern Jerusalem, commonly called Mount 
Zion, and under the so-called " Coenaculum :" 



but it cannot be identified with the tomb of 
David, which was emphatically within the 
walls. Tombs perish, but names may live. 

SOLOMON. 

Solomon was the child of David's old age,, 
the latest born of all his sons, and the offspring 
of the beautiful Bathsheba. The feelings of 
the king and of his prophet-guide expressed 
themselves in the name with which they wel- 
comed his birth. The yearnings of the man 
of war now led him to give to the new-born 
infant the name of Solomon, " the peaceful 
one." He was placed under the care of 
Nathan from his earliest infancy. At first, ap- 
parently, there was no distinct purpose to make 
him heir. Absalom was still the king's favorite 
son, and was looked on by the people as his 
destined successor. The death of Absalom,, 
when Solomon was about ten years old, left 
the place vacant, and David pledged his word 
in secret to Bathsheba that he, and no other,, 
should be the heir. 

The feebleness of David's old age led to an 
attempt which might have deprived Solomon 
of the throne his father destined for him. 
Adonijah, next in order of birth to Solomon,, 
like Absalom, "was a goodly man," in full 
maturity of years, backed by the oldest of the 
king's friends and counsellors. Following in. 
the steps of Absalom, he assumed the kingly 
state of a chariot and a body-guard. 

At last a time was chosen for openly pro- 
claiming him as king. A solemn feast at En- 
Rogel was to inaugurate the new reign. It 
was necessary for those whose interests were 
endangered to take prompt measures. Bath- 
sheba and Nathan took counsel together. The 
king was reminded of his oath. Solomon 
went down to Gihon, and was proclaimed and 
anointed king. 

The shouts of his followers fell on the 
startled ears of the guests at Adonijah's ban- 
quet. One by one they rose and departed. 
The plot had failed. A few months more, and 
Solomon found himself, by his father's death, 
the sole occupant of the throne. The position 
to which he succeeded was unique. Never 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE 



717 



before, and never after, did the kingdom of 
Israel take its place among the great mon- 
archies of the East. Large treasures accumu- 
lated through many years were at his disposal. 

Solomon's Attractive Appearance. 

Of Solomon's personal appearance we have 
no direct description, as we have of the earlier 
kings. There are, however, materials for filling 
up the gap. Whatever higher mystic meaning 
may be latent in psalm xlv., or the Song of 
Songs, we are all but compelled to think of 
them as having had, at least, a historical start- 
ing-point. They tell us of one who was, in 
the eyes of the men of his own time, "fairer 
than the children of men" — the face "bright 
and ruddy" as his father's — bushy locks, dark 
as the raven's wing, yet not without a golden 
glow — the eyes soft as " the eyes of doves" — 
the " countenance as Lebanon, excellent as the 
cedars" — the chiefest among ten thousand — 
" the altogether lovely." Add to this, all gifts 
of a noble, far-reaching intellect — large and 
ready sympathies — a playful and genial humor 
— the lips "full of grace" — the soul "anointed," 
as " with the oil of gladness." 

Solomon was king over Israel for forty 
years. The first act of the foreign policy of 
the new reign must have been to most Israelites 
a very startling one. He made affinity with 
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by marrying his 
daughter. The immediate results were prob- 
ably favorable enough. The new queen 
brought with her as a dowry the frontier city 
of Gezer, against which, as threatening the 
tranquillity of Israel, and as still possessed by 
a remnant of the old Canaanites, Pharaoh had 
led his armies. She was received with all 
honor. A separate and stately palace was 
built for her, before long, outside the city of 
David. The ultimate issue of the alliance 
showed that it was hollow and impolitic. 
There may have been a revolution in Egypt. 
There was, at any rate, a change of policy. 
There was planned the scheme which first led 
to the rebellion of the ten tribes, and then to 
the attack of Shishak on the weak and dis- 
mantled kingdom of the son of Solomon. 



The alliance with the Phoenician king rested 
on a somewhat different footing. It had been 
part of David's policy from the beginning of 
his reign. Hiram had been " ever a lover of 
David." As soon as he heard of Solomon's 
accession, he sent ambassadors to salute him. 
A correspondence passed between the two 
kings, which ended in a treaty of commerce. 
The opening of Joppa as a port created a new 
coasting trade, and the materials from Tyre 
were conveyed to it on floats, and thence to 
Jerusalem. In return for these exports, the 
Phoenicians were glad to receive corn and oil. 

Alliance with King- Hiram. 

The results of the alliance did not end here. 
Now, for the first time in the history of Israel, 
they entered on a career as a commercial 
people. They joined the Phoenicians in their 
Mediterranean voyages to the coast of Spain. 
Solomon's possession of the Edomite coast 
enabled him to open to his ally a new world of 
commerce. The ports of Elath and Ezion- 
geber were filled with ships of Tarshish, mer- 
chant ships, manned chiefly by Phoenicians, 
but built at Solomon's expense, which sailed 
down the ^Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, on to 
the Indian Ocean, to lands which had before 
been hardly known even by name. 

These were the two most important alliances. 
The absence of any reference to Babylon and 
Assyria, and the fact that the Euphrates was 
recognized as the boundary of Solomon's king- 
dom, suggest the inference that the Mesopota- 
mian monarchies were at this time compara- 
tively feeble. Other neighboring nations were 
content to pay annual tribute in the form of 
gifts. 

The Queen of Sheba. 

The survey of the influence exercised by 
Solomon on surrounding nations would be in- 
complete if we were to pass over that which 
was more directly personal — the fame of his 
glory and his wisdom. Wherever the ships of 
Tarshish went, they carried with them the re- 
port, losing nothing in its passage, of what 
their crews had seen and heard. The journey 
of the Queen of Sheba, though from its cir- 



718 



SOLOMON. 



cumstances the most conspicuous, did not stand 
alone. She had heard of the wisdom of 
Solomon, and connected with it " the name of 
Jehovah." She came with hard questions to 
test that wisdom, and the words just quoted 
may throw light upon their nature. The his- 
torians of Israel delighted to dwell on her 
confession, that the reality surpassed the 
fame; "the one-half of the greatness of thy 
wisdom was not told me." 

The first prominent scene in Solomon's 
reign is one which presents his character in its 
noblest aspect. There were two holy places 
which divided the reverence of the people — 
the ark and its provisional tabernacle at Jeru- 
salem, and the original Tabernacle of the Con- 
gregation, which, after many wanderings, was 
now pitched at Gibeon. It was thought right 
that the new king should offer solemn sacrifices 
at both. After those at Gibeon, there came 
that vision of the night, in which Solomon 
prayed, not for riches, or long life, or victory 
over enemies, but for a " wise and understand- 
ing heart," that he might judge the people. 
The " speech pleased the Lord." 

The wisdom asked for was given in -large 
measure, and took a varied range. The wide 
world of nature, animate and inanimate, the 
lives and characters of men, lay before him, 
and he took cognizance of all. But the highest 
wisdom was that wanted for the highest work 
— for governing and guiding ; and the his- 
torian hastens to give an illustration of it. 
The pattern-instance is, in all its circumstances, 
thoroughly Oriental. 

Royal AVcalth. 

In reference to the king's finances, the first 
impression of the facts given us is that of 
abounding plenty. Large quantities of the 
precious metals were imported from Ophir and 
Tarshish. All the kings and princes of the 
subject-provinces paid tribute in the form of 
gifts, in money and in kind, " at a fixed rate, 
year by year." Monopolies of trade con- 
tributed to the king's treasury. The king's 
domain-lands were apparently let out, at a fixed 
annual rental. All the provinces of his own 



kingdom were bound each in turn to supply 
the king's enormous household with provis- 
ions. The total amount thus brought into the 
treasury in gold, exclusive of all payments in 
kind, amounted to 666 talents. 

It was hardly possible, however, that any 
financial system could bear the strain of the 
king's passion for magnificence. The cost of 
the Temple was, it is true, provided for by 
David's savings and the offerings of the people; 
but even while that was building, yet more 
when it was finished, one structure followed 
on another with ruinous rapidity. All the 
equipment of his court, the " apparel " of his 
servants, was on the same scale. A body- 
guard attended him, " threescore valiant men,"" 
tallest and handsomest of the sons of Israel. 

Forty thousand stalls of horses for his 
chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, made 
up the measure of his magnificence. As the 
treasury became empty, taxes multiplied, and 
monopolies became more irksome. The people 
complained, not of the king's idolatry, but of 
their burdens of his " grievous yoke." Their 
hatred fell heaviest on Adoniram, who col- 
lected the tribute. 

The Temple's Magnificence. 

The Temple was the grandest and most 
memorable monument of Solomon's reign. 
As in the tabernacle, the Temple consisted of 
three parts ; the Porch, the Holy Piace, and the 
Holy of Holies. The Porch of the Temple 
was ten cubits deep, the width in both in- 
stances being the width of the house. The 
front of the Porch was supported after the 
manner of some Egyptian temples, by the two 
great brazen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, eighteen 
cubits high, with capitals of five cubits more, 
adorned with lily work and pomegranates. 
The Holy Place, or outer hall, was forty cubits 
long, by twenty wide. The Holy of Holies 
was a cube of twenty cubits. The places of 
the two " veils " of the tabernacle were occu- 
pied by partitions, in which were folding doors. 

The whole interior was lined with wood- 
work, richly carved, and overlaid with gold. 
Indeed, both within and without, the building 




(719) 



720 



SOLOMON. 



was conspicuous chiefly by the lavish use of 
the gold of Ophir and Parvaim. It glittered 
in the morning sun, it has been well said, like 
the sanctuary of an El Dorado. Above the 
sacred ark, which was placed as of old in the 
Most Holy Place, were made new cherubim, 
one pair of whose wings met above the ark. 

Altar of Burnt-Offering. 

In the Holy Place, besides the altar of in- 
cense, which was made of cedar, overlaid with 
gold, there were seven golden candlesticks 
instead of one, and the table of show-bread was 
replaced by ten golden tables, bearing besides 
the show-bread the innumerable golden vessels 
for the service of the sanctuary. The outer 
court was, no doubt, double the size of that 
of the tabernacle. It contained an inner 
court, called the " court of the priests." 

In the outer court there was a new altar of 
burnt-offering, much larger than the old one. 
Like the latter it was square ; but the length 
and breadth were now twenty cubits, and the 
height ten. It differed, too, in the material of 
which it was made, being entirely of brass. 
It had no grating; and, instead of a single 
gradual slope, the ascent to it was probably 
made by three successive platforms, to each 
of which it has been supposed that brazen 
steps led. Instead of the brazen laver there 
was a " molten sea" of brass, a masterpiece of 
Hiram's skill, for the ablution of the priests. 
It stood on twelve oxen, three toward each 
quarter of the heavens, and all looking out- 
ward. The brim itself, or lip, was carved 
like a lily or lotus-flower. 

There were, besides, ten smaller lavers for 
the ablution of the burnt-offerings. The 
chambers for the priests were arranged in 
successive stories against the sides of the 
sanctuary; not, however, reaching to the top, 
so as to leave space for the windows to light 
the Holy and Most Holy Places. We are 
told by Josephus and the Talmud that there 
was a superstructure on the Temple, equal in 
height to the lower part ; and this is confirmed 
by the statement in Chronicles that Solomon 
*' overlaid the upper chambers with gold." 



After seven years and a half of constant 
work this magnificent edifice was completed, 
and the day came to which all Israelites 
looked back as the culminating glory of their 
nation. The ark from Zion, the tabernacle 
from Gibeon, were both removed and brought 
to the new Temple. In the solemn dedication 
of the building the person of the king is the 
one central object, compared with whom even 
priests and prophets are, for the time, subordi- 
nate. From him came the lofty prayer, the 
noblest utterance of the creed of Israel, setting 
I forth the distance and nearness of the Eternal 
j God, One, incomprehensible, dwelling not in 
temples made with hands, yet ruling men, 
hearing their prayers, giving them all good 
things — wisdom, peace, righteousness. 

The King's Downfall. 

But the king soon fell from the loftiest 
heights of his religious life to his lowest 
depth. Before long the priests and prophets 
had to grieve over rival temples to Moloch, 
Chemosh, Ashtaroth, forms of ritual not only 
idolatrous, but cruel, dark, impure. This evil 
came as the penalty of another. He gave 
himself to " strange women." He found him- 
self involved in a fascination which led to the 
worship of strange gods. 

Disasters followed before long, as the nat- 
ural consequence of what was politically a 
blunder, as well as religiously a sin. The 
strength of the nation rested on its unity, and 
its unity depended on its faith. Whatever 
attractions the sensuous ritual which he intro- 
duced may have had for the great body of the 
people, the priests and Levites looked on the 
rival worship with entire disfavor. The zeal 
of the prophetic order was now kindled into 
active opposition. The king in vain tried tc 
check the current that was setting strong 
against him. The old tribal jealousies gave 
signs of renewed vitality. Ephraim was pre- 
pared once more to dispute the supremacy of 
Judah, needing special control. With this 
weakness there came attacks from without. 
The king, prematurely old, must have seen the 
rapid breaking up of his monarchy. 






GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



721 



Of the inner changes of mind and heart 
which ran parallel with this history Scripture 
is comparatively silent. Something may be 
learned from the books that bear his name. 
They represent the three stages of his life. 
The Song of Songs brings before us the bright- 
ness of his youth. Then comes in the Book 
of Proverbs, the stage of practical, prudential 
thought. The poet has become the philoso- 
pher, the mystic has passed into the moralist. 
But the man passed through both stages with- 
out being permanently the better for either. 
They were to him but phases of his life which 
he had known and exhausted. And therefore 
came, as in the Confessions of the preacher, 
the great retribution. 

Solomon died at Jerusalem in the fortieth 
year of his reign, and was buried in the royal 
sepulchre in the city of David. Notwithstand- 
ing his immense harem, we only read of his 
having one son, his successor, Rehoboam, the 
son of Naamah, a princess of Amnion. 

Around the history of Solomon there gath- 
ers a whole world of fantastic fables — Jewish, 
Christian, and Mahometan. According to 
these, he left behind him spells and charms to 
cure diseases and cast out evil spirits. His 
wisdom enabled him to interpret the speech 
of beasts and birds. He knew the secret vir- 
tues of gems and herbs. Arabic imagination 
took a yet wilder flight. After a strong strug- 
gle with the rebellious Afreets and Jinns, 
Solomon conquered them, and cast them into 
the sea. To him belonged the magic ring, 
which revealed to him the past, the present, 
and the future. Other singular superstitions 
were connected with his name. 

ELIJAH. 

Elijah the Tishbite has been well entitled 
" the grandest and most romantic character 
that Israel ever produced." Certainly there is 
no personage in the Old Testament whose 
career is more vividly portrayed, or who 
exercises on us a more remarkable fascination. 
His rare, sudden, and brief appearances — his 
undaunted courage and fiery zeal — the bril- 
liancy of his triumphs — the pathos of his 



despondency — the glory of his departure, and 
the calm beauty of his reappearance on the 
Mount of Transfiguration — throw such a halo 
of brightness around him as is equalled by 
none of his compeers in the sacred story. The 
ignorance in which we are left of the circum- 
stances and antecedents of the man who did 
and who suffered so much, doubtless con- 
tributes to enhance our interest in the story 
and the character. 

" Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of 
Gilead," is literally all that is given us to know 
of his parentage and locality. To an Israelite 
of the tribes west of the Jordan the title 
" Gileadite " must have conveyed a similar 
impression, though in a far stronger degree, 
to that which the title " Celt " does to us. 
What the Highlands were a century ago to 
the towns in the lowlands of Scotland, that, 
and more than that, must Gilead hai'e been to 
Samaria or Jerusalem. 

A Remarkable Man. 

One of the most famous heroes in the early 
annals of Israel was " Jephthah the Gileadite," 
in whom all these characteristics were promi- 
nent ; and Professor Stanley has well remarked 
how impossible it is rightly to estimate his 
character without recollecting this fact. With 
Elijah, of whom so much is told, and whose 
part in the history was so much more impor- 
tant, this is still more necessary. It is seen at 
every turn. Of his appearance, as he " stood 
before Ahab," with the suddenness of motion 
to this day characteristic of the Bedouins from 
his native hills, we can, perhaps, realize some- 
thing from the touches, few but strong, of the 
narrative. Of his height little is to be inferred : 
that little is in favor of its being beyond the 
ordinary size. 

His chief characteristic was his hair, long 
and thick, and hanging down his back; which, 
if not betokening the immense strength of 
Samson, yet accompanied powers of endurance 
no less remarkable. His ordinary clothing 
consisted of a girdle of skin round his loins, 
which he tightened when about to move 
quickly. But, in addition to this, he occasion- 



722 



ELIJAH. 



ally wore the " mantle," or cape of sheep-skin, 
which has supplied us with one of our most 
familiar figures of speech. In this mantle, in 
moments of emotion, he would hide his face, 
or, when excited, would roll it up as into a 
kind of staff. 

On one occasion we find him bending him- 
self down upon the ground with his face be- 
tween his knees. The solitary life in which 
these external peculiarities had been assumed 
had also nurtured that fierceness of zeal and 
that directness of address which so distin- 
guished him. It was in the wild loneliness of 
the hills and ravines of Gilead that the knowl- 
edge of Jehovah, the living God of Israel, had 
been impressed on his mind, which was to 
form the subject of his mission to the idola- 
trous court and country of Israel. 

The northern kingdom had at this time for- 
saken almost entirely the faith in Jehovah. 
The worship of the calves had been a de- 
parture from Him ; it was a violation of His 
command against material resemblances ; but 
still it would appear that even in the presence 
of the calves Jehovah was acknowledged, and 
they were at any rate a national institution, not 
one imported from the idolatries of any of the 
surrounding countries. But the case was quite 
different when Ahab introduced the foreign 
religion of his wife's family, the worship of 
the Phoenician Baal. It is as a witness against 
these two evils that Elijah comes forward. 

Denouncing" the King. 

What we may call the first act in his life em- 
braces between three and four years — three 
years and six months for the duration of the 
drought, according to the statements of the 
New Testament, and three or four months 
more for the journey to Horeb, and the return 
to Gilead. His introduction is of the most 
startling description : he suddenly appears be- 
fore Ahab, as, with the unrestrained freedom 
of eastern manners, he would have no diffi- 
culty in doing, and proclaims the vengeance of 
Jehovah for the apostasy of the king. What 
immediate action followed on this we are not 
told; but it is plain that Elijah had to fly- 



before some threatened vengeance either of the 
king, or more probably of the queen. 

Perhaps it was at this juncture that Jezebel 
" cut off the prophets of Jehovah." He was 
directed to the brook Cherith. There, in the 
hollow of the torrent-bed, he remained, sup- 
ported in the miraculous manner with which 
we are all familiar, till the failing of the brook 
obliged him to forsake it. His next refuge 
was at Zarephath, a Phoenician town lying 
between Tyre and Sidon, certainly the last 
place at which the enemy of Baal would be 
looked for. The widow woman in whose house 
he lived seems, however, to have been an 
Israelite and no Baal worshipper, if we may 
take her adjuration by " Jehovah thy God" as 
an indication. Here Elijah performed the 
miracles of increasing the oil and the meal, 
and restored the son of the widow to life after 
his apparent death. 

Caravans Without Water. 

During this time the dreadful drought con- 
tinued. Very painful accounts are given of 
the sufferings attending travellers when de- 
prived of water. In all eastern countries wells 
or fountains of water are regarded as among 
the most valuable possessions of the people, 
and as the supply is generally liable to ex- 
haustion from droughts and other causes, the 
water is usually used with great care. In the 
desert wells are scarce, and are generally the 
property of the tribes that roam over these 
regions. While the tribe is encamped near it 
no person, not belonging to it, can draw water 
from the well without the leave of the chief. 
The caravans which journey across the deserts 
are entirely dependent upon the wells and 
springs, the locations of which are known to 
them, for their supplies of water, and their 
daily journeys are generally so arranged that 
their camps may be pitched in the evening 
beside some well or fountain. 

Sometimes, however, this is impossible, and 
one or two days' journey must be made across 
the hot, blinding sands before a supply of 
water can be reached. At such times the 
travellers suffer terribly from thirst, but are 




(723) 



724 



ELIJAH. 



buoyed up by the hope of finding water farther 
on. Often, when the site of the well or spring 
is reached, it is found that the supply is ex- 
hausted, and no water is to be had. The 
sufferings of the members of the caravan 
now become agonizing, and death too often 
follows. The engraving eloquently portrays 
their despair upon finding no water at a foun- 
tain upon which all their hopes had been set. 

Impressive Scene on Carniel. 

Returning to the history of Elijah, we find 
the drought continued, and at last the full 
horrors of famine, caused by the failure of the 
crops, descended on Samaria. The king and 
his chief domestic officer divided between them 
the mournful duty of ascertaining that neither 
round the springs, which are so frequent a 
feature in central Palestine, nor in the nooks 
and crannies of the most shaded torrent-beds, 
was there any of the herbage left, which in 
those countries is so certain an indication of 
the presence of moisture. 

It is the moment for the reappearance of 
the prophet. He shows himself first to the 
minister. There, suddenly planted in his path, 
is the man whom he and his master have been 
seeking for more than three years. Before the 
sudden apparition of that wild figure, and that 
stern, unbroken countenance, Obadiah could 
not but fall on his face. Elijah, however, soon 
calms his agitation — " As Jehovah of hosts 
liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show 
myself to Ahab ; " and thus relieved of his fear, 
that, as on a former occasion, Elijah would dis- 
appear before he could return with the king, 
Obadiah departs to inform Ahab that the man 
they seek is there. Ahab arrived, Elijah makes 
his charge — " Thou hast forsaken Jehovah 
and followed the Baals." 

He then commands that all Israel be col- 
lected to Mount Carmel with the four hun- 
dred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four 
hundred of Asherah (Ashtaroth), the latter 
being under the especial protection of the 
queen. There are few more sublime stories in 
history than this. On the one hand, the soli- 
tary servant of Jehovah, accompanied by his 



one attendant, with his wild, shaggy hair, his 
scanty garb and sheepskin cloak, but with 
calm dignity of demeanor and the minutest 
regularity of procedure, repairing the ruined 
altar of Jehovah with twelve stones — on the 
other hand, the eight hundred and fifty proph- 
ets of Baal and Ashtaroth, doubtless in all 
the splendor of their vestments, with the wild 
din of their vain repetitions and the maddened 
fury of their disappointed hopes, and the silent 
people surrounding all. 

The conclusion of the long day need only be 
glanced at. The fire of Jehovah consuming both 
sacrifice and altar — the prophets of Baal killed, 
it would seem by Elijah's own hand — the king, 
with an apathy almost unintelligible, eating and 
drinking in the very midst of the carnage of 
his own adherents — the rising storm — the ride 
across the plain to Jezreel, a distance of at 
least sixteen miles ; the prophet, with true 
Arab endurance, running before the chariot, 
but also with true Arab instinct, stopping 
short of the city, and going no farther than 
the " entrance of Jezreel." 

Elijah at Horeb. 

So far the triumph had been complete ; but 
the spirit of Jezebel was not to be so easily 
overcome, and her first act is a vow of ven- 
geance against the author of this destruction. 
Elijah takes refuge in flight. The danger 
was great and the refuge must be distant. 
The first stage on the journey was Beersheba. 
Here Elijah halted. His servant he left in the 
town ; while he himself set out alone into the 
wilderness. His spirit is quite broken, and 
he wanders forth over the dreary sweeps of 
those rocky hills, wishing for death. But 
God, who had brought His servant into this 
difficulty, provided him with the means of 
escaping from it. The prophet was awakened 
from his dream of despondency beneath the 
solitary bush of the wilderness, was fed with 
the bread and the water which to this day are 
all a Bedouin's requirements, and went for- 
ward, in the strength of that food, a journey of 
forty days to the mount of God, even to Horeb. 

Here, in the cave, one of the numerous 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



725 



caverns in those awful mountains, he remained 
for certainly one night. In the morning came 
the " word of Jehovah " — the question, " What 
doest thou here, Elijah ? " In answer to this 
invitation the prophet opens his griefs. The 
reply comes in that ambiguous and indirect 
form in which it seems necessary that the 
deepest communications with the human mind 
should be couched, to be effectual. 

He is directed to leave the cavern and stand 
on the mountain in the open air, face to face 
with Jehovah. Then, as before with Moses, 
" the Lord passed by " — passed in all the 
terror of His most appalling manifestations ; 
and penetrating the dead silence which 
followed this, came the mysterious symbol — 
the " still, small voice ; " and still as it was, it 
spoke in louder accents to the wounded 
heart of Elijah than the roar and blaze which 
had preceded it. To him no less unmistakably 
than to Moses, centuries before, it was pro- 
claimed that Jehovah was " merciful and 
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in 
goodness and truth." Elijah knew the call, 
and at once stepping forward, and hiding his 
face in his mantle, stood waiting for the 
Divine communication. Three commands 
were laid on him — three changes were to be 
made. Of these three commands, the first 
two were reserved for Elisha to accomplish ; 
the last only was executed by Elijah himself. 

Casting- the Mantle on Elisha. 

His first search was for Elisha. Apparently 
he soon found him, and we must conclude at 
his native place, Abel-meholah. Elisha was 
ploughing at the time, and Elijah " passed 
over to him " — possibly crossed the river — and 
cast his mantle, the well-known sheepskin 
cloak, upon him, as if, by that familiar action, 
claiming him for his son. A moment of hesi- 
tation, and then commenced that long period 
of service and intercourse which continued till 
Elijah's removal, and which after that time 
procured for Elisha one of the best titles to 
esteem and reverence — " Elisha the son of 
Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of 
Elijah." 



Ahab and Jezebel now probably believed 
that their threats had been effectual, and that 
they had seen the last of their tormentor. 
After the murder of Naboth, Ahab loses no 
time in entering on his new acquisition. But 
his triumph was a short one. Elijah had re- 
ceived an intimation from Jehovah of what 
was taking place, and rapidly as the accusa- 
tion and death of Naboth had been hurried 
over, he was there to meet his ancient enemy 
on the very scene of his crime. And then 
follows the curse, in terms fearful to any 
Oriental — peculiarly terrible to a Jew — and 
most of all significant to a successor of the 
apostate princes of the northern kingdom. 

Fire from Heaven. 

A space of three or four years now elapses 
before we again catch a glimpse of Elijah. 
Ahaziah has met with a fatal accident, and is 
on his death-bed. In his extremity he sends 
to an oracle, or shrine of Baal, at the Philis- 
tine town of Ekron, to ascertain the issue of 
his illness. But the oracle is nearer at hand 
than the distant Ekron. An intimation is 
conveyed to the prophet, probably at that 
time inhabiting one of the recesses of Car- 
mel ; and, as on the former occasions, he sud- 
denly appears on the path of the messengers, 
without preface or inquiry utters his message 
of death, and as rapidly disappears. 

But this check only roused the wrath of 
Ahaziah. A captain was despatched, with a 
party of fifty, to take Elijah prisoner. "And 
there came down fire from heaven and con- 
sumed him and his fifty." A second party 
was sent, only to meet the same fate. The 
altered tone of the leader of a third party 
brought Elijah down. But the king gained 
nothing. The message was delivered to his 
face, in the same words as it had been to the 
messengers, and Elijah was allowed to go 
unharmed. 

It must have been shortly after the death of 
Ahaziah that Elijah made a communication 
with the southern kingdom. When Jehoram, 
the son of Jehoshaphat, began to " walk in the 
ways of the kings of Israel," Elijah sent him a 



726 



ISAIAH. 



letter denouncing his evil doings, and pre- 
dicting his death. In its contents the letter 
bears a strong resemblance to the speeches 
of Elijah, while in the details of its style it is 
very peculiar, and quite different from the 
narrative in which it is imbedded. 

The closing transaction of Elijah's life in- 
troduces us to a locality heretofore uncon- 
nected with him. It was at Gilgal, probably 
on the western edge of the hills of Ephraim, 
that the prophet received the divine intimation 
that his departure was at hand. He was at 
the time with Elisha, who seems now to have 
become his constant companion, and whom he 
endeavors to persuade to remain behind while 
he goes on an errand of Jehovah. But Elisha 
will not so easily give up his master. They 
went together to Bethel. 

Translation of Elijah. 

Again Elijah attempts to escape to Jericho, 
and again Elisha protests that he will not be 
separated from him. At Jericho he makes a 
final effort to avoid what they both so much 
dread. But Elisha is not to be conquered, and 
the two set off across the undulating plain of 
burning sand to the distant river — Elijah in his 
mantle or cape of sheepskin, Elisha in ordi- 
nary clothes. Fifty men of the sons of the 
prophets ascend the abrupt heights behind the 
town to watch what happens in the distance. 
Talking as they go, the two reach the river, 
and stand on the shelving bank beside its 
swift brown current. But they are not to stop 
even here. It is as if the aged Gileadite can- 
not rest till he again sets foot on his own side 
of the river. 

He rolls up his mantle as into a staff, and 
with his old energy strikes the waters — strikes 
them as if they were an enemy ; and they are 
divided hither and thither and they two go over 
on dry ground. "And it came to pass, as they 
still went on, and talked, that, behold, there 
appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, 
and parted them both asunder ; and Elijah 
went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 

Here ends all the direct information which 
is vouchsafed to us of the life and work of this 



great prophet. How deep was the impression 
which he made on the mind of the nation, may 
be judged from the fixed belief which many 
centuries after prevailed, that Elijah would 
again appear for the relief and restoration of 
his country. 

ISAIAH. 

Isaiah was the first of the four great prophets, 
and is represented to have entered on the pro- 
phetic office in the last year of Uzziah's reign, 
about 758 years B.C. Some have supposed 
that he did not live beyond the fifteenth or 
sixteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, in which 
case he prophesied during the space of about 
forty-five years. Others suppose that he sur- 
vived Hezekiah and suffered martyrdom dur- 
ing a succeeding reign. 

Isaiah informs us himself that he prophesied 
during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and 
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, who successively 
flourished between a.m. 3194 and 3305. The 
name of Isaiah is in some measure descriptive 
of his character, since it signifies " the salva- 
tion of Jehovah." He has always been con- 
sidered a prophet of the highest eminence, and 
looked up to as the highest luminary of the 
Jewish church. He speaks of himself as en- 
lightened by vision; and he has been emphat- 
ically styled the evangelical prophet, so 
copiously and clearly does he describe the 
Messiah, and characterize His kingdom, fa- 
vored, as it were, with an intimate view of the 
Gospel state, from the very birth of our Sa- 
viour, to that glorious and triumphant period 
when every Gentile nation shall bring a clean 
offering to the Lord, and " all flesh shall come 
to worship" before Him. 

It is certain that Isaiah, in addition to his 
other prophetic privileges, was invested with 
the power of performing miracles. Besides 
those that are ascribed to him in Scripture, 
tradition relates that he supplied the people 
besieged under "Hezekiah with water from 
Siloam, while the enemy could not procure it. 
It is remarkable that the wife of Isaiah is 
styled a prophetess, and the Rabbins maintain 
that she possessed the gift of prophecy. He 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



727 



himself appears to have been raised up as a 
striking object of veneration among the Jews, 
and to have regulated his whole conduct in 
subserviency to his sacred appointment. His 
sons, likewise, were for types and figurative 
pledges of God's assurances, and their names 
and actions were intended to awaken a reli- 
gious attention in the persons whom they were 
commissioned to address and to instruct. 

Worshipping- Idols. 

Isaiah was animated with the most 'lively 
zeal for God's honor and service. He was 
employed chiefly to preach repentance to 
Judah, though he occasionally uttered proph- 
ecies against the ten tribes, which in his 
time constituted the separate kingdom of 
Israel. In the prudent reigns of Uzziah and 
Jotham, the kingdom of Judah flourished, but 
in the time of Ahaz Isaiah had ample subject 
for reproach, as idolatry was established, even 
in the Temple, and the kingdom nearly ruined 
by the impiety which the king had introduced 
and countenanced. 

In the reign of Hezekiah his endeavors to 
reform the people were more successful, and 
some piety prevailed, till the seduction of 
Manasseh completed the triumph of idolatry 
and sin. There are many historical relations 
scattered through the book of Isaiah which 
illustrate the designs and occasions of the 
prophecies. The prophetical parts are some- 
times considered under five divisions. 

The first part, which extends from the begin- 
ning to the thirteenth chapter, contains five 
discourses immediately addressed to the Jews 
and Ephraimites, whom the prophet addressed 
on various subjects in various tones of exhor- 
tation and reproof. The second part, which 
extends to the twenty-fifth chapter, contains 
eight discourses, in which the fate of other 
nations, as of the Babylonians, Philistines, 
Moabites, Syrians and Egyptians is described. 
The third part, which terminates with the 
thirty-sixth chapter, contains God's threats 
denounced against the disobedient Jews and 
enemies of the church, interspersed with con- 
solatory promises, which were intended to 



encourage those who might have deserved 
God's favor. The fourth part, which begins 
at the fortieth chapter, where the prophetic 
strain is resumed, describes in four discourses 
the manifestation of the Messiah, with many 
introductory and attendant circumstances. 
This division ends at the forty-ninth chapter. 
The fifth part, which concludes the prophecies, 
describes more particularly the appearance ot 
our Saviour and the character of his kingdom. 

The historical part, which begins with the 
thirty-sixth and terminates with the thirty- 
ninth chapter, relates the remarkable events 
of those times in which God employed the 
ministry of Isaiah. 

With respect to chronological arrangement, 
it must be observed, that the first five chapters 
appear to relate to the time of Uzziah. The 
vision described in the sixth chapter must 
have happened early in the reign of Jotham. 
The next fifteen chapters contain the proph- 
ecies delivered under Ahaz ; and the proph- 
ecies which follow, to the end of the book, 
were probably uttered under Hezekiah. Some 
writers, however, have conceived that the 
chapters have been accidentally deranged ; 
and it is possible that the prophecies were not 
delivered by the prophet exactly in the order 
in which they now stand. Others have attrib- 
uted the dislocations, if there be any, to the 
men of Hezekiah, who are said to have col- 
lected these prophecies. 

Cheering- Promises. 

When Isaiah entered on the prophetic 
office, a darker scene of things began to arise. 
As idolatry predominated, and the captivity 
drew near, plainer declarations of God's future 
mercies were necessary to keep alive the ex- 
pectations and confidence of the people. In 
treating of the captivities and deliverances of 
the Hebrew nation, the prophet is often led to 
consider those more important captivities and 
deliverances which these temporal wants fore- 
showed. Hence with promises of the first, he 
blends assurances of final restoration. 

From the bondage of Israel, he likewise 
adverts to the bondage under which the 



728 



DANIEL. 



Gentile world was held by ignorance and sin ; 
and hence he exhibits in connected represen- 
tation, deliverance from particular afflictions, 
and the general deliverance from sin and 
death. The present concern is often for- 
gotten in the contemplation of the distant 
prospect. The prophet passes with rapidity 
from the first to the second subject without 
intimation of the change, or accurate discrimi- 
nation of their respective circumstances ; as 
for instance in the fifty-second chapter, where 
the prophet, after speaking of the recovery 
from the Assyrian oppression, suddenly drops 
the idea of the present redemption, and breaks 
out into a rapturous description of the gospel 
salvation which it prefigured. 

Remarkable Prophecies. 

Among the prophecies of Isaiah which de- 
serve to be particularly noted for their especial 
perspicuity and striking accomplishment, are 
those in which he foretold the captivities of 
Israel and Judah ; and described the ruin and 
desolation of Babylon, Tyre, and other nations. 
He spoke of Cyrus by name, and of his con- 
quests, above two hundred years before his 
birth, in predictions which are supposed to 
have influenced that monarch to release the 
Jews from captivity, being probably shown to 
him by Daniel. 

But it must be repeated, that the prophecies 
concerning the Messiah seem almost to antici- 
pate the Gospel history, so clearly do they 
foreshow the divine character of Christ; his 
miracles; his peculiar qualities and virtues ; his 
rejection, and sufferings for our sins ; his death, 
burial, and victory over the grave ; and lastly, 
his final glory, and the establishment, increase, 
and perfection of his kingdom; each specially 
pointed out and portrayed with the most strik- 
ing and discriminating characters. It is im- 
possible, indeed, to reflect on these and on the 
whole chain of his illustrious prophecies, and 
not to be sensible that they present the most 
incontestible evidence in support of Chris- 
tianity. 

The style of Isaiah has been universally 
admired as the most perfect model of the sub- 



lime ; it is distinguished for all the magnifi- 
cence and for all the sweetness of the Hebrew 
language. The variety of his images and the 
animated warmth of his expressions, charac- 
terize him as unequalled in point of eloquence; 
and if we were desirous of producing a speci- 
men of the dignity and beauties of the Scrip- 
ture language, we should immediately think 
of having recourse to Isaiah. 

St. Jerome speaks of him as conversant 
with every part of science ; and, indeed, the 
marks of a cultivated and improved mind are 
stamped on every page of his book ; but these 
are almost eclipsed by the splendor of his in- 
spired knowledge. In the delivery of his 
prophecies and instructions, he utters his en- 
raptured strains with an elevation and majesty 
which unhallowed lips would never have at- 
tained. From the grand exordium in the first 
chapter to the concluding description of the 
Gospel, to " be brought forth" in wonders, and 
to terminate in the dispensations of eternity ; 
from first to last, there is one continued dis- 
play of inspired wisdom, revealing its oracles 
and precepts for the instruction of mankind. 
The prophecies of Isaiah were modulated to a 
kind of rhythm, and they are evidently di- 
vided into certain metrical stanzas or lines. 

Isaiah, besides this book of prophecies, 
wrote an account of the actions of Uzziah ; 
this has perished, with some other writings of 
the prophets, which, as probably not written by 
inspiration, were never admitted into the canon 
of Scripture. Some apocryphal books have 
likewise been attributed to him ; among others, 
that so often cited by Origen and other fathers, 
entitled "The Ascension of Isaiah;" not to 
mention a later book called " The Vision of 
Isaiah," which is only a compilation from his 
works. These are probably attributed to him 
on as insufficient grounds as the books of 
Solomon and Job. 

DANIEL 

In the year 605 b. c, in the third year of 
Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 
took the city of Jerusalem, after a fierce siege; 
but left a king on the throne, as his vassal. 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



729 



He commissioned Ashpenaz, the master of his 
eunuchs, to select the most comely Hebrew 
youths of royal and noble birth, possessed of 
natural grace and acquired learning, to be 
educated in the language and wisdom of the 
Chaldseans. They were to receive their food 
and wine from the king's table, and after three 
years' training they were to be brought before 
him. 

Among them were four belonging to the 
tribe of Judah, whose names were Daniel, 
Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah ; which, ac- 
cording to Oriental custom, were changed by 
the prince of the eunuchs into Belteshazzar, 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In sacred 
history, however, Daniel has retained his own 
name, while the other three are mentioned by 
their Babylonish appellations. 

Daniel resolved that he would not defile 
himself with the king's food and wine, things 
that had been offered to idols ; and, through 
the tender regard with which he had inspired 
the prince of the eunuchs, he obtained the 
favor of an experiment on himself and his 
three friends. After being fed with pulse and 
water for ten days, they were found in better 
•condition than their comrades who had been 
nourished on the king's dainties ; so this diet 
was continued to the end. 

Meanwhile, God endowed them with all 
knowledge anfi wisdom, and to Daniel in par- 
ticular he granted the same insight into 
■dreams and visions which had distinguished 
Joseph. When the time came for them to 
appear before the king, he found them the 
fairest of all their fellow-captives, and ten times 
better in wisdom and discernment than all the 
magicians and astrologers of Chaldaea. So 
they stood before him among the courtiers. 

An Expert Intrepreter. 

The great opportunity for the use of Daniel's 
power as an interpreter of dreams for the 
glory of God occurred in a manner very 
similar to the case of Joseph. Nebuchad- 
nezzar dreamed a dream which troubled him 
so much that he awoke from his sleep. All 
recollection of the vision instantly vanished, 



and the king, anxious to recall it, summoned 
all the Magi or soothsayers, and commanded 
them to tell him what he had dreamed and to 
explain the vision. This being a simple im- 
possibility, the wise men answered that they 
were unable to comply with his demand, 
whereupon the king gave orders for the ex- 
ecution of all the soothsayers and their families. 
In this sweeping decree Daniel and the He- 
brew men of learning were involved, and Daniel 
obtained from the king a respite, which he 
and his companions spent in prayer; and he 
received the revelation with one of those 
grand utterances of praise and prayer that 
form the great charm of his book. The vision, 
which he was inspired to expound to Nebu- 
chadnezzar is one of the several by which, at 
this epoch, when the great monarchies of Asia 
were about to come into collision with the 
powers of the West, God revealed the steps 
by which the successive empires were to give 
way before His kingdom. 

Nebuchadnezzar was overwhelmed with 
astonishment at the accuracy of Daniel's in- 
terpretation, but the confession which it drew 
from him is scarcely the language of a con- 
vert to the true religion. According to his 
promise, he loaded Daniel with rewards, made 
him ruler over the province of Babylon, and 
master of the Chaldaean sages or Magi. 

The Fiery Furnace. 

Daniel and his friends had their fidelity to 
Jehovah subjected to a terrible test, when 
Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image, and 
commanded all persons to worship it on pain 
of being cast into a fiery furnace. No attempt 
was made upon Daniel, who seems to have 
been too firmly established in the royal favor 
for his enemies to venture to attack him till 
they had first made an example of his com- 
panions. Accordingly, they informed the 
king that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego 
had refused to bow to the golden image. 

The king summoned the three Hebrews, and 
gave them an opportunity of complying with 
his demand, but upon their firm refusal to 
acknowledge any God but Jehovah, or to bow 



730 



DANIEL. 



down and worship the image, he commanded 
them to be cast into the furnace, which was 
done. The flames were so fierce that they 
slew the men charged with the execution of 
the king's decree, but the Hebrews were un- 
scathed in the midst of the flames. There 
Nebuchadnezzar beheld them, and also a fourth 
figure with them, " and the form of the fourth 
was like the Son of God." 

Overwhelmed with amazement, the king 
called to the three Hebrews to come forth from 
the furnace, and they came out and stood be- 
fore him without having even "the smell of 
fire " about them. This miraculous deliver- 
ance extorted from the monarch a still warmer 
acknowledgment of the God of the Hebrews. 
Their enemies were silenced by a terrible de- 
cree, and they themselves were promoted to 
higher stations in the province of Babylon. 

False Prophets Destroyed. 

Fiery fate in those early days was apt to 
await those who incurred the displeasure of 
their rulers. This is especially seen in the 
punishment of the lying prophets. 

Zedekiah, the twentieth and last king of 
Judah, was twenty years old at the time of his 
accession to the throne, and reigned eleven 
years, to the final destruction of Jerusalem. 
Zedekiah accepted his royalty over the im- 
poverished remnant of the Jews as the vassal 
of Nebuchadnezzar, to whom he was bound 
by every principle of good faith. The fate of 
his brother and his nephew had proved the 
hopelessness of rebellion even before the 
strength of the nation had been carried away 
into captivity. Nevertheless, there were false 
prophets, especially among the captives in 
Babylon, who began to raise the hopes of the 
Jews by lying predictions that the time of their 
deliverance was near. 

The prophet Jeremiah sternly discounte- 
nanced all such vain hopes. He showed plainly 
the miserable fate that awaited the remnant 
left in Judah, and the folly of attempting to 
throw off the yoke of the king of Babylon. 
He also wrote to the elders, priests, and 
prophets at Babylon, warning them against 



the false prophets who predicted their speedy 
restoration, and advising them to make their 
arrangements for a long residence in the land 
of their captivity. " Build ye houses, and 
dwell in them," wrote the prophet to his exiled 
countrymen ; " and plant gardens, and eat the 
fruit of them." He repeated the prediction that 
their captivity should last for seventy years ; 
adding that those left behind in Judah, after 
suffering from the sword, the famine, and the 
pestilence, should be dispersed over all the 
world, and become a byword and reproach. 

From what follows, we learn more of the 
false prophets whom Jeremiah denounced. 
Two among them, Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, 
and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, were men 
whose lives were as profligate as their prin- 
ciples. Against them Jeremiah denounced a 
terrible doom : " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, 
and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which 
prophesy a lie unto you in my name : Behold, 
I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king of Babylon ; and he shall slay 
them before your eyes ; and of them shall be 
taken up a curse by all of the captivity of 
Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The Lord 
make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom 
the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; be- 
cause they have committed villany in Israel, 
and have committed adultery with their neigh- 
bors' wives, and have spoken lying words in 
my name, which I have not commanded them." 

Nebuchadnezzar Loses His Kingdom. 

The terrible prediction was soon fulfilled. 
Nebuchadnezzar, having doubtless learned 
the efforts which the lying prophets were 
making to incite the Jews to revolt, caused 
them to be seized and brought before him, 
and condemned them to be burned alive in a 
"fiery furnace." The sentence was carried 
out in the presence of the people, as Jeremiah 
had predicted. This severe example must 
have been all the more striking from its con- 
trast with the deliverance of Shadrach, Me- 
sh ach, and Abed n ego. 

Another dream, which Daniel again inter- 







(731) 



732 



DANIEL. 



preted when the Chaldaean soothsayers had 
failed, warned the king that his reason should 
depart, and he should be driven from among 
men, to herd with the beasts of the field, till 
" seven times " had passed over his head. The 
judgment came upon him at the expiration of 
a year. His enemies had been subdued on 
every side; his great works of art and power 
had been completed; and, as he surveyed 
them from the roof of his palace, he forgot 
God, of whose might he had such proofs, and 
excla'imed, " Is not this great Babylon, that I 
have built for the house of the kingdom, by 
the might of my power, and for the honor 
of my majesty ? " The words had scarcely 
mounted toward the vault of heaven, when a 
voice replied, " O king Nebuchadnezzar, to 
thee it is spoken The kingdom is departed 
from thee ; " adding the details of his exile 
from among men, all of which were fulfilled. 

The King Alarmed. 

After the close of the reign of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, Daniel was deposed from his high 
offices. His next appearance is at the great 
banquet given by Belshazzar at the close of his 
reign. The city was besieged by Cyrus, the 
king of Media and Persia, but as it was believed 
to be too strong to be taken, the Babylonians 
gave themselves little or no concern about 
their enemies. 

Cyrus wasted no efforts on the impregnable 
defences, but resolved to divert the stream 
of the Euphrates, and to enter the city by its 
bed. When the work was complete, Belshazzar 
gave him the opportunity for a surprise by that 
great feast of which we have so graphic an 
account in the Book of Daniel. A thousand 
of his lords were assembled at the banquet; 
and the prince, inflamed with wine and flattery, 
ordered the gold and silver vessels of the 
Temple of the Jews to be brought, that he, 
and his wives, and concubines, and courtiers, 
might drink in them to the praise of their 
gods. 

At that moment a hand was seen writing 
upon the wall, in the full light of the can- 
delabra. Belshazzar, his joints unnerved by 



fear, cried out for the Chaldaean astrologers 
and soothsayers to be brought before him, and 
proclaimed that the man who could read the 
writing should be invested with the insignia 
of royalty, and made the third ruler in the 
kingdom. While the hand moved slowly on, 
from letter to letter, they confessed their in- 
ability to read the unknown characters. The 
king was beside himself with terror, when a 
new person appeared on the scene. 

The "queen" who addresses Belshazzar in 
a tone of authority was probably his mother, 
or his grandmother, and may, perhaps, be the 
Nitocris of Herodotus. She alone of all the 
court remembered the wonders that had been 
revealed to Nebuchadnezzar by Daniel, who 
seems to have been deposed from his post of 
master of the soothsayers. By her advice the 
king sent for him, and repeated his offers of 
reward. Rejecting them with disdain, Daniel 
reproached Belshazzar for not learning from 
the example of Nebuchadnezzar, and for the 
crowning insult of that night against God. 
Then he explained to the trembling monarch 
the awful message of Jehovah, which in- 
formed him that 

" The days of thy kingdom are numbered 
and finished; 

" Thou art weighed in the balances, and 
found wanting: 

" Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the 
Medes and Persians." 

Belshazzar's last act of sovereignty was to 
confer the promised reward on Daniel. That 
night Cyrus took the city by surprise. Bel- 
shazzar was slain, and his kingdom passed 
into the hands of the conqueror. 

Daniel's Enemies. 

Daniel found favor with the conqueror, and 
.shortly after the capture of Babylon we find 
him employed by the king in some commis- 
sion to Susa (Shushan), one of the Median 
capitals. He appears to have attained the 
fullest confidence of " Darius, the Mede." 
When this monarch was making new appoint- 
ments of the governors of provinces, the 
prophet was set over them all ; and the king 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



733 



contemplated a still further elevation for him. 
This excited the dislike and jealousy of the 
native princes and presidents, who determined 
to work his ruin. In his administration, his 
hands were so pure, that no ground of accusa- 
tion could be found against him. They there- 
fore devised a plan by which Daniel's known 
and tried fidelity to his religion should work 
his destruction. They procured from the care- 
less and vain king a decree, that no one should 
for thirty days offer any prayer or petition to 
any god or man save the king himself, under 
pain of being cast into the lion's den. 

The king at once became painfully con- 
scious of his weak and criminal conduct, when 
his most trusted servant, Daniel, was accused 
before him as an open transgressor of this 
decree, and his punishment demanded. Among 
the Medes and Persians there was a singular 
restraint upon despotism — which, while at the 
first view it seemed to give intensity to the 
exercise of despotic power, really tended to 
deter the kings from hasty and ill-considered 
decisions, by compelling them to feel the evil 
consequences with which they were attended. 

Harmless Lions. 

The king's word was irrevocable law. He 
could not himself dispense with the conse- 
quences of his own acts. Of this Darius was 
reminded ; and he saw at once that he was 
precluded from interfering in behalf of his 
friend. It is a beautiful illustration of the 
great truth, which appears as the main argu- 
ment of this chapter, namely, that the glory of 
God was promoted among the heathen by the 
captivity of his people — that the king himself 
was already so well acquainted with the char- 
acter and power of Jehovah, that he spon- 
taneously rested himself upon the hope, that, 
although unable himself to deliver him from 
this well-laid snare, the God whom Daniel 
served would certainly not suffer him to perish. 

The prophet was cast into the lion's den, 
and the mouth thereof was closed with a sealed 
stone. The king spent the night sleepless and 
in sorrow. Impelled by his vague hopes, he 
hastened early in the morning to the cavern, 



and cried in a doleful voice, " O Daniel, ser- 
vant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou 
servest continually, able to deliver thee from 
the lions?" To the unutterable joy and 
astonishment of the king, the quiet voice of 
Daniel returned an affirmative answer, assuring 
the king of his perfect safety. Instantly the 
cavern was opened, the servant of God drawn 
forth, and his accusers were cast in and im- 
mediately destroyed by the savage inmates 
of the den. 

The King's Proclamation. 

This striking interposition induced the king 
to issue a proclamation, to the same ultimate 
effect as that which Nebuchadnezzar had issued 
in a former time. He wrote unto " all peoples, 
nations, and languages, that dwelt in all the 
earth," charging them to " tremble and fear 
before the God of Daniel ; for He is the living 
God, and steadfast for ever, and His kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed, and His 
dominion shall be even unto the end." It 
would not be easy to overrate the importance 
of the diffusion of such truths as these through 
the length and breadth of the Median empire. 

Daniel prophesied during the whole period 
of the captivity, but he probably did not long 
survive his last vision concerning the succes- 
sion of the kings of Persia, which he beheld 
in the third year of Cyrus, A. m. 3470, when 
the prophet must have reached his ninetieth 
year. As Daniel dates this vision by a Per- 
sian era, it was apparently revealed to him in 
Persia ; and though some have asserted that 
he returned from the captivity with Ezra, and 
took upon him the government of Syria, it 
is probable that he was too old to avail 
himself of the decree of Cyrus, however he 
might have been accessory in obtaining it; 
and that, agreeably to the received opinion, he 
died in Persia. 

One of the tragic incidents connected with 
Nebuchadnezzar's reign and the Babylonish 
captivity was the misfortune which befell Je- 
hoiachin. He was the nineteenth king of 
Judah and the son of Jehoiachin. When his 
father was slain, b. c. 599, the king of Babylon 



734 



NEHEMIAH. 



allowed him, as the rightful heir, to succeed to 
the Jewish throne. He was then eighteen years 
of age according to 2 Kings xxiv. 8, but only- 
eight according to 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. Probably 
he reigned ten years in conjunction with his 
father, so that he was eight when his joint reign 
began, but eighteen when he began to reign 
alone. Jehoiachin followed the evil courses 
which had already brought so much disaster 
upon the royal house of David, and upon the 
people under its sway. 

A Long- Imprisonment. 

He seems to have very speedily indicated a 
political bias adverse to the interests of the 
Chaldaean empire ; for in three months after his 
accession we find the generals of Nebuchad- 
nezzar again laying siege to Jerusalem, accord- 
ing to the predictions of Jeremiah. Convinced 
of the futility of resistance, Jehoiachin went 
out and surrendered as soon as Nebuchad- 
nezzar arrived in person before the city. He 
was sent away as a captive to Babylon, with 
his mother, his generals, and his troops, to- 
gether with the artificers and other inhabitants 
of Jerusalem, to the number of ten thousand. 
Few were left but the poorer sort of people 
and unskilled laborers, few, indeed, whose 
presence could be useful in Babylon or dan- 
gerous in Palestine. 

Neither did the Babylonian king neglect to 
remove the treasures which could yet be 
gleaned from the palace or the Temple ; and 
he now made spoil of those sacred vessels of 
gold which had been spared on former occa- 
sions. These were cut up for present use of 
the metal or for more convenient transport ; 
whereas those formerly taken had been sent to 
Babylon entire, and there laid up as trophies 
of victory. Thus ended an unhappy reign of 
three months and ten days. If the Chaldaean 
king had then put an end to the show of a 
monarchy and annexed the country to his 
own dominions, the event would have been 
probably less unhappy for the nation. But 
still adhering to his former policy, he placed 
on the throne Mattaniah, the only surviving 
-son of Josiah. 



Thus the kingdom of Judah was permitted 
to exist as a subject nation a little longer, and 
during this time Jehoiachin remained a cap- 
tive at Babylon, suffering the hardships of a 
prisoner, which were made all more the severe 
by the contrast with his former state as the heir 
of David, and the ruler of the chosen people 
of God. 

His captivity lasted during the remainder 
of the lifetime of Nebuchadnezzar, and covered 
a period of about thirty-nine years. During 
this time the treason of Zedekiah brought 
ruin and destruction upon the Jewish nation, 
and his own terrible doom upon himself. 

Jehoiachin survived for many years after 
the fall of Zedekiah. For a long time his im- 
prisonment at Babylon was rigorous ; he was 
closely confined and clad in a prison dress. 
The plots of the Egyptian party and the hopes 
of his return held out by the false prophet 
Hananiah explain this severity; but, in the 
thirty-seventh year of his captivity, he was re- 
leased by Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who had just succeeded to the throne 
of Babylon. He was received with kind 
words, was placed in the royal presence on a 
throne above all the other captive kings, was 
given a robe of honor, and a portion for his 
daily diet, until his death. With him expired 
the royal line of Solomon. "This man was 
written childless," as Jeremiah had declared ; 
and " no man of his seed prospered, sitting 
upon the throne of David, and ruling any 
more in Judah." The inheritance of David 
passed on to the line of his son Nathan, whose 
representative, Salathiel, is therefore inserted 
in the genealogies as the son of Jehoiachin 
and the ancestor of Christ. 

NEHEMIAH. 

Nehemiah was the son of Hachaliah, and 
apparently of the tribe of Judah, since his 
fathers were buried at Jerusalem. And Hanani, 
his kinsman, seems to have been of that tribe. 
All that we know certainly concerning this 
eminent man is contained in the book which 
bears his name. His autobiography first finds 
i him at Shushan, the winter residence of the 




JEHOIACHIN RELEASED BY THE KING OF BABYLON. 2 Kings XXV. 2*]. 



(735) 



736 



NEHEMIAH. 



kings of Persia, in high office as the cupbearer 
of king Artaxerxes Longimanus. 

In the twentieth year of the king's reign, 
B.C. 445, certain Jews, one of whom was a 
near kinsman, that is, of Nehemiah, arrived 
from Judaea, and gave him a deplorable ac- 
count of the state of Jerusalem, and of the 
residents in Judaea. He immediately con- 
ceived the idea of going to Jerusalem to en- 
deavor to better their state. 

After three or four months (from Chisleu to 
Nisan) an opportunity presented itself of 
obtaining the king's consent to his mission. 
Having received his appointment as governor 
of Judaea, a troop of cavalry, and letters from 
the king to the different satraps through whose 
provinces he was to pass, as well as to Asaph, 
the keeper of the king's forests, to supply him 
with timber, he started upon his journey; 
being under promise to return to Persia within 
a given time. 

Rebuilding' Jerusalem. 

Nehemiah's great work was rebuilding, for 
the first time since their destruction by Ne- 
buzaradan, the walls of Jerusalem, and restor- 
ing that city to its former state and dignity, as 
a fortified town. It is impossible to over- 
estimate the importance to the future political 
and ecclesiastical prosperity of the Jewish 
nation of this great achievement of their pa- 
triotic governor. How low the community 
of the Palestine Jews had fallen is apparent 
from the fact that, from the sixth of Darius to 
the seventh of Artaxerxes, there is no history 
of them whatever. 

The one step which could resuscitate the 
nation, preserve the Mosaic institutions, and 
lay the foundation of future independence, was 
the restoration of the city walls. To this 
great object, therefore, Nehemiah directed his 
whole energies without an hour's unnecessary 
delay. In a wonderfully short time the walls 
seemed to emerge from the heaps of burnt 
rubbish, and to encircle the city as in the days 
of old. The gateways also were rebuilt, and 
ready for the doors to be hung upon them. 
But it soon became apparent how wisely Nehe- 



miah had acted in hastening on the work. On 
his very first arrival, as governor, Sanballat and 
Tobiah had given unequivocal proof of their 
mortification at his appointment. 

Armed Opposition. 

But when the restoration was seen to be 
rapidly progressing, their indignation knew no 
bounds. They made a great conspiracy to fall 
upon the builders with an armed force and put 
a stop to the undertaking. The project was 
defeated by the vigilance and prudence of 
Nehemiah. This armed attitude was continued 
from that day forward. Various stratagems 
were then resorted to to get Nehemiah away 
from Jerusalem, and if possible to take his life. 
But that which most nearly succeeded was the 
attempt to bring him into suspicion with the 
king of Persia, as if he intended to set him- 
self up as an independent king as soon as the 
walls were completed. 

The artful letter of Sanballat so far wrought 
upon Artaxerxes, that he issued a decree 
stopping the work until further orders. It is 
probable that at the same time he recalled 
JNJehemiah, or perhaps Nehemiah's leave of 
absence had previously expired ; in either case 
had the governor been less upright and less 
wise, and had he fallen into the trap laid for 
him, his life might have been in great danger. 

The Temple Restored. 

The sequel, however, shows that his perfect 
integrity was apparent to the king. For after 
a delay, perhaps of several years, he was per- 
mitted to return to Jerusalem, and to crown 
his work by repairing the Temple, and dedi- 
cating the walls. Nehemiah does not indeed 
mention this adverse decree, which may have 
arrived during his absence, or give us any 
clue to the time of his return ; nor should we 
have suspected his absence at all from Jeru- 
salem but for the incidental allusion in chap-r 
ters ii. 6, xiii. 6, coupled with the long interval 
of years between the earlier and later chapters 
of the book. 

But the interval between the close of chap- 
ter vi. and the beginning of chapter vii. is the 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



737 



only place where we can suppose a consider- 
able gap in time, either from the appearance 
of the text, or the nature of the events narrated. 
It seems to suit both well to suppose that 
Nehemiah returned to Persia, and the work 
stopped immediately after the events narrated 
in vi. 16-19, anc * that, chapter vii. goes on to 
relate the measures adopted by him upon his 
return with fresh powers. 

It may have been after another considerable 
interval of time, and not improbably after 
another absence of Nehemiah from his govern- 
ment that the next event of interest in his 
life occurred, viz., the dedication of the walls 
of Jerusalem, including, if we may believe the 
author of II. Maccabeus, supported by several 
indications in the Book of Nehemiah, that of 
the Temple after its repair by means of the 
funds collected from the whole population. 

Overthrow of Oppression. 

Returning to the sure ground of the sacred 
narrative, the other principal achievements of 
this great and good governor may be thus 
signalized. He firmly repressed the exactions 
of the nobles, and the usury of the rich, and 
rescued the poor Jews from spoliation and 
slavery. 

He refused to receive his lawful allowance 
as governor from the people, in consideration 
of their poverty, during the whole twelve years 
that he was in office, but kept at his own 
charge a table for one hundred and fifty Jews, 
at which any who returned from captivity were 
welcome. 

He made most careful provision for the 
maintenance of the ministering priests and 
Levites, and for the due and constant celebra- 
tion of Divine worship. He insisted upon the 
sanctity of the precincts of the Temple being 
preserved inviolable, and peremptorily ejected 
the powerful Tobiah from one of the chambers 
which Eliashib had assigned to him. He then 
replaced the stores and vessels which had 
been replaced to make room for him, and ap- 
pointed proper Levitical officers to superintend 
and distribute them. 

With no less firmness and impartiality he ex- 
47 



pelled from all sacred functions those of the 
high-priest's family who had contracted 
heathen marriages, and rebuked and punished 
those of the common people who had like- 
wise intermarried with foreigners ; and lastly 
he provided for keeping holy the Sabbath-day, 
which was shamefully profaned by many, both 
Jews and foreign merchants, and by his res- 
olute conduct succeeded in repressing the 
lawless traffic on the day of rest. Beyond the 
thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, to which 
Nehemiah's own narrative leads us, we have 
no account of him whatever. 

Barring tlie City's Gates. 

We have seen that the effort of Nehemiah 
to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, though 
sanctioned and encouraged by the Persian 
king, met with a stubborn resistance from the 
Samaritans and the neighboring tribes. The 
j builders worked with their swords at their 
1 sides and under the protection of an armed 
'guard. They were frequently attacked, but 
I always beat off their assailants, and .at length 
brought their work to a successful close. The 
j walls being finished, and the gates hung, and 
\ the porters and singers and Levites appointed 
! to their several stations, Nehemiah committed 
the charge of the city to his brother Hanani 
and to Hananiah, the ruler of the palace. 
The gates were kept barred until the sun was 
hot, and the people were arranged in watches. 
Such care was the more needful as the city 
was yet much too large for its inhabitants, and 
but few houses had been built. The walls, 
having been completed, were solemnly ded- 
icated amid great rejoicings. It now became 
necessary to take measures to secure a popula- 
tion sufficiently numerous to keep the holy 
city from falling into the hands of its enemies, 
and before the people departed for their 
homes lots were drawn to see who should 
reside in Jerusalem, which would have been 
left almost without inhabitants had all taken 
up their residence on their old family allot- 
ments about the several cities and villages. 

It is a striking proof of the attachment of 
the Jews to their patrimonial possessions that 



- 




GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



739 



the safer residence behind the walls of Jerusa- 
lem should not have been the object of com- 
petition. But it was regarded as a sacrifice to 
live there ; "And the people blessed all the 
men that willingly offered themselves to dwell 
at Jerusalem. The rulers took up their abode 
in the capital ; and for the rest every tenth 
man was chosen by lot to live there." The lan- 
guage of Nehemiah would almost seem to im- 
ply that those of the people who belonged to 
Israel (the ten tribes) had their possessions 
assigned in the cities of Judah, and that the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem were taken from the 
tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The priests 
and Levites were divided in due proportions 
between the city and the country. 

Sabbath Observance. 

In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes- 
Longimanus, b. c. 433, Nehemiah returned to 
the Persian court. After an interval of what 
length we know not, he obtained the king's 
permission to visit Jerusalem again, in order 
to reform serious abuses which had grown up 
through the weakness of the high-priest 
Eliashib and the rapacity of the princes. 
These he swept away with a stern and unspar- 
ing hand. He most indignantly reproved the 
nobles for the profanation of the Sabbath, as 
the sin which had brought the wrath of God 
upon their fathers. In the cities of Judah the 
wine-presses were trodden on the holy day, 
and the gates of Jerusalem were crowded with 
Syrian and other merchants, who carried in 
the supplies of luxury for a great city. Nehe- 
miah solemnly assured them that if they did 
not desist from their trade on the Sabbath, he 
would proceed to inflict punishment on them. 

He also appointed the Levites to watch the 
gates, perhaps supposing they would be more 
regarded than his servants, and also because 
he would have the watch continued, even if he 
should leave Jerusalem. This reformation 
seems to have produced very durable effects, 
for in the after ages of the Jewish Church 
they became exact even to superstition. The 
Sabbath is of Divine appointment. It is 
richly fraught with blessings for every class 



of society. It is essential to the prosperity of 
any people. The whole history of the world 
proves this. 

In preceding pages the lives of the apostles 
Paul and John have been given in full, includ- 
ing a minute account of the important events 
in the histories of these remarkable men. 
They had fellow-laborers who shared with 
them the toils, sacrifices and successes which 
give absorbing interest to the early history of 
Christianity, and biographies of these illustri- 
ous men are now presented. 

PETER. 

Peter was born at Bethsaida, a city of Gal- 
ilee, situate on the banks of the Lake of Gen- 
nesareth, called also the Sea of Galilee, from its 
being situated in that country ; and the Lake 
of Tiberias, from that city being built on its 
banks. But the particular time of this great 
apostle's birth cannot be known ; the evan- 
gelists, and other writers among the primitive 
Christians having been silent with regard to 
this particular. It is, however, pretty certain 
that he was at least ten years older than his 
Master; the circumstances of his being mar- 
ried, and in a settled course of life, when he 
first became a follower of the great Messiah, 
and that authority and respect the gravity of 
his person procured him among the rest of 
the apostles, are thought sufficiently to de- 
clare this conjecture to be very near the truth. 

A Fisherman. 

As he was a descendant of Abraham, he 
was circumcised according to the rites of the 
Mosaic law, and called by his parents Simon, 
or Simeon, a name common at that time 
among the Jews. But after his becoming a 
disciple of Jesus, the additional title of Cephas 
was conferred upon him by his Master, to de- 
note the firmness of his faith — the word 
Cephas, in the Syriac, the common language 
of the Jews at that time, signifying a stone, or 
rock ; and thence he is called, in Greek, Pe- 
tros, and by us Peter, meaning the same thing. 

With regard to the parents of Peter, the 
evangelists have also been silent, except in 



740 



PETER. 



telling us that his father's name was Jonas, 
who was highly honored by Christ, who chose 
two of his sons, Andrew and Peter, to be His 
apostles, and preachers of the glad tidings of 
salvation to the children of men. Peter, in 
his youth, was brought up to the trade of 
fishing on the Lake of Bethsaida, famous for 
different kinds of fish, which excelled all 
others in the fineness of their taste. 

Here he followed the trade of fishing, but 
afterwards removed to Capernaum, where he 
settled ; for we find he had a house there 
when our Saviour began His public ministry, 
and there he paid tribute. 

The Voice in the "Wilderness. 

The business of Peter was both mean and 
servile ; it exposed him to all the injuries of 
the weather, the tempestuousness of the sea, 
and the darkness and horror of the night, and 
all to acquire a mean livelihood for himself 
and family. But meanness of worldly degree 
is no obstacle to the favor of God. Nay, if 
we review the state of Christianity, from its 
rise to the present period, we shall find that 
its friends and votaries consist rather of per- 
sons of humble and lowly stations in life. than 
of the great, the dignified and the opulent. 

Sacred history has not ascertained of what 
sect the apostle was. We know, indeed, that 
his brother Andrew was a follower of John the 
Baptist, that preacher of repentance ; and it is 
very unlikely that he who was ready to carry 
his brother the early tidings of the Messiah 
that the Sun of righteousness was already 
risen in those parts, should not be equally 
solicitous to bring him under the discipline 
and influence of John the Baptist, the day-star 
which appeared to usher in the glorious ad- 
vent of the Son of God. 

Besides, Peter's great readiness and curi- 
osity, at the first news of Christ's appearance, 
to come to Him and converse with Him, 
shows that his expectations had been awak- 
ened, and some glimmering rays of hope con- 
veyed to him by the preaching and ministiy 
of John, who was the " voice of one crying in 
the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord." 



He became acquainted with Christ in the 
following manner : Jesus, having spent thirty 
years in the solitudes of a private life, had 
lately been baptized by John in Jordan, and 
there owned by the solemn attestation of 
Heaven to be the Son of God ; whereupon He 
was immediately hurried into the wilderness, 
and there for forty days maintained a power- 
ful contest with the devil. But having con- 
quered this great enemy of mankind, He re- 
turned to " Bethabara beyond Jordan," where 
John was baptizing his proselytes, and endeav- 
oring to answer the Jews, who had sent a 
deputation to him to inquire concerning this 
new Messiah that appeared among them. 

To satisfy these curious inquirers of Israel, 
John faithfully related everything he knew 
concerning Him, gave Him the greatest char- 
acter, and soon after pointed Him out to his 
disciples ; upon which two of them presently 
followed Christ, one of which was Andrew, 
Simon's brother. 

Public Ministry of Jesus. 

Nor did he conceal the joyful discovery he 
had made; for early in the morning he hast- 
ened to acquaint his brother Simon that he 
had found the Messiah. It is not enough to 
be happy alone; grace is a communicative 
principle that, like the circles in the water, de- 
lights to multiply itself and to diffuse its in- 
fluences all around, especially on those whom 
nature has placed nearest to us. I have, said 
he, with rapture, to his brother, found that 
eminent person so long and signally foretold 
by the prophets, and whom all the devout and 
pious among the sons of Jacob so earnestly 
expected. 

Simon, who was one of those who waited 
for redemption in Israel, ravished with this 
joyful news and impatient of delay, presently 
followed his brother to the place ; and on his 
arrival Jesus immediately gave him a proof 
of His Divinity, saluting him at first sight by 
his name, and telling him both who he was, 
his name and kindred, and what title should 
soon be conferred upon him. 

But whether these two sons of Jonas con- 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



741 



stantly attended, in person, from that time on 
Jesus, and became His disciples, the sacred his- 
tory is silent. It is, however, probable, that they 
stayed with Him some time, till they were in- 
structed in the first rudiments of His doc- 
trines, and then, by the leave of their great 
and benevolent Master, returned to their fam- 
ilies and to their callings ; for it is reasonable 
to suppose that Jesus was not at this time 
willing to waken the jealousy of the rulers of 
Israel and the suspicion of the Romans by a 
numerous retinue, and therefore dismissed His 
disciples, and among the rest Andrew and 
Peter, who returned to their trade of fishing on 
the lake, and where Jesus afterwards found 
them. 

Jesus had now more than a year entered on 
His public ministry, going into every part of 
the country to seek opportunities of doing 
good to the children of men ; so that, by the 
constancy of His preaching and the reputation 
of His miracles, His fame was spread through- 
out all Judaea, and multitudes of people flocked 
to Him from all parts to hear His doctrine 
and be spectators of His mighty works. 

Preaching from the Boat. 

But, to avoid this prodigious throng of 
people, He often retired to some solitary 
place to indulge the privacies of contempla- 
tion. In one of these retreats, on the banks 
of the Sea of Galilee, the multitude found Him 
out, and ran to Him from the city. Jesus, 
therefore, to avoid the crowd, stepped into a 
fishing-boat, which lay near the shore and be- 
longed to Simon Peter, who, together with his 
companions, were on the shore, drying their 
nets after an unsuccessful night spent in toil 
and labor. Jesus, who might have com- 
manded, was pleased to entreat Peter, who 
now returned to his boat, to thrust off a little 
from the land, that He might instruct the people, 
who were gathered in prodigious crowds on 
the borders of the lake. 

Peter gladly complied with the request of 
his Master, who delivered His heavenly doc- 
trine to the people on the shore. As soon as 
He had ended His discourse He resolved to 



seal His miracle, that the people might be 
persuaded He was a teacher come from God. 
Accordingly, He ordered Simon to row farther 
from the shore and cast his net into the sea. 
To which Simon answered that they had 
labored the preceding night and had taken 
nothing, and if they could not then succeed, 
there was little hope of it now, as the day was 
far less proper for fishing than the night. 
But as his Master was pleased to command he 
would obey, and accordingly he let down his 
net, when, to the astonishment both of him- 
self and of his companions, so great a multi- 
tude of fishes were enclosed that they were 
obliged to call their partners to their assistance. 
Amazed at this miraculous draught of fishes, 
Simon Peter, in an ecstasy of admiration, 
blended with awe and humility, fell prostrate 
at his Master's feet, acknowledging himself a 
vile and sinful person, and thinking himself 
unworthy of being admitted into the presence 
of one so immediately sent from God. But 
the compassionate Christ kindly removed his 
fears, telling him that this miracle was wrought 
to confirm his faith and indicate to him that 
the Almighty had appointed a more noble em- 
ployment for him — that of saving the souls of 
the children of men. 

From this time Peter and his companions 
became the inseparable and constant disciples 
of the great Messiah, submitting themselves 
to the rules of His discipline, and living under 
His instructions. 

Soon after Jesus returned to Capernaum with 
His disciples, where they found the mother- 
in-law of Peter dangerously ill of a fever. But 
the compassionate Christ, who never omitted 
any opportunity of doing good to the human 
race, rebuked the disease, and, taking her by 
the hand, restored her in a moment to her 
former health. 

Jesus having entered upon His important 
mission, thought proper to select some par- 
ticular persons from among His followers to 
be constant witnesses of His miracles and 
doctrines, and who, after His departure, might 
be intrusted with the care of building His 
Church, and planting that religion in the world 



742 



FETER. 



for which He Himself left the mansions of 
heaven and put on the veil of mortality. In 
order to this He withdrew privately, in the 
evening, to a solitary mountain, where He 
spent the night in solemn addresses to His 
Almighty Father, for rendering the great work 
He was going to undertake prosperous and 
successful. 

Early the next morning the disciples came 
to Him, out of whom He made choice of 
twelve to be His apostles and the constant at- 
tendants on His person. These He afterwards 
invested with the power of working miracles, 
and sent them into different parts of Judaea in 
order to carry on with more rapidity the great 
work which He Himself had so happily begun. 

All the evangelists, in their enumeration of 
these apostles, constantly place Peter first. 
But we must not, on that account, suppose 
that Peter was invested with any personal pre- 
rogative above his brethren ; none of them 
ever intimated any such thing, and Paul says 
expressly, that he himself was not inferior to 
the very chiefest apostle. 

Peter at the House of Jairus. 

Soon after this election, Jesus, attended by 
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, followed 
Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, to his house, 
in order to restore his daughter, an only child 
who lay at the point of death; but before their 
arrival a messenger arrived with the news that 
the damsel was dead, and therefore it was un- 
necessary for Jesus to give Himself any further 
trouble. But He bid the ruler not despair; 
for if he believed, his daughter should yet be 
restored to her former health. And accord- 
ingly, on His arrival, He took the maid by the 
hand, and with the power of a word recalled 
her fleeting spirit, which had quitted its earthly 
tabernacle, and restored her again to life. 

We have no further account of Peter in 
particular till the night after our Saviour's 
miraculously feeding the multitude in the wil- 
derness. Jesus had ordered His disciples to 
take ship and pass over to the other side, while 
He sent the multitude away. But a violent 
storm arising, they were in c^reat danger of 



their lives, when their great Master came unto 
them, walking on the surface of the boisterous 
billows, with the same ease as if it had been 
dry ground. 

At His approach the disciples were greatly 
terrified, supposing they had seen a spirit. 
But their compasionate Master soon dispelled 
their fears, by telling them it was He Himself, 
and therefore they had no reason to be terrified. 

Peter Rescued from Drowning-. 

Peter, who was always remarkable for bold 
resolutions, desired His master to give him 
leave to come to Him on the water, and on 
obtaining permission he left the ship and 
walked on the sea to meet his Saviour. But 
when he heard the deep roar around him, and 
the waves increase, he began to be afraid, and 
as his faith declined his body sunk in the 
water, so that, in the greatest agony, he called 
for assistance to Him who was able to save. 
Nor was his cry in vain ; the compassionate 
Redeemer stretched out His hand, and again 
placed him on the surface of the water, with 
this gentle reproof, " O, thou of little faith, 
wherefore didst thou doubt?" And no sooner 
had Jesus and His disciples entered into the 
ship than the winds ceased, the waves sub- 
sided, and the ship was at the land whither 
they were going. 

A miracle of this kind could not fail of 
astonishing the disciples, and convincing them 
of the divinity of His mission : accordingly 
they drew near and worshipped Him, with this 
confession : " Of a truth thou art the Son of 
God." 

Some time after this, Jesus took with Him 
three of His most intimate apostles, Peter and 
the two sons of Zebedee, and went up into a 
very high mountain ; and while they were em- 
ployed in earnest addresses to the Almighty, 
He was transfigured before them, darting such 
lustre from His face, as exceeded rhe merid.an 
rays of the sun in brightness ; and such beams 
of light issued from His garments as exceeded 
the light of the clearest day: a sensible repre- 
sentation of that state when "the just shall 
walk in white robes, and shine as the sui in 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



743 



the kingdom of their Father." During this 
heavenly scene, the great prophets, Moses and 
Elias, appeared in all the brightness and ma- 
jesty of a glorified state, familiarly conversing 
with Him, and discoursing of the death and 
sufferings He was shortly to undergo, and His 
ascension to the heavenly regions of bliss and 
happiness. 

The denial of Peter at the time of the cru- 
cifixion, his penitence and zeal — in short, all 
the graphic scenes connected with the last 
days of Christ — have already been fully por- 
trayed, and it is not needful here to repeat 
these. Let us follow the apostle in his illus- 
trious career after the departure of Christ. 

Remarkable Scenes at Pentecost. 

The apostles, though deprived of the per- 
sonal presence of their dear Lord and Master, 
were indefatigable in fulfilling the commission 
they had received from Him. The first ob- 
ject that engaged their attention, after their 
return to Jerusalem, was to fill up the vacancy 
in their number, lately made by the unhappy 
fall and apostasy of Judas. In order to this, 
they called together the Church and entered 
into an upper room, when Peter, as president 
of the assembly, proposed to them the choice 
of a new apostle. 

After filling up the vacancy in the apostolic 
number, they spent their time in prayer and 
meditation till the feast of Pentecost, when 
the promise of their great Master in sending 
the Holy Ghost was fulfilled. The Christian 
assembly were met, as usual, to perform the 
public services of their worship, when sud- 
denly a sound, like that of a mighty wind, 
rushed in upon them, representing the power- 
ful efficacy of that Divine Spirit which was 
now to be communicated to them. 

Then there appeared small flames of fire, 
which, in the shape of cloven tongues, de- 
scended and sat upon the head of each of 
them, to denote that the enjoyment of this 
gift should be constant and perpetual, and not 
like the prophets of old, who were inspired 
only at some particular times and seasons. 
Upon this they were all immediately filled 



with the Holy Ghost, which, in an instant, 
enabled them to speak fluently several lan- 
guages which they had never learned, and 
probably never heard. 

The report of so sudden and strange an 
action was soon spread through every part of 
Jerusalem, which at that time was full of Jew- 
ish proselytes, " devout men out of every na- 
tion under heaven; Parthians, Medes, Elam- 
ites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judsea, 
Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phiygia and 
Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Lybia about 
Cyrene, from Rome, from Crete, and from 
Arabia." 

These no sooner heard of this miraculous 
effusion of the Holy Spirit than they flocked 
in prodigious numbers to the Christian assem- 
bly, where they were amazed to hear these 
Galileans speaking to them in their own na- 
tive languages, so various, and so very different 
from one another. And it could not fail of 
exceedingly increasing the wonder, to reflect 
on the meanness of the speakers, who were 
neither assisted by genius, polished by educa- 
tion, nor improved by use and custom. The 
disciples were destitute of all these assistances ; 
their parts were mean, their education trifling, 
and their experience in speaking before great 
assemblies nothing. Yet these persons spoke 
boldly, and with the greatest propriety, in 
various languages. Nor were their discourses 
filled with idle stories, or the sallies of a lux- 
uriant fancy. No, they expatiated on the 
great and admirable works of Omnipotence 
and the mysteries of the Gospel, which human 
apprehension could never discover. 

A Powerful Discourse. 

This surprising transaction had different 
effects on the minds of the people, some 
attributing it to the effect of a miracle, and 
others to the power and strength of new wine. 
Upon which the apostles all stood up, and 
Peter, in the name of the rest, undertook to 
confute this injurious calumny. 

The effect of his discourse was equally 
wonderful and surprising; for vast numbers 
of those who before ridiculed the religion of 



744 



PETER. 



Jesus, now acknowledged Him for their Sa- 
viour, and flew to Him for refuge from the 
impending storm : and Luke tells us that 
there were that day added to the Church no 
less than three thousand souls, who were all 
baptized and received into the flock of the 
great Shepherd of Israel, the Bishop of our 
souls. A quick and plentiful harvest indeed ! 
" This was the Lord's doing, and it is mar- 
vellous in our eyes." 

Soon after this wonderful effusion of the 
Holy Spirit Peter and John, going up to the 
Temple, about three in the afternoon, near the 
conclusion of one of the solemn hours of 
prayer, they saw a poor impotent cripple, near 
forty years of age, who had been lame from 
his birth, lying at the Beautiful gate of the 
Temple, and asking alms of those who entered 
the sacred edifice. This miserable object 
moved their compassion, and Peter, beholding 
him with attention, said, "The riches of this 
world, the silver and gold so highly coveted 
by the sons of men, are not in my power to 
bestow ; but I possess the power of restoring 
life and health, and am ready to assist thee." 

Then, taking the man by the hand; he com- 
manded him, in the name of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, to rise up and walk. Immediately his 
nerves and sinews were enlarged, and the 
several parts of his diseased members per- 
formed their natural functions. Upon which 
the man accompanied them into the Temple, 
walking, leaping, and praising God. 

A Multitude of Converts. 

So strange and extraordinary a cure filled 
the minds of the people with admiration, and 
their curiosity drew them around the apostles 
to view the men who had performed it. Peter, 
seeing the multitude gathering round them, 
took the opportunity of speaking to them and 
assuring them that this miracle was wrought 
not through his own power, but through that 
of the same Jesus of Nazareth whom they had 
crucified, but whom God had raised up from 
the dead the third day. I le urged them to re- 
pent of their sins, and take hold of the atoning 
merits of Christ, and be saved. 



When Peter was speaking to the people in 
one part of the Temple, John was, in all prob- 
ability, doing the same in the other, and the 
success plainly indicated how powerful the 
preaching of the apostles was, five thousand 
persons embracing the doctrines of the Gospel, 
and acknowledging the crucified Jesus for their 
Lord and Saviour. 

Such amazing success could not fail of ex- 
citing the attention and envy of the rulers of 
Israel. Accordingly the priests and Saddu- 
cees repaired to the Roman magistrate, and 
intimated to him, that in all probability this 
concourse of people would prove the cause of 
a tumult and insurrection. Upon this infor- 
mation the captain of the Temple seized on 
the apostles and cast them into prison. 

The Apostles Before the Council. 

The next day they were carried before the 
Jewish sanhedrin ; and being asked by what 
power and authority they had done this, Peter 
boldly answered, Be it known unto you, and 
to all the descendants of Jacob, that this mir- 
acle was wrought wholly in the name of Jesus 
of Nazareth, whom ye yourselves have cruci- 
fied and slain, and whom the Almighty hath 
raised again from the dead. This is the stone 
which you builders refused, and which is be- 
come the head of the corner. 

This boldness of the apostle was admired by 
all, even by the court of the sanhedrin. The 
court after beholding them with a kind of as- 
tonishment, remembered that they had seen 
them with Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore 
ordered them to withdraw, while they debated 
among themselves what was proper to be 
done. It was impossible to deny the miracle ; 
for it was performed before all the people, and 
the person on whom it was wrought was no 
stranger in Jerusalem. They therefore resolved 
to charge them strictly not to preach any more 
in the name of Jesus. Accordingly they were 
again called in, and acquainted with this res- 
olution of the council; to which the apostles 
answered, that as they had received a commis- 
sion from Heaven, it was certainly their duty 
to obey God rather than man. 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



745 



The stupendous works of the apostles and 
the growing numbers of the Church alarmed 
the rulers of Israel, who seized the apostles 
and cast them into prison. Their power, how- 
ever, was limited, and like the drop of a bucket 
to the ocean, when opposed to the Almighty 
arm of the great Jehovah. The prison-doors, 
though fastened with the utmost caution, 
opened of themselves at the approach of a 
messenger from the -courts of heaven, who 
commanded the apostles to leave the dungeon, 
and repair to the Temple, and preach the glad 
tidings of the Gospel to the people. 

Out of Prison. 

The officers returning in the morning, found 
the prison-doors shut and guarded, but the 
prisoners were gone. This remarkable cir- 
cumstance greatly alarmed them, and they re- 
paired to the council to acquaint them with 
what had happened. The rulers were aston- 
ished at the news ; but hearing that the apos- 
tles were preaching in the Temple, they sent 
an officer to bring them, with the least violence 
to their persons, before the sanhedrin. Their 
orders were soon obeyed, and the disciples of 
Jesus placed before the same court that had so 
lately condemned their Master. 

The apostles being thus brought before the 
sanhedrin, the high-priest asked them how 
they dared to propagate a doctrine they had 
lately so strictly charged them not to preach ; 
to which Peter, in the name of the rest, re- 
plied, We certainly ought to obey God rather 
than man. And though you have so barbar- 
ously treated the Saviour of the world, yet 
God hath raised Him up to be a prince and 
Saviour, to give both repentance and remis- 
sion of sins. And of these things both we 
and the miraculous powers which the Holy 
Ghost hath conferred on all Christians are 
witnesses. 

This answer, delivered with remarkable 
boldness, exasperated the council, and they 
began to consult how they might destroy 
them. But Gamaliel, a grave and learned 
■counsellor, after commanding the apostles to 
withdraw, desired them to proceed with cau- 



tion in an affair of this nature, reminding them 
that several persons had already raised par- 
ties, and drawn great numbers of persons 
after them, but that every one of them had 
miscarried, and all their designs were ren- 
dered abortive, without the interposition of 
that court. That they would, therefore, do 
well to let the apostles alone ; for if their doc- 
trines and designs were of human invention, 
they would come to nothing, but if they were 
of God, all their power and policy would be 
of no effect, and sad experience would too 
soon convince them that they had themselves 
opposed the counsels of the Most High. 

This prudent and rational advice had the 
desired success ; the council were satisfied, 
and after commanding the apostles to be 
scourged, they strictly charged them to preach 
no more in the name of Jesus, and set them 
at liberty. But this charge had little effect; 
they returned home in triumph, rejoicing that 
they were thought worthy to suffer in so 
righteous a cause, and to undergo shame and 
reproach for so kind and so powerful a Mas- 
ter, who would reward them hereafter. 

Story of a Magician. 

The Christian doctrine had been propagated 
hitherto without much violence of opposition 
in Jerusalem, but now a storm commenced 
with the death of the martyr Stephen ; nor 
did it end but with the dispersion of the dis- 
ciples, by which means the glad tidings of the 
Gospel, which till now had been confined to 
Judsea, were preached to the Gentile world, 
and an ancient prophecy fulfilled, which says, 
" Out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the 
word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 

Among the dispersed followers of Jesus 
was Philip, the deacon, who had retired to 
Samaria. The apostles, who continued at 
Jerusalem, were soon informed of the remark- 
able success of Philip's ministry in Samaria, 
and thought it necessary to send him assist- 
ance. Accordingly, Peter and John were de- 
puted to this infant Church, who having 
prayed and laid their hands on the new con- 
verts, they received the Holy Ghost. 



746 



PETER. 



Among Philip's converts was one Simon, 
who, by magic arts and diabolical sorceries, 
had gotten himself much fame, and had even 
claimed to have the power of a god. This 
man came to the apostles, and offered them 
money if they would invest him with a por- 
tion of their power, so that whomsoever he laid 
hands on might receive the Holy Ghost. Pe- 
ter sternly rebuked his sinful presumption, and 
showed him his sin with such startling truth- 
fulness, that the magician prayed him to make 
intercession with God, that his sin might be 
forgiven and he escape the heavy judgments 
he deserved. 

The apostles did not stay any longer in 
Samaria than was necessary to confirm the 
new converts in the faith they had embraced, 
and to preach the glad tidings of salvation in 
the adjacent villages ; after which they returned 
to Jerusalem to assist the rest of the disciples 
with their power. 

Raising of Dorcas. 

The storm, though violent, being at length 
blown over, the church enjoyed a time of 
calmness and serenity ; during which Peter 
went to visit the churches lately planted in 
those parts, by the disciples whom the perse- 
cution had dispersed. And at his arrival at 
Lydda he miraculously healed yEneas, who 
had been afflicted with the palsy and confined 
to his bed eight years ; but on Peter's bidding 
him arise in the name of Jesus, he was imme- 
diately restored to perfect health. Nor was 
the success of this miracle confined to yEneas 
and his family: the fame of it was blazed 
through all the neighboring country, and 
many believed in the doctrine of the Son of 
God. It was even known at Joppa, a seaport 
town about six miles from Lydda. and the 
brethren immediately sent for Peter. 

Tabitha, whose Greek name was Dorcas, a 
woman venerable for her piety and extensive 
charity, was newly dead, to the great loss of 
the poor and afflicted, who were supported by 
her charity. At Peter's arrival he found her 
dressed for the funeral solemnity, and sur- 
rounded by mournful widows, who showed 



the coats and garments wherewith she had 
clothed them, the monuments of her liberality. 
But Peter put them all out, and, kneeling 
down, prayed with the utmost fervency; then 
turning the body, he commanded her to arise, 
and, taking her by the hand, presented her in 
perfect health to her friends and others, who 
were assembled to pay their last duties to so 
good a woman. This miracle confirmed those 
who had newly embraced the Gospel of Jesus, 
and converted many more to the faith. 

The Angel at the Dungeon. 

Peter now returned to Jerusalem where he 
labored incessantly in behalf of the Church. 
Herod Agrippa, who had greatly pleased the 
Jews by putting the apostle James to death, 
had Peter thrown into prison soon after his 
return to Jerusalem, intending to slay him 
also. But the Churches prayed earnestly for 
the apostle's deliverance, and God heard their 
prayers. On the very night before the day 
appointed for the execution, an angel was 
sent from heaven to the dungeon, where he 
found Peter asleep between his keepers. The 
angel raised him up, and took off his chains, 
ordered him to gird on his garments and 
follow him. Peter obeyed, and having passed 
through the first and second watch they came 
to the iron gate leading to the city, which 
opened to them of its own accord. 

The angel also accompanied him through 
one of the streets, and then departed from 
him ; on which Peter came to himself and 
perceived that it was no vision, but that his 
great and beloved Master had really sent a 
messenger from above, and released him from 
prison. He therefore repaired to the house 
of Mary, where many pious persons were 
assembled, offering up their prayers to the 
throne of grace for his safety. On his knock- 
ing at the door, a maid who came to let him 
in, knowing his voice, ran back to tell them 
that Peter was at the door; which they at first 
considered as the effect of fancy ; but the 
damsel continuing to affirm that it was really 
true, they concluded it was his angel, or some 
I messenger sent from the court of heaven- 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



747 



But on opening the door they were convinced 
of their mistake, finding that it was really 
Peter himself, who briefly told them how he 
was delivered, and desiring them to inform 
his brethren of his being set at liberty, retired 
to another place. 

Marvellous Escape. 

In the morning the officers came from Herod 
to the prison, with orders to bring Peter out 
to the people, who were gathered together to 
behold his execution. But when they came 
to the prison the keepers informed them that 
the apostle had made his escape; which so 
exasperated Herod that he commanded those 
who were intrusted with the care of the 
prisoner to be put to death. 

Some time after this miraculous deliver- 
ance of Peter, a controversy arose between the 
Jewish and the Gentile converts, with regard 
to the observation of the Mosaic law ; a dis- 
pute which gave great uneasiness to many 
persons : the Jews zealously contended that it 
was absolutely necessary to salvation to be 
circumcised, and observe the precepts of the 
ceremonial law, as well as those of the Gospel. 
To compose this difference, it was thought 
necessary to summon a general council of the 
apostles and brethren to meet at Jerusalem. 
This was accordingly done, and the case 
thoroughly debated. At last Peter stood up, 
and declared that God having chosen him out 
of all the apostles to be the first preacher of 
the Gospel among the Gentiles, God, who was 
best able to judge of the hearts of men, had 
borne witness to them that they Avere accepted 
of Him, by giving them His Holy Spirit, as 
well as He had done the Jews, and conse- 
quently, that there was no difference between 
them. They could not therefore place the 
Jewish yoke, which neither they nor their 
fathers were able to bear, upon the necks of 
the disciples, without tempting and provoking 
the Almighty, who had given sufficient reasons 
to believe that the Gentiles, as well as the 
Jews, would be saved by the grace of the 
Gospel. 

This declaration of Peter convinced the 



Church, and it was unanimously decreed that 
no other burden than the strict observance of 
a few particular precepts, equally convenient 
to the Jew and Gentile, should be imposed 
on them. And the decision was drawn up 
into a synodical epistle, and sent to the 
several Churches for allaying the heats and 
controversies this dispute had occasioned. 

Ancient history furnishes us with materials 
for the closing record of Peter's life. 

A Great Missionary. 

Peter preached the Gospel in various parts 
of the world, enlarging the kingdom of his 
great Master, and spreading the glad tidings of 
salvation among the inhabitants of various 
countries ; and among the rest, those of Rome, 
then the mistress of the world. In that capital 
he is said to have continued several years, till- 
the emperor Claudius, taking advantage of 
some seditious tumults raised by the Jews, 
published an edict, whereby they were ban- 
ished from Rome, and among the rest Peter,, 
who returned to Jerusalem, and was present 
at the synod already mentioned. But how 
long he remained in the capital of Judaea is 
uncertain ; for we have no account of his trans- 
actions for many years. This, however, is cer- 
tain, that he was not idle in the service of his 
great Master ; and Eusebius tells us, from Met- 
aphrastes, that he visited several of the western 
parts, where he continued several years, spread- 
ing the glad tidings of salvation in these remote 
places, and converting the several nations to 
the Christian faith. 

But however this be, whether Peter was or 
was not in these parts, towards the latter 
end of Nero's reign he appears to have 
returned to Rome, where he found the 
minds of the people strangely bewildered and 
hardened against the doctrines of the Gospel 
by the sorceries of Simon Magus, who was 
chastised by Peter for his wickedness at Sa- 
maria. This monster of impiety not only 
opposed the preaching of the apostles, but also 
did all in his power to render them and their 
doctrine odious to the emperor. 

Peter foreseeine that the calumnies of Simon 



748 



PETER. 



and his adherents would hasten his death, took 
the greater pains, and was still more assiduous 
to confirm those who had been any ways in- 
strumental in converting to the sublime truths 
they had received; and in order to this, he 
strongly opposed that great deceiver of man- 
kind ; for in the last years of his life he seems 
to have written his two Epistles to the dis- 
persed Jews in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
and Bythinia ; and in an appointed encounter 
with Simon, discovered his magical impostures, 
and, through the power and assistance of the 
Almighty, brought him to an examplary and 
miserable death. 

An Old Legend. 

The circumstances which attend this re- 
markable event are related as follows : The 
apostle, meeting with Simon at Rome, and 
finding him still pretending to be some great 
person, even the promised Messiah, he could 
not help opposing zealously his presumptuous 
arrogance. But Simon, more incensed by the 
opposition, offered to give the people such an 
evident demonstration of his being what he 
pretended, that he would place the whole be- 
yond contradiction by immediately ascending 
up into heaven. Upon this, by the help of 
some unperceived device, he raised himself 
from the earth, and seemed to be moving to- 
wards the regions of heaven. Peter and Paul 
beholding the delusion, had recourse to prayers, 
and obtained their petitions of the Almighty 
namely, that the impostor should be soon dis- 
covered, for the honor of Christ. Accordingly 
he fell headlong to the ground, by which he 
was so bruised that he died in a very short 
time. 

Such, as the story goes, was the end of this 
miserable, this unhappy man. But the news 
of it no sooner reached the emperor's ears 
than he vowed revenge, both for the death of 
his favorite, and the endeavors used by the 
apostles to " turn mankind from darkness unto 
light, and from the power of Satan unto God." 
Accordingly he issued orders for apprehending 
Peter, together with his companion Paul. St. 
Ambrose tells us that when the people per- 



ceived the danger to which Peter was now ex- 
posed, they prayed him to quit Rome, and 
repair for a while to some secure retreat, that 
his life might be preserved for the benefit of 
the Church. 

Peter, with great reluctance, yielded to their 
entreaties, and made his escape by night ; but 
as he passed the gate, he was met by a person 
in the form of his great and beloved Master, 
and on his asking Him whither he was going, 
answered, " To Rome, to be crucified a second 
time;" which Peter, taking for a reproof of 
his own cowardice, returned again into the 
city, and was soon after apprehended, and cast, 
together with Paul, -into the old Mamertine 
prison. 

Here they were confined eight or nine 
months, but spent their time in the exercise of 
religion, especially in preaching to the prisoners 
and those who resorted to them ; and during 
this confinement it is generally thought Peter 
wrote the second Epistle to the dispersed Jews, 
wherein he endeavors to confirm them in the 
belief and practice of Christianity, and to for- 
tify them against those poisonous and pernic- 
ious principles and actions which even then 
began to break in upon the Christian Church. 

Nero Condemns Peter to Death. 

Nero at last returned from Achaia, entered 
Rome in triumph, and soon after his arrival 
resolved that the apostles should fall as vic- 
tims and sacrifices to cruelty and revenge. 
While the fatal stroke was expected, the Chris- 
tians in Rome were continually offering up 
their prayers to Heaven to protect those two 
holy persons. But the Almighty was now 
willing to put an end to their sorrows, and 
after sealing the truth they had preached with 
their own blood, to receive them into the re- 
gions of eternal bliss and happiness, and ex- 
change their crowns of martyrdom for crowns 
of glory. Accordingly they were both con- 
demned by the cruel emperor of Rome ; and 
Peter having taken his farewell of the brethren, 
especially of Paul, was led to the top of the 
Vatican Mount, near the Tiber, where he was 
sentenced to surrender his life on the cross. 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



749 



At his coming to the place of execution he 
begged the favor of the officers that he might 
not be crucified in the common manner, but 
with his head downwards ; affirming that he 
was unworthy to suffer in the same posture in 
which his Lord had suffered before him. This 
request was accordingly complied with, and 
the great apostle, Peter, surrendered up his 
soul. 

His body, being taken down from the cross, 
is said to have been embalmed by Marcellinus, 
the presbyter, after the manner of the Jews, 
and then buried in the Vatican, near the Ap- 
pian Way, two miles from Rome. 

Here he remained till the time of Pope Cor- 
nelius, who reconveyed it to Rome, where it 
rested in an obscure place till the reign of 
Constantine, who, from the great reverence he 
entertained for the Christian religion, erected 
many churches at Rome, and rebuilt and 
greatly enlarged the Vatican in honor of Peter. 
Such is the narrative of Peter's last days, but 
how much of truth it contains it would be 
difficult to say. 

JAMES THE GREAT. 

This apostle, who was surnamed the great, by 
way of distinction from another of that name, 
was the son of Zebedee, and by trade a fisher- 
man, to which he applied himself with remark- 
able assiduity, and was exercising his employ- 
ment when Jesus, passing by the Sea of Gali- 
lee, saw him with his brother in the ship, and 
called them both to be His disciples. Nor 
was the call in vain ; they cheerfully complied 
with it, and immediately left all to follow Him ; 
readily delivering themselves up to perform 
whatever service He should appoint them. 

Soon after this he was called, from the station 
of an ordinary disciple, to the apostolical 
office, and even honored with some particular 
favors beyond most of the apostles, being one 
of the three whom Christ made choice of as 
His companions in the more intimate trans- 
actions from which the rest were excluded. 
Thus, with Peter and his brother John, he at- 
tended his Master when he raised the daughter 
of Jairus from the dead. He was admitted to 



Christ's glorious transfiguration on the Mount ; 
and when Jesus was to undergo His bitter 
agonies in the garden, as preparatory sufferings 
to His passion, James was one of the three 
taken to be a spectator of them. Nor was it 
the least instance of that particular honor on 
these apostles, that at His calling them to the 
apostleship, He gave them a new name and 
title : Simon He called Peter, or a rock, and 
James and John, who were brothers, Boaner- 
ges, or the sons of thunder. 

Zealous Disciples. 

Some think that this name was given them 
on account of their loud and bold preaching 
the Gospel to the world, fearing no threaten- 
ings, despising all opposition, and going on 
thundering in the ears of a drowsy and sleepy 
world ; rousing and awakening the consciences 
of men with the earnestness and vehemence 
of their preaching, which resembled thunder, 
as the voice of God powerfully shakes the 
natural world, and breaks in pieces the cedars 
of Lebanon. Others think it relates to the 
doctrines they delivered, teaching the great 
mysteries and promulgating the Gospel in a 
more profound and lofty strain than the rest. 

But however this be, Jesus, doubtless, al- 
luded by this term to the naturally furious and 
resolute disposition of these two brothers, 
who seem to have been of a more fiery temper 
than the rest of the apostles, of which we have 
this memorable instance. When Christ was de- 
termined on His journey to Jerusalem, He sent 
some of His disciples before Him to make prep- 
arations for His coming; but on their entering 
a village of Samaria, they were rudely rejected, 
from the old grudge that subsisted between the 
Samaritans and Jews ; and because our Sa- 
viour, by going up to Jerusalem, seemed to 
slight their place of worship on Mount Geri- 
zim. This piece of rudeness and inhumanity 
was so highly resented by James and his 
brother, that they came to Jesus desiring to 
know if He would not imitate Elias, by calling 
down fire from heaven to consume this barbar- 
ous, inhospitable people. Thus we find that 
the best of men are but men, and that corrupt 



750 



PHILIP. 



nature will sometimes appear even in renewed 
minds. But Jesus soon convinced them of 
their mistake, by telling them, that instead of 
destroying, He was come to save the lives of 
the children of men. 

Sophronius tells us, that after the ascension 
of Jesus, this apostle preached to the dispersed 
Jews, that is, to those converts who were dis- 
persed after the death of Stephen. The Span- 
ish writers affirm, that after preaching the 
Gospel in several parts of Judaea and Samaria, 
he visited Spain, where he planted Chris- 
tianity, and appointed some select disciples to 
perfect what he had begun ; but if we consider 
the shortness of James's life, and that the 
apostles continued in a body at Jerusalem, 
even after the dispersion of the other Chris- 
tians, we shall find it difficult to allow time 
sufficient for so tedious and difficult a voyage 
as that was in those early ages ; and therefore 
it is safest to confine his ministry to Judaea 
and the adjacent countries. 

A Bigoted Ruler. 

Herod, who was a bigot to the Jewish 
religion, as well as desirous of acquiring the 
favor of the Jews, began a violent persecution 
of the Christians, and his zeal against them 
animated him to pass sentence of death on 
James immediately. 

It is related that, as he was led to the place 
of execution, the officer that guarded him to 
the tribunal, or rather his accuser, having 
been converted by that remarkable courage 
and constancy shown by the apostle at the 
time of his trial, repented of what he had 
done, came and fell down at the apostle's feet, 
and heartily begged pardon for what he had 
said against him. The holy man, after re- 
covering from the surprise, tenderly embraced 
him. " Peace," said he, " my son, peace be 
unto thee, and pardon of thy faults." Upon 
which the officer publicly declared himself a 
Christian, and both were beheaded at the 
same time. Thus fell the great apostle James, 
being the first who gained the crown ; and 
taking cheerfully that cup of which he had 
Ions: since told his Lord he was readv to drink. 



Whether this whole account can be credited, 
it is certain that James was put to death by 
Herod, and sealed his faith with his life. 

PHILIP. 

This apostle was a native of Bethsaida, the 
city of Andrew and Peter. He had the 
honor of being first called to be a disciple of 
the great Messiah, which happened in the 
following manner : Jesus soon after his re- 
turn from the wilderness, where He had 
been tempted by the Devil, met with Andrew 
and his brother Peter, and after some dis- 
course parted from them. The next day, as 
He was passing through Galilee, He found 
Philip, whom He presently commanded to 
follow Him, the constant form He made use 
of in calling His disciples, and those that 
inseparably attended Him. So that the pre- 
rogative of being first called evidently belongs 
to Philip, he being the first of our Lord's dis- 
ciples; for though Andrew and Peter were 
the first that came and conversed with Jesus, 
yet they immediately returned to their oc- 
cupation, and were not called till a whole year 
after. 

It cannot be doubted, that notwithstanding 
Philip was a native of Galilee, he was ex- 
cellently skilled in the Law and the Prophets. 
Metaphrastes assures us that he had, from his 
childhood, been excellently educated ; that he 
frequently read over the books of Moses, and 
attentively considered the prophecies relating 
to the coming of the Messiah. 

Nor was our apostle idle after the honor he 
had received of being called to attend Christ; 
he immediately imparted the glad tidings of 
the Messiah's appearance to his brother 
Nathanael, and conducted him to Jesus. 

After being called to the apostolate, we 
have very little recorded of him by the evan- 
gelists. It was, however, to him that Christ 
proposed the question, as to where they 
should find bread sufficient to satisfy the hun- 
ger of so great a multitude. Philip answered, 
that it was not easy to procure so great a 
quantity; not considering that it was equally 
easy for Almighty Power to feed double the 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



751 



number, when it should be his Divine will. 
It was also to the same apostle that the Gentile 
proselytes, who came up to worship at Jeru- 
salem, applied, when they were desirous to 
see Christ. And it was with him our Lord 
had the discourse a little before the paschal 
| supper, recorded by John. 

Philip Reproved. 

Jesus had been fortifying their minds with 
proper considerations against His departure 
from them, and had told them that He was 
going to prepare for them a place in the man- 
sions of the heavenly Canaan ; that He was 
" the way, the truth, and the life ; that no man 
could come to the Father but by Him." 
Philip, not thoroughly understanding the force 
of his Master's reasoning, begged of Him 
that He would show them the Father. Jesus 
gently reproved his ignorance, that after at- 
tending so long to His instructions he should 
not know that He was the image of His 
Father, the express character of His infinite 
wisdom, power, and goodness appearing in 
Him ; that He said and did nothing but by 
His Father's appointment, which, if they did 
not believe, His miracles were a sufficient 
evidence ; that such demands were, therefore, 
unnecessary and impertinent, and that it was 
an indication of great weakness in him, after 
three years' education under His discipline and 
instruction, to appear so ignorant with regard 
to these particulars. 

The ancients tell us that in the distribution 
-made by the apostles of the several regions of 
the world the Upper Asia- fell to his share, 
where he labored with an indefatigable dili- 
gence and industry. By the constancy and 
power of his preaching, and the efficacy of his 
miracles, he gained numerous converts, whom 
he baptized into the Christian faith, curing at 
once their bodies of infirmities and distempers, 
and their souls of errors and idolatry. He 
continued with them a considerable time in 
settling Churches and appointing them guides 
and ministers of religion, using his authority 
and influence with rare discretion, and pro- 
moting the general welfare. 



After several years successfully exercising 
his apostolic office in all those parts he came 
at last to Hierapolis, in Phrygia, a city remark- 
ably rich and populous, but at the same time 
overrun with the most enormous idolatry, and 
sadly in need of a better faith. 

Having demolished their deity, he demon- 
strated to them how ridiculous and unjust it 
was for them to pay divine honors to such 
odious creatures ; showed them that God alone 
was to be worshipped as the great Parent of 
all the world, who, in the beginning, made 
man after His glorious image, and when fallen 
from that innocent and happy state, sent His 
own Son into the world to redeem him; that, 
in order to perform this glorious work, He 
died on the cross, and rose again from the 
dead, and at the end of the world will come 
again. This discourse roused them from their 
lethargy; they were ashamed of their late 
idolatry, and great numbers embraced the 
doctrines of the Gospel. 

BARTHOLOMEW. 

This provoked the great enemy of mankind, 
and he had recourse to his old methods — 
cruelty and persecution. The magistrates of 
the city seized the apostle, and, having thrown 
him into prison, caused him to be scourged. 
When this preparatory cruelty was over he 
was led to execution, and, being bound, was 
hanged against a pillar, or, according to others, 
crucified. The apostle being dead, his body was 
taken down by Bartholomew, his fellow-laborer 
in the Gospel, and Mariamne, Philip's sister, 
the constant companion of his travels, and de- 
cently buried, after which they confirmed the 
people in the faith of Christ and departed from 
them. 

Bartholomew is mentioned amongst the 
twelve immediate disciples of Christ, under the 
appellation here given him, though it is evi- 
dent, from divers passages of Scripture, that 
he was also called Nathanael ; we shall, there- 
fore, in our account of his life, consider the 
names of Nathanael and Bartholomew as be- 
longing to one and the same person. 

With regard to his descent and family, some 



752 



MATTHEW. 



are of opinion that he was a Syrian, and that 
he was descended from the Ptolemies of Egypt. 
But it is plain, from the evangelical history, 
that he was a Galilean, John having expressly 
told us that Nathanael was of Cana, in Galilee. 

The Scripture is silent with regard to his 
trade and manner of life, though, from some 
circumstances, there is room to imagine that 
he was a fisherman. He was, at his first com- 
ing to Christ, conducted by Philip, who told 
him they had now found the long-expected 
Messiah, so often foretold by Moses and the 
prophets, "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of 
Joseph." And when he objected, that the 
Messiah could not be born at Nazareth, Philip 
desired him to come and satisfy himself that 
He was the Messiah. 

At his approach, Jesus saluted him with 
this honorable appellation, that he was an 
" Israelite indeed, in whom there was no 
guile." Jesus knew that Bartholomew's doubt 
of His Messiahship arose from Philip's an- 
nouncing Him in the character of Jesus of 
Nazareth, a place stigmatized for the vices of 
its inhabitants; which, on a similar occasion, 
caused an interrogatory, which accords with 
Bartholomew's opinion, " Can any good come 
out of Nazareth ? " In this, therefore, he ap- 
peared to be a true Israelite, one that waited 
for redemption in Israel, which, from the times 
mentioned in the Scripture predictions, he knew 
to be near at hand. 

A Frank Confession. 

He was greatly surprised at our Lord's salu- 
tation, wondering how He could know him at 
first sight, thinking He had never before seen 
his face. But he was answered, that He had 
seen him while he was yet under the fig-tree, 
even before Philip called him. Convinced by 
this instance of our Lord's divinity, he pres- 
ently made this confession, that he was now 
sure that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the 
Son of God, whom He had appointed to govern 
His Church. Christ told him, that if from this 
instance he could believe Him to be the Mes- 
siah, he should have far greater arguments to 
confirm his faith : for that he should hereafter 



behold the heavens opened to receive Him, 
and the angels visibly appearing to attend His 
triumphant entrance into the heavenly Canaan. 

Our apostle, having this peculiar spot allot- 
ted him for the promulgation of the Gospel,, 
visited different parts of the world to preach 
the Gospel, and penetrated as far as the higher 
India. 

After spending a considerable time in India 
and the eastern extremities of Asia, he re- 
turned to the northern and western parts, and 
we find him at Hierapolis, in Phrygia, laboring,, 
in concert with Philip, to plant Christianity in 
those parts, and to convince the blind idolaters 
of the evil of their ways. This enraged the 
bigoted magistrates, and he was, together with 
Paul, designed for martyrdom, and in order to 
this fastened to a cross. But their consciences 
pricking them for a time they took him im- 
mediately down from the cross and set him at 
liberty. 

Thence he retired to Lyaconia, and Chrysos- 
tom assures us that he instructed and trained up 
the inhabitants in the Christian discipline. His 
last remove was to Albanople, in Great Ar- 
menia, a place miserably overrun with idol- 
atry, where he labored to reclaim the people. 
But his endeavors to " turn them from dark- 
ness unto light, and from the power of Satan 
unto God," were so far from having the de- 
sired effect, that it provoked the magistrates, 
who prevailed on the governor to put him to 
death, which he cheerfully underwent, sealing 
the truth of the doctrine he had preached with 
his blood. 

MATTHEW. 

Matthew, called also Levi, though a Roman 
officer, was a true Hebrew, and probably a 
Galilean. His trade was that of a publican, or 
tax-gatherer to the Romans — an office detested 
by the generality of the Jews. And hence 
they had a common proverb among them, 
" Take not a wife out of that family in which 
there is a publican, for they are all publicans." 
That is, they are all thieves, robbers, and no- 
torious sinners. And to this speech, and pro- 
verbial custom, Jesus alludes, when speaking of 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



753 



a hardened sinner on whom neither private 
reproofs nor the public censures and admoni- 
tions of the Church can prevail, " Let him be 
to thee as an heathen man and a publican." 

Jesus having cured a person long afflicted 
with the palsy, retired out of Capernaum, to 
walk by the sea-side, where He taught the 
people that flocked after Him. 

Here He saw Matthew sitting in his office, 
and called him to follow Him. The man was 
rich, had a large and profitable employment, 
was a wise and prudent person, and doubtless 
understood what would be his loss to comply 
with the call of Jesus. He was not ignorant 
that he must exchange wealth for poverty, a 
•custom-house for a prison, and rich and power- 
ful masters for a naked and despised Saviour. 
But he overlooked all these considerations, left 
all his interests and relations, to become a dis- 
ciple, and to embrace a more spiritual way of 
living. 

Dislike of Publicans. 

The Pharisees, who sought all opportunities 
of raising objections against the doctrine of 
Jesus, took this opportunity of suggesting to 
His disciples that it was highly unbecoming 
so pure and holy a person as their Master pre- 
tended Himself to be, to converse so familiarly 
with the worst of men, with publicans and 
sinners, persons infamous to a proverb. But 
He presently replied to them, that these were 
the sick, and therefore needed the physician ; 
that His company was of most consequence, 
where the souls of men most required it; that 
God preferred works of mercy and charity, es- 
pecially in doing good to the souls of men, 
infinitely above all ritual observances ; and that 
the principal design of His coming into the 
world was not to call the righteous, or those 
who, like themselves, vainly pretend to be so, 
but sinners — humble, self-convinced sinners — 
to repentance. 

After Matthew's election to the apostolate, 
he continued with the rest, but the evangelical 
writers have recorded nothing particular con- 
cerning him. 

It is supposed that Matthew preached in 



different parts of Judaea ; but afterwards he 
left the country of Palestine to convert the 
Gentile world. Before his departure he was 
entreated by the Jewish converts to write the 
history of the life and actions of Jesus, and 
leave it among them as a standing monument 
of what he had so often delivered to them in 
his sermons. 

After leaving Judaea he travelled into several 
parts, especially Ethiopia, but the particular 
places he visited are not known with any cer- 
tainty. However, after laboring indefatigably, 
he suffered martyrdom at a city of Ethiopia, 
called Naddabar : but by what kind of death 
is not absolutely known ; though the general 
opinion is, that he was slain with a halbert. 

The last thing we shall remark in the life 
of this apostle is his Gospel, written at the 
entreaty of the Jewish converts, while he abode 
in Palestine ; but at what time is uncertain : 
some believe it to have been written eight, 
some fifteen, and some thirty years after our 
Lord's ascension. It was first written in He- 
brew ; but soon after translated into Greek by 
one of the disciples. 

After the Greek translation was admitted, 
the Hebrew copy was chiefly owned and used 
by the Nazaraei, a middle sect between Jews 
and Christians ; with the former, they adhered 
to the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, 
and with the latter they believed in Christ, and 
embraced his religion ; and hence this Gospel 
has been styled " The Gospel according to the 
Hebrews," and "The Gospel of the Naz- 
arenes." 

THOMAS. 

Evangelical history is entirely silent with 
regard either to the country or kindred of 
Thomas. It is, however, certain that he was a 
Jew, and in all probability a Galilean. 

He was, together with the rest, called to the 
apostleship, and not long after gave an emi- 
nent instance of his being ready to undergo 
the most melancholy fate that might attend 
Christ. For when the rest of the apostles 
dissuaded their Master from going into Judaea, 
at the time of Lazarus's death, because the 



754 



THOMAS. 



Jews lately endeavored to stone Him, Thomas 
desired them not to hinder His journey thither, 
though it might cost them all their lives. " Let 
us go," said he, " that we may die with Him ; " 
concluding that instead of Lazarus being raised 
from the dead, they should all, like him, be 
placed in the chambers of the dust. 

When Jesus, a little before His sufferings, 
had been speaking to them of the joys of 
heaven, and had told them that He was going 
to prepare mansions for them, that they might 
follow Him, and that they knew both the place 
whither He was going, and the way thither, 
our apostle replied that they knew not whither 
He was going, much less the way that would I 
lead them thither. To which Christ returned 
this short but satisfactory answer, " I am the 
way." I am the person whom the Father 
hath sent into the world, to show mankind 
the paths that lead to eternal life, and there- 
fore you cannot miss the way if you follow my 
example. 

After the disciples had seen Christ expire 
on the cross, their minds were distracted by 
hopes and fears concerning His resurrection, 
about which they were not then fully satisfied, 
which engaged Him the sooner to hasten His 
appearance, that by the sensible manifestations 
of Himself He might put the matter beyond 
all possibility of dispute. Accordingly, the 
very day on which He arose from the dead 
He came into the house where they were as- 
sembled, while, for fear of the Jews, the doors 
about them were close shut, and gave them 
sufficient assurance that He was risen from the 
dead. 

Unbelief of Thomas. 

At this meeting Thomas was absent, having 
probably never rejoined their company since 
their dispersion in the garden, where every 
one's fears prompted him to consult his own j 
safety. At his return they told him that the ' 
Lord had appeared to them, but he obstinately j 
refused to give credit to what they said, or to | 
believe that it was really He, presuming it 
rather a spectre, or apparition, unless he might 
see the very print of the nails, and feel the 
wounds in His hands and side. 



But Jesus would not take the least notice of 
his perverse obstinacy, but came again to them, 
as they were solemnly met to their devotions, 
and calling to Thomas, bade him look upon His 
hands, put his fingers into the print of the nails, 
and thrust his hand into His side, to satisfy 
his faith by a demonstration from the senses. 
Thomas was soon convinced of his error and 
obstinacy, confessing that he now acknowl- 
edged Him to be his Lord and Master, saying, 
'' My Lord and my God." Jesus answered, 
that it was happy for him that he believed the 
testimony of his own senses ; but that it 
would have been more commendable in him to 
have believed without seeing, because it was 
foretold that the Son of God should burst the 
chains of death, and rise again from the dead. 

Preaching- the Gospel. 

Christ having, according to His promise be- 
fore His ascension, poured an extraordinary 
effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples, 
to qualify them for the great work of preach- 
ing the Gospel, Thomas, as well as the rest,, 
preached the Gospel in several parts of Judaea; 
and after the dispersion of the Christian 
Church in Jerusalem, repaired into Parthia, the 
province assigned him for his ministry. After 
which, as Sempronius and others inform us, 
he preached the Gospel to the Medes, Persians, 
Carminians, Hyrcani, Bactarians, and the 
neighboring nations. 

Leaving Persia, he went into Ethiopia, 
preaching the glad tidings, healing their sick, 
and working other miracles, to prove that he had 
his commission from on high ; and after travel- 
ling through these countries he went to India. 

When the Portuguese first visited these 
countries, after their discovery of a passage by 
the Cape of Good Hope, they received the 
following particulars, partly from constant and 
uncontroverted traditions, preserved by the 
Christians in those parts; namely, that Thomas 
came first to Socotora, an island in the Arabian 
Sea, and thence to Cranganor, where, having 
converted many from the error of their ways, 
he travelled farther into the East ; and having 
successfully preached the Gospel returned to 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



755 



the kingdom of Coromandel, where at Melia- 
pur, the metropolis of the kingdom, not far 
from the mouth of the Ganges, he began to 
erect a place for Divine worship, till prohibited 
by the idolatrous priests and Sagamo, prince 
of that country. But after performing several 
miracles, the work was suffered to proceed, 
and Sagamo himself embraced the Christian 
faith, whose example was soon followed by 
great numbers of his friends and subjects. 

This remarkable success alarmed the Brah- 
mins, who plainly perceived that their religion 
would be soon extirpated unless some method 
could be found of putting a stop to the pro- 
gress of Christianity, and therefore resolved 
to put the apostle to death. At a small dis- 
tance from the city was a tomb, whither 
Thomas often retired for private devotion. 
Hither the Brahmins and their armed followers 
pursued him, and while he was at prayer they 
first shot at him a shower of darts, after which 
one of the priests ran him through with a 
lance. 

His body was taken up by his disciples, and 
buried in the church he had lately erected, 
and which was afterwards improved into a 
fabric of great magnificence. 

Chrysostom says that Thomas, who at first 
was the weakest and most incredulous of all 
the apostles, became, through Christ's con- 
descending to satisfy his scruples, and the 
power of the Divine grace, the most active and 
invincible of them all ; travelling over most 
parts of the world, and living without fear in 
the midst of barbarous nations, through the 
efficiency of that Almighty arm which can 
give power to the faint, and to them that have 
no might, and thus make the weakest vessels 
to perform acts of the greatest difficulty and 
moment. 

JAMES THE LESS. 

It has been doubted by some whether this 
was the same with that James who was after- 
wards bishop of Jerusalem, two of this name 
being mentioned in the sacred writings, namely, 
James the Great and James the Less, both 
apostles. The ancients mention a third, sur- 



named the Just, which they will have to be 
distinct from the former, and bishop of Jeru- 
salem. But this opinion is built on a sandy 
foundation, for nothing is plainer than that 
James the apostle, whom Paul calls our Lord's 
brother, and reckons, with Peter and John, one 
of the pillars of the Church, was the same 
who presided among the apostles, doubtless 
by virtue of his apostolic office, and deter- 
mined the causes in the synod of Jerusalem. 

James at Jerusalem. 

It is reasonable to think that he was a son 
of Joseph, afterwards the husband of Mary, 
by his first wife, whom Jerome styles Escha, 
and adds, that she was the daughter of 
Aggi, brother to Zacharias, the father of John 
the Baptist. Hence he was reputed our Lord's 
brother. We find, indeed, several mentioned 
as the brethren of our Saviour in the evan- 
gelical history, but in what sense was greatly 
controverted by the ancients. St. Jerome, 
Chrysostom, and some others, will have them 
to be so called from their being the sons of 
Mary, cousin-german, or, according to the 
Hebrew idiom, sister to the Virgin Man'. But 
Eusebius and many others tell us they were 
the children of Joseph by a former wife. 

After the resurrection he was honored by a 
particular appearance of our Lord to him, 
which, though passed over in silence by the 
evangelists, is recorded by Paul. Some time 
after this appearance he was chosen bishop of 
Jerusalem, preferred before all the rest for his 
near relation to Christ. For the same reason 
we find Simon chosen to be his immediate 
successor, because, after James, he was our 
Lord's next kinsman — a consideration that 
made Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, 
though they had been particularly honored, 
not to contend for this high and honorable 
station. 

When Paul came to Jerusalem after his con- 
vertion he applied to James, and was by him 
honored with the right hand of fellowship. 
And it was to James that Peter sent the news 
of his miraculous deliverance out of prison. 
" Go," said he, " show these things unto James. 



756 



SIMON THE ZEALOT. 



and to the brethren ; " that is, to the whole 
Church, especially to James, the pastor of it. 

He performed every part of his duty with 
all possible care and industry, omitting no 
particular necessary to be observed by a dili- 
gent and faithful guide, strengthening the 
weak, instructing the ignorant, reducing the 
erroneous, reproving the obstinate, and, by 
the constancy of his sermons, conquering the 
stubbornness of that perverse and refractory 
generation he had to deal with, many of the 
nobler and richer sort being persuaded to em- 
brace the Christian faith. 

But a person so careful, so successful in 
his charge, could not fail of exciting the spite 
and malice of his enemies : a sort of men of 
whom the apostle has given too true a char- 
acter, that they -please not God, and are 
contrary t6 all men." They were vexed to see 
Paul had escaped their hands by appealing 
unto Caesar, and therefore turned their fury 
against James. But, being unable to effect 
their design under the government of Festus, 
they determined to attempt it under the pro- 
curatorship of Albinus, his successor; Ananus 
the younger, of the sect of the Sadducees, 
being high-priest. In order to this, a council 
was summoned, and the apostle, with others, 
arraigned and condemned as violators of the 
law, men who were worthy of death. 

Cast Down from the Temple. 

But that the action might appear more 
plausible and popular, the scribes and Phari- 
sees, masters in the art of dissimulation, en- 
deavored to ensnare him ; and at their first 
coming told him that they had all placed the 
greatest confidence in him ; that the whole 
nation, as well as they, gave him the title of a 
just man, and one that was no respecter of 
persons. That they therefore desired he 
would correct the error and false opinion the 
people had conceived of Jesus, whom they 
considered as the Messiah, and take this op- 
portunity of the paschal solemnity to set them 
right in their opinions in this particular — and 
would go with them to the top of the Temple, 
where he might be seen and heard by all. 



The apostle readily consented, and being 
advantageously placed on a pinnacle of the 
Temple, they addressed him in the following 
manner : " Tell us, for we have all the reason 
in the world to believe, that the people are 
thus generally led away with the doctrine of 
Jesus, who was crucified : tell us, what is this 
institution of the crucified Jesus ? " To which 
the apostle answered, with an audible voice, 
" Why do you inquire of Jesus, the Son of 
man ? He sits in heaven, at the right hand of 
the Majesty on high, and will come again in 
the clouds of heaven." The people below 
hearing this, glorified the blessed Jesus, and 
openly proclaimed, " Hosanna to the Son of 
David ! " 

The scribes and Pharisees now perceived 
that they had acted foolishly ; that instead of 
altering, they had confirmed the people in 
their belief; and that there was no way left 
but to dispatch him immediately, in order to 
warn others, by his sufferings, not to believe 
in Jesus of Nazareth. Accordingly, they sud- 
denly cried out that James himself was 
seduced and become an impostor, and they 
immediately threw him from the pinnacle on 
which he stood into the court below ; but not 
being killed on the spot, he recovered himself 
so far as to rise on his knees, and pray fer- 
vently to Heaven for his murderers. But malice 
is too diabolical to be pacified with kindness, 
or satisfied with cruelty. Accordingly, his 
enemies, vexed that they had not fully ac- 
complished their work, poured a shower of 
stones upon him, while he was imploring for- 
giveness for them, and one of them, dissatisfied 
with this cruel treatment, put an end to his 
misery with a fuller's club. Thus perished 
another hero of the faith. 

SIMON THE ZEALOT. 

Simon, in the catalogue of the apostles, is 
styled Simon the Canaanite, whence some 
conjecture he was born in Cana of Galilee ; 
and others think he is the bridegroom men- 
tioned by John, at whose marriage Jesus turned 
the water into wine. But this word has no 
relation to his country, or the place of his 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



757 



nativity, being derived from the Hebrew word 
kana, which signifies zeal, and denotes a warm 
and sprightly temper. What some of the 
evangelists, therefore, call Canaanite, others, 
rendering the Hebrew by the Greek word, 
style him Zealot : not so much from his great 
zeal, his ardent affection to his Master, and 
his desire of advancing His religion in the 
world, as from his warm, active temper, and 
zealous forwardness in some particular sect of 
religion before his coming to Christ. 

In order to understand this the better, it 
will be necessary to observe, that as there 
were several sects and parties among the Jews, 
so there was one, either a distinct sect, or at 
least a branch of the Pharisees, called the sect 
of the Zealots. This sect of the Zealots took 
upon them to execute punishments in extraor- 
dinary cases ; and that not only by the con- 
nivance, but with the permission both of the 
rulers and people, till in process of time their 
zeal degenerated into all kinds of licentiousness 
and wild extravagance ; and they not only be- 
came the pests of the commonwealth at home, 
but opened the door for the Romans to break 
in upon them, to their final and irrevocable 
ruin. They were continually prompting the 
people to throw of the Roman yoke, and assert 
their natural liberty, taking care, when they 
had thrown all things into confusion, to make 
their own advantage of the tumult. Josephus 
gives a large account of them and every- 
where bewails them as the great plague of the 
nation. 

A Troublesome Sect. 

Many attempts were made, especially by 
Annas, the high-priest, to reduce them to 
order, and oblige them to observe the rules of 
sobriety, but all were in vain : they continued 
their violent proceedings, and joining with the 
Idumaeans, committed every kind of outrage. 
They broke into the sanctuary, slew the 
priests themselves before the altar, and filled 
the streets of Jerusalem with tumults, rapine, 
and blood. Nay, when Jerusalem was closely 
besieged by the Roman army, they continued 
their detestable proceedings, creating fresh 
tumults and factions, and were indeed the 



principal cause of the ill success of the Jews 
in that fatal war. 

This is a true account of the sect of the 
Zealots; though, whatever Simon was before, 
we have no reason to suspect but that after his 
conversion he was very zealous for the honor 
of his Master, and considered all those who 
were enemies to Christ as enemies to him- 
self, however near they might be to him in any 
natural relation. And as he was very exact in 
all the practical duties of the Christian religion, 
so he showed a very serious and pious indig- 
nation towards those who professed religion 
and a faith in Christ with their mouths, but 
dishonored their sacred profession by their 
irregular and vicious lives, as some of the first 
professing Christians really did. 

Simon continued in communion with the 
rest of the apostles and disciples at Jerusalem ; 
and at the feast of Pentecost received the same 
miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, so that he 
was qualified, with the rest of the brethren, for 
the apostolic office ; and in propagating the 
Gospel of the Son of God, we cannot doubt 
of his exercising his gifts with the same zeal 
and fidelity, though in what part of the world 
is uncertain. Some say he went into Egypt, 
Cyrene, and Africa, preaching the Gospel to 
the inhabitants of those remote and barbarous 
countries. And others add, that after he had 
passed through those burning wastes he 
took ship and visited the frozen regions of 
the North, preaching the Gospel to the in- 
habitants of the western parts, and even in 
Britain, where, having converted great multi- 
tudes, and sustained the greatest hardships 
and persecutions, he was at last crucified and 
buried, but the place where is unknown. 

JUDE. 

This apostle is mentioned by three several 
names in the evangelical history, namely, Jude, 
or Judas, Thaddeus, and Lebbeus. 

He was brother to James the Less, after- 
wards bishop of Jerusalem, being the son of 
Joseph, the reputed father of Christ, by a 
former wife. It is not known when or by 
what means he became a disciple, nothing 



758 



MATTHIAS. 



being said of him till we find him in the cata- 
logue of the twelve apostles ; nor afterwards, 
till Christ's last supper, when, discoursing with 
them about His departure, and comforting 
them with a promise that He would return 
to them again, meaning after His resurrection, 
though the " world should see Him no more," 
our apostle said to his Master, " Lord, how is 
it that Thou wilt manifes Thyself to us, and 
not unto the world ? " 

Paulinus tells us that the province which fell 
to the share of Jude in the apostolic division 
of the provinces was Lybia, but he does not 
tell us whether it was the Cyrenian Lybia, 
which is thought to have received the Gospel 
from Mark, or the more southern parts of 
Africa. But however that be, in his first set- 
ting out to preach the Gospel he travelled up 
and down Judaea and Galilee ; then through 
Samaria into Idumaea, and to the cities of 
Arabia and the neighboring countries, and 
afterwards to Syria and Mesopotamia. 

Faithful Unto Death. 

Nicephorus adds, that he came at last to 
Edessa, where Abagarus governed, and where 
Thaddeus, one of the seventy, had already 
sown the seeds of the Gospel. Here he per- 
fected what the others had begun ; and having 
by his sermons and miracles established the 
religion of Jesus, he died in peace; but others 
say he was slain at Berytus, and honorably 
buried there. The writers of the Latin Church 
are unanimous in declaring that he travelled 
into Persia, where, after great success in his 
apostolical ministry for many years, he was at 
last, for his freely and openly reproving the 
superstitious rites and customs of the magi, 
cruelly put to death. 

Jude left only one Epistle, which is -placed 
the last of those seven styled catholic in the 
sacred canon. It has no particular inscription, 
as the other six have, but is thought to have 
been primarily intended for the Christian Jews, 
in their several dispersions, as Peter's Epistles 
were. In it he tells them that he at first in- 
tended to write to them in general of the com- 
mon salvation, and establish and confirm them 



in it; but seeing the doctrine of Christ at- 
tacked on every side by seducers, he conceived 
it more necessary to spend his time in exhort- 
ing them to fight manfully in defence of the 
faith once delivered to the saints, and to op- 
pose the false teachers who labored so inde- 
fatigably to corrupt it. 

It was some time before this Epistle was 
generally received in the Church. The author, 
indeed, like James, John, and sometimes Paul 
himself, does not call himself an apostle, 
styling himself only the servant of Christ. 
But he has added what is equivalent, "Jude, 
the brother of James," a character that can 
belong to no one but our apostle. And surely 
the humility of a follower of Jesus should 
be no objection against his writings. 

MATTHIAS. 

As Matthias was not an apostle of the first 
election, immediately called and chosen of the 
Son of God himself, it cannot be expected 
that any account of him can be found in the 
evangelical history. He was one of our 
Lord's disciples, probably one of the seventy, 
that had attended on Him the whole time of 
His public ministry, and after His death was 
elected into the apostleship to supply the 
place of Judas, who, after betraying his Lord, 
laid violent hands on himself. 

The defection of Judas having made a 
vacancy in the family of the apostles, the first 
thing they did after their return from Mount 
Olivet, when Jesus ascended to the throne of 
His glory, was to fill up this vacancy with a 
proper person. 

Accordingly two persons were proposed, 
Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias, both 
duly qualified for the important office. The 
method of election was by lots, a way common 
both among the Jews and Gentiles for deter- 
mining doubtful and difficult cases, especially 
in choosing judges or magistrates. And this 
course seems to have been taken by the apostles, 
because the Holy Ghost was not yet fully given, 
by whose immediate dictates and inspirations 
the)' were afterwards chiefly guided. The 
prayer being ended, the lots were drawn, by 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



759 



which it appeared that Matthias was the 
person, and he was accordingly numbered 
among the twelve apostles. 

Not long after this election the promised 
powers of the Holy Ghost were conferred 
upon the apostles, to qualify them for that 
great and difficult employment upon which 
they were sent. 

Gathering the Sheaves. 

Matthias spent the first year of his ministry 
in Judsea, where he reaped a very considerable 
harvest of souls, and then travelled into different 
parts of the world, but the particular parts he 
visited are not certainly known. 

It is uncertain by what kind of death he 
left the regions of mortality, and sealed the 
truth of the Gospel he had so assiduously 
preached with his blood. Dorotheus says he 
finished his course at Sebastopol, and was 
buried there near the Temple of the Sun. An 
ancient martyrology reports him to have been 
seized by the Jews, and as a blasphemer to 
have been stoned and then beheaded. But 
the Greek officers, supported herein by the 
authority of several ancient breviaries, tell us 
that he was crucified. 

MARK. 

Mark was descended from Jewish parents, 
and of the tribe of Levi. Nor was it un- 
common among the Jews to change their 
names on some remarkable revolution or acci- 
dent of life, or when they intended to travel 
into any of the European provinces of the 
Roman empire. 

The ancients generally considered him as 
one of the seventy disciples ; and Epiphanius 
expressly tells us that he was one of those 
who, taking exception at our Lord's discourse 
of "eating His flesh and drinking His blood, 
went back, and walked no more with Him." 
But there appears no manner of foundation 
for these opinions, nor likewise for that of 
Nicephorus, who makes him out to be the son 
of Peter's sister. 

Eusebius tells us that Mark was sent into 
Egypt by Peter to preach the Gospel, and ac- 



cordingly planted a Church in Alexandria, the 
metropolis of it ; and his success was so very 
remarkable that he converted multitudes, both 
of men and women, persuading them not only 
to embrace the Christian religion, but also a 
life of more than ordinary strictness. 

Mark did not confine himself to Alexandria, 
and the oriental parts of Egypt, but removed 
westward to Lybia, passing through the coun- 
tries of Marmacia, Pentapolis, and others 
adjacent, where, though the people were both 
barbarous in their manners and idolatrous in 
their worship, yet by his preaching and mira- 
cles he prevailed on them to embrace the 
tenets of the Gospel ; nor did he leave them 
till he had confirmed them in their faith. 

Violent Persecutions. 

After this long tour he returned to Alex- 
andria, where he preached with the greatest 
freedom, ordered and disposed of the affairs 
of the Church, and wisely provided for its 
prosperity by constituting governors and pas- 
tors of it. But the restless enemy of the souls 
of men would not suffer our apostle to con- 
tinue in peace and quietness ; for while he was 
assiduously laboring in the vineyard of his. 
Master, the idolatrous inhabitants, about the 
time of Easter, when they were celebrating the 
solemnities of Serapis, tumultuously entered 
the church, forced Mark, then performing 
Divine service, from thence ; and, binding his 
feet with cords, dragged him through the 
streets, and over the most craggy places, to 
the Bucelus, a precipice near the sea, leaving 
him there in a lonesome prison for that night; 
but Christ appeared to him in a vision, com- 
forting and encouraging his soul, under the 
ruins of his shattered body. 

The next morning early the tragedy began 
afresh, for they dragged him about in the 
same cruel and barbarous manner till he ex- 
pired. But their malice did not end with his 
death ; they burnt his mangled body after 
they had so inhumanly deprived it of life. 
But the Christians, after the horrid tragedy 
was over, gathered up his bones and ashes, 
and decently interred them near the place 



760 



LUKE. 



where he used to preach. His remains were 
afterwards, with great pomp, removed from 
Alexandria to Venice, where they were relig- 
iously honored, and he adopted as the titular 
saint and patron of that state. 

Mark's Gospel. 

It is said he suffered martyrdom on the 
25th of April, but the year is not absolutely 
known ; the most probable opinion, however, 
is, that it happened about the end of Nero's 
reign. 

His Gospel, the only writing he left behind 
him, was written at the entreaty and earnest 
desire of the converts at Rome, who, not con- 
tent with having heard Peter preach, pressed 
Mark, his fellow-disciple, to commit to writing 
an historical account of what he had delivered 
to them, which he performed with equal faith- 
fulness and brevity, and being perused and 
approved by Peter, was commanded to be 
publicly read in their assemblies. It was fre- 
quently styled Peter's Gospel, not because he 
dictated it to Mark, but because the latter 
composed it in the same manner as Peter 
usually delivered his discourses to the people. 
And this is probably the reason of what 
Chrysostom observes, that in his style of ex- 
pression he delights to imitate Peter, repre- 
senting a great deal in a few words. The re- 
markable impartiality he observes in all his 
relations is plain, and hence, so far from con- 
cealing the shameful lapse and denial of Peter, 
he describes it with more aggravating circum- 
stances than any other evangelist. 

LUKE. 

This disciple was born at Antioch, the 
metropolis of Syria, a city celebrated for the 
pleasantness of its situation, the fertility of its 
soil, the riches of its commerce, the wisdom 
of its senate, and the civility and politeness 
of its inhabitants, by the pens of some of the 
greatest writers of those times. It was emi- 
nent for schools of learning, which produced 
the most renowned masters in the arts and 
sciences; so that being born, as it were, in 
the lap of the muses, he could not well fail 



of acquiring an ingenious and liberal educa- 
tion. 

But he was not contented with the learning 
of his own country; he travelled for improve- 
ment into several parts of Greece and Egypt, 
and became particularly skilled in physic, 
which he made his profession. But those 
who would, from this particular, infer the i. 
quality of his birth and fortune, forget that 
the healing art was in those early times prac- 
tised by servants ; and hence Grotius is of 
opinion that Luke was carried to Rome, and 
lived there as servant to some noble family, 
in quality of physician ; but after obtaining 
his freedom he returned into his own country, 
and probably continued his profession till his 
death, it being so highly consistent with, and 
in many cases subservient to the care of souls. 

Companion of Paul. 

Luke was a Jewish proselyte ; but at what 
time he became a Christian is uncertain. It is 
the opinion of some, from the introduction to 
his Gospel, that he had the facts from the 
reports of others, who were eye-witnesses, and 
suppose him to have been converted by Paul ; 
and that he learned the history of his Gospel 
from the conversation of that apostle, and 
wrote it under his direction ; and that when 
Paul, in one of his Epistles, says, "according 
to my Gospel," he means that of Luke, which 
he styled his from the great share he had in 
the composition of it. 

On the other hand, those who hold that 
he wrote his Gospel from his own personal 
knowledge, observe that he could not receive 
it from Paul, as an eye-witness of the matters 
contained in it, because all those matters were 
transacted before his conversion ; and that he 
never saw our Lord before He appeared to 
him in his journey to Damascus, which was 
some time after He ascended into heaven. 
Consequently, when Paul says, "according to 
my Gospel," he means no more than that 
Gospel in general which he preached; the 
whole preaching of the apostles being styled 
the Gospel. 

But however this be, Luke became the in- 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



761 



separable companion of Paul in all his travels, 
and his constant fellow-laborer in the work of 
the ministry. This infinitely endeared him to 
that apostle, who seems delighted with owning 
him for his fellow-laborer, and in calling him 
the "beloved physician," and the "brother 
whose praise is in the Gospel." 

Luke wrote two books for the use of the 
Church, his Gospel and the Acts of the 
Apostles ; both of which he dedicated to 
Theophilus, which many of the ancients sup- 
pose to be a feigned name, denoting a lover of 
God, a title common to all sincere Christians. 
But others think it was a real person, because 
the title of " Most Excellent" is attributed to 
him ; the usual title and form of address in 
those times to princes and great men. 

His Gospel contains the principal transac- 
tions of our Lord's life; and the particulars 
omitted by him are, in general, of less impor- 
tance than those of the other evangelists. 

A Celebrated Historian. 

With regard to the Acts of the Apostles, 
written by Luke, the work was no doubt per- 
formed at Rome, about the time of Paul's im- 
prisonment there, with which he concludes his 
story. It contains the actions, and sometimes 
the sufferings of the principal apostles, espec- 
ially Paul, whose activity in the cause of 
Christ made him bear a great part in the 
labors of his Master; and Luke being his con- 
stant attendant, an eye-witness of the whole 
carriage of his life, and acquainted with his 
most intimate transactions, was consequently 
capable of giving a full and satisfactory account 
of them. Among other things, he enumerates 
the great miracles the apostles did in confirma- 
tion of their doctrine. 

In both these treatises his manner of writing 
is exact and accurate, his style noble and ele- 
gant, sublime and lofty, yet clear and per- 
spicuous, flowing with an easy and natural 
grace and sweetness, admirably adapted to a 
historical narrative. In short, as a historian, 
he was faithful to his relations, and elegant in 
his writings ; as a minister, careful and diligent 
for the good of souls; as a Christian, devout 



and pious; and to crown all the rest, laid 
down his life in testimony of the Gospel he had 
both preached and published to the world. 

BARNABAS. 

Barnabas was at first called Joses, a softer 
termination generally given by the Greeks to 
Joseph. His fellow-disciples added the name 
of Barnabas, as significant of some extraor- 
dinary property in him. Luke interprets it, 
" the son of consolation," from his being ever 
ready to administer to the afflicted, both by 
word and action. 

He was a descendant of the tribe of Levi, 
of a family removed out of Judaea, and settled 
in the isle of Cyprus, where they had pur- 
chased an estate, as the Levites might do out 
of their country. His parents, finding their 
son of a promising genius and disposition, 
placed him in one of the schools of Jerusalem 
under the tuition of Gamaliel, Paul's master; 
an accident which, in all probability, laid the 
foundation for that intimacy which afterwards 
subsisted between those two eminent servants 
of Christ. 

The first mention we find of Barnabas, in 
the Holy Scripture, is the record of that great 
and worthy service he did in the Church of 
Christ, by succoring it with the sale of his 
patrimony in Cyprus, the whole price of which 
he laid at the apostles' feet, to be put into the 
common stock, and disposed of as they should 
think fit, among the indignant followers of 
Jesus. This worthy example was followed by 
those who were blessed with temporal good ; 
none kept their plenty to themselves, but 
turned their houses and lands into money, and 
devoted it to the common use of the Church 
Barnabas is indeed mentioned as selling a most 
valuable estate on this occasion ; being the 
most forward and ready to begin a comm 
stock, and set others a laudable pattern of 
charity and benevolence. 

Paul's Friend. 

And now Barnabas became prominent in the 
ministry and government of the Church ; for 
we find that Paul, coming to Jerusalem three 



762 



BARNABAS. 



years after his conversion, and not readily 
procuring admittance into the Church, because 
he had been so grievous a persecutor of it, 
and might still be suspected of a design to 
betray it, addressed himself to Barnabas, a 
leading man among the Christians, and one 
that had personal knowledge of him. He ac- 
cordingly introduced him to Peter and James, 
and satisfied them of the sincerity of his con- 
version, and in what a miraculous manner it 
was brought about. This recommendation 
carried so much weight with it that Paul was 
not only received into the communion of the 
apostles, but taken into Peter's house, " and 
abode with him fifteen days." 

Two Successful Missionaries. 

About four or five years after this the agree- 
able news was brought to Jerusalem that 
several of their body, who had been driven 
out of Judaea by the persecution raised about 
Stephen, had preached at Antioch with such 
success that a great number, both of Jews and 
proselytes, embraced Christianity, and were 
desirous that some of the apostles would come 
down and visit them. This request was im- 
mediately granted, and Barnabas was deputed 
to settle the new plantation ; and being him- 
self " a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost 
and of faith," his charitable deeds accompany- 
ing his discourses, and his pious life exem- 
plifying his sound doctrine, the people were 
greatly influenced by him, and very consider- 
able additions were made to the Christian 
Church. But there being too large a field for 
one laborer, he went to fetch Saul from Tarsus, 
who came back with him to Antioch, and as- 
sisted him a whole year in establishing that 
Church. Their labors prospered ; their as- 
semblies were crowded, and the disciples, who, 
before this, were called among themselves 
" brethren, believers, elect," and by their 
enemies, " Nazarenes and Galileans, were now 
called Christians first in Antioch." 

When the apostles had fulfilled their chari- 
table embassy, and stayed some time at Jeru- 
salem to see the good effects of it, they re- 



John, whose surname was Mark, the son of 
Mary, sister to Barnabas, and at whose house 
the disciples found both security for their per- 
sons and conveniency for the solemnities of 
their worship. But soon after the apostles re- 
turned to Antioch, an express relation was 
made to the Church, by the mouth of one of 
the prophets who ministered there, that Bar- 
nabas and Saul should be set apart for an 
extraordinary work, unto which the Holy 
Ghost had appointed them. 

Upon this declaration, the Church set apart 
a day for a solemn mission ; after devout 
prayer and fasting, they laid their hands upon 
them, and ordained them to their new work ; 
which was to travel over certain countries, and 
preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. From this 
joint commission, Barnabas obtained the 
name of an apostle, not only among later 
writers of the Church, but with Paul himself, 
as we find in the history of the Acts of the 
Apostles. Paul and Barnabas being thus 
solemnly appointed " the apostles of the Gen- 
tiles," entered upon their province, taking with 
them John Mark for their minister or deacon, 
who assisted them in many ecclesiastical 
offices, particularly in taking care of the poor. 

The first city they visited after their depart- 
ure from Antioch was Selucia, a city of Syria, 
adjoining the sea. Thence they sailed for the 
island of Cyprus, the native place of Barna- 
bas, and arrived at Salamis, a port formerly 
remarkable for its trade. Here they boldly 
preached the doctrines of the Gospel, in the 
synagogue of the Jews, and thence travelled 
to Paphos, the capital of the island, and 
famous for a temple dedicated to Venus, the 
titular goddess of Cyprus. Here their preach- 
ing was attended with remarkable success ; 
Servius Paulus, the pro-consul, being among 
others converted to the Christian faith. 

Leaving Cyprus, they crossed the sea to 
preach in Pamphylia, where their deacon, 
John, to the great grief of his uncle Barnabas, 
left them, and returned to Jerusalem — either 
tired with continual travels, or discouraged at 
the unavoidable dangers and difficulties which 
experience had sufficiently informed him 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



763 



would constantly attend the first preachers of 
the Gospel from hardened Jews and idolatrous 
Gentiles. 

Supposed to be Gods. 

Soon after their arrival at Lystra Paul cured 
a man who had been lame, which so astonished 
the inhabitants that they believed them to be 
gods who had visited the world in the form 
of men. Barnabas they treated as Jupiter, 
their sovereign deity, either because of his 
age, or the gravity and comeliness of his per- 
son. For all the writers of antiquity repre- 
sent him as a person of a venerable aspect 
and a majestic presence. But the apostles, 
with the greatest humility, declared them- 
selves to be but mortal. And the inconstant 
populace soon satisfied themselves of the 
truth of what they had asserted ; for at the 
persuasion of their indefatigable persecutors, 
who followed them hither also, they made an 
assault upon them, and stoned Paul till they 
left him for dead. 

But, supported by an invisible power from 
on high, he soon recovered his spirits and 
strength, and the apostles immediately de- 
parted for Derbe. Soon after their arrival 
they again applied themselves to the work of 
the ministry, and converted many. From 
Derbe they returned back to Lystra, Iconium, 
and Antioch, in Pisidia, " confirming the souls 
of the disciples, and exhorting them to con- 
tinue in the faith ; and that we must through 
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of 
God." After a short stay they again visited 
the Churches of Pamphylia, Perga, and Attalia, 
where they took ship for Antioch, in Syria, 
the place whence they first set out. Soon 
after their arrival they called the Church of 
this city together, and gave them an account 
of their travels, and the great success with 
which their preaching to the Gentiles had 
been attended. 

But they had not long continued in this 
city before their assistance was required to 
•compose a difference in the Church, occasioned 
by some of the Jewish converts, who endeav- 
ored to persuade the Gentiles that they were 
bound to observe the law of Moses, as well as 



that of Christ, and be circumcised as well as 
baptized. Barnabas endeavored to dissuade 
the Zealots from pressing such unnecessary 
observances. But all his endeavors proving 
ineffectual, he was deputed, with Paul and 
others, to the Church at Jerusalem, to submit 
the question to be determined there in full 
assembly. 

During their stay at Jerusalem, Mark, in 
all probability, reconciled himself to Barnabas, 
and returned with him and Paul to Antioch, 
after they had succeeded in their business at 
Jerusalem, and obtained a decree from the 
synod there, that the Gentile converts should 
not have circumcision and other Mosaic rites 
imposed upon them. 

Mistakes Corrected. 

This determination generally comforted and 
quieted the minds of the Gentiles, but it did 
not prevent the bigoted Jews from keeping up 
a separation from them ; and that with so 
much obstinacy, that when Peter some time 
after came to Antioch, he, for fear of offending 
them, deviated from his former practice, and 
late speech and vote in the synod of Jerusalem, 
by refraining from all kind of communion 
with the Gentiles. And Barnabas himself, so 
great and good a man, was induced, by the 
authority of his example, to commit the same 
error ; though doubtless, on being reproved 
by Paul, they both took more courage, and 
walked according to the true liberty and free- 
dom of the Gospel. 

Some days after this last occurrence Paul 
made a proposal to Barnabas that they should 
repeat their late travels among the Gentiles, 
and see how the Churches they had planted 
increased in their numbers, and improved in 
the doctrines they had taught them. Barnabas 
very readily complied with the motion, but 
desired they might take with them his recon- 
ciled nephew, John Mark. This Paul abso- 
lutely refused, because in their former voyage 
Mark had not shown the constancy of a faith- 
ful minister of Christ, but consulted his own 
ease at a dangerous juncture, departed from 
them, without leave, at Pamphylia, and re- 



764 



STEPHEN. 



turned to Jerusalem. Barnabas still insisted' 
on taking him, and the other continuing as 
resolute to oppose it, a short debate arose, ' 
which terminated in a separation, whereby j 
these two holy men, who had for several years 
been companions in the ministry, and with 
united endeavors propagated the Gospel, now 
took different provinces. Barnabas, with his 
kinsman, sailed to his own country, Cyprus; 
and Paul, accompanied by Silas, travelled to 
the Churches of Syria and Cilicia. 

After this separation from Paul, the sacred 
writings give us no account of Barnabas ; nor 
are the ecclesiastical writers agreed among 
themselves with regard to the actions of this 
apostle after his sailing for Cyprus. This, 
however, seems to be certain, that he did not 
spend the whole remainder of his life in that 
island, but visited different parts of the world, 
preaching, healing the sick, and working other 
miracles among the Gentiles. After long and 
painful travels, attended with different degrees 
of success in different places, he returned to 
Cyprus, his native country, where he suffered 
martyrdom in the following manner: Certain 
Jews coming from Syria to Salamis, where 
Barnabas was then preaching, being highly 
exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell 
upon him as he was disputing in the syna- 
gogue, dragged him out, and after the most 
inhuman tortures, stoned him to death. His 
kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of 
this barbarous action, privately interred his 
body in a cave ; where it is said it remained 
till the time of the emperor Zeno, in the year 
of Christ 485, when it was discovered, with 
Matthew's Gospel in Hebrew, written with his 
own hand, lying on his breast. 

STEPHEN. 

Both the Scriptures and the ancient writers 
are silent with regard to the birth, country, 
and parents of Stephen. Epiphanius is of 
opinion that he was one of the seventy disci- 
ples; but this is very uncertain. Christ ap- 
pointed his seventy disciples ; but it does not 
appear that Stephen and the six other first j 
deacons had any particular designation before 



they were chosen for the service of the tables; 
and, therefore, Stephen could not have been 
one of our Lord's disciples, though he might 
have often followed Him and listened to His 
discourses. 

He was remarkably zealous for the cause of 
religion, and full of the Holy Ghost; working 
many wonderful miracles before the people, 
and pressing them with the greatest earnest- 
ness to embrace the doctrines of the Gospel. 

This highly provoked the Jews ; and some 
of the synagogue of the freed men of Cyrenia, 
Alexandria, and other places entered into dis- 
pute with him ; but being unable to resist the 
wisdom and spirit by which he spake, they 
suborned false witnesses against him, to testify 
that they heard him blaspheme against Moses 
and against God. Nor did they stop here ; 
they stirred up the people by their calumnies, 
so that they dragged him before the council 
of the nation, or great Sanhedrin, where they 
produced false witnesses against him, who de- 
posed that they had heard him speak against 
the Temple and against the law, and affirm 
that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the holy 
place, and abolish the law of Moses. 

A. Thrilling- Address. 

Stephen, supported by his own innocence 
and an invisible power from on high, ap- 
peared undaunted in the midst of this assem- 
bly, his countenance shining like that of an 
angel ; when the high-priest asked him what 
he had to offer against the accusations laid to- 
his charge, he answered by reminding them 
of God's great mercies to them as a nation, 
and by showing them how they had resisted 
him, and refused to receive the blessings he 
held out to them, closing his remarks as fol- 
lows : 

" Ye stiff-necked, ye uncircumcised in heart 
and ears, ye will forever resist the Holy Ghost. 
Ye tread in the paths of your fathers. As they 
did, so do you still continue to do. Did not 
your fathers persecute every one of the proph- 
ets ? Did not they slay them who showed the 
coming of the Holy One, whom ye yourselves 
have betrayed and murdered ? Ye have re- 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



765 



ceived the law by the disposition of angels, 
but never kept it." 

At these words, they were so highly en- 
raged that they all gnashed their teeth against 
him. But Stephen, lifting up his eyes to 
heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus 
I standing at the right hand of Omnipotence. 
Upon which, he said to the council, " I see the 
heavens open, and the Son of man standing 
at the right hand of God." This so greatly 
provoked the Jews, that they cried out with 
one voice, and stopped their ears, as if they 
had heard some dreadful blasphemy ; and fall- 
ing upon him, they dragged him out of the 
city, and stoned him to death. It was the 
custom of the Jews, on these occasions, for the 
witnesses to throw the first stone. Whether 
they observed this particular at the martyrdom 
of Stephen, is uncertain. But the evangelist 
tells us that the witnesses were principally 
concerned in this action ; for they stripped 
off their clothes, and laid them at the feet 
of a young man whose name was Saul, then 
a violent persecutor of the Christian Church, 
but afterwards one of the most zealous preach- 
ers of the Gospel. 

Stephen, while they were mangling his body 
with stones, was praying to his heavenly Father 
for their pardon. " Lord," said he, " lay not 
this sin to their charge." And then, calling 
on his dear Redeemer to receive his spirit, he 
yielded up his soul. 

TIMOTHY. 

Timothy was a convert and disciple of Paul. 
He was born, according to some, at Lystra; 
or, according to others, at Derbe. His father 
was a Gentile, but his mother a Jewess, whose 
name was Eunice, and that of his grandmother 
Lois. 

These particulars are taken notice of because 
Paul commends their piety, and the good edu- 
cation which they had given Timothy. When 
Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, about the 
year of Christ 51 or 52, the brethren gave a 
very advantageous testimony of the piety and 
good disposition of Timothy ; and the apostle 



would have him along with him, but he initi- 
ated him at Lystra, before he received him 
into his company. Timothy applied himself 
to labor with Paul, and did him very impor- 
tant services through the whole course of his 
preaching. It is believed that he received 
very early the imposition of the apostles' 
hands, and that in consequence of a particular 
revelation or direction from the Holy Ghost. 
Paul calls him not only his dearly-beloved 
son, but also his brother, the companion of 
his labors, and a man of God. He declared 
that there was no one more united with him 
in heart and mind than Timothy. 

Timothy in Macedonia. 

This disciple accompanied Paul to Mace- 
donia, to Philippi, to Thessalonica, to Berea; 
and when the apostle went from Berea he left 
Timothy and Silas there to confirm the con- 
verts. When he came to Athens he sent for 
Timothy to come thither to him ; and when 
he was come, and had given him an account 
of the Churches at Macedonia, Paul sent him 
back to Thessalonica, whence he afterwards 
returned with Silas, and came to Paul at Cor- 
inth. There he continued with him, and the 
apostle mentions him with Silas, at the begin- 
ning of the two Epistles which he then wrote 
to the Thessalonians. 

Some years after this Paul sent Timothy 
and Erastus into Macedonia ; and gave Timo- 
thy orders to call at Corinth, to refresh the 
minds of the Corinthians with regard to the 
truths which he had inculcated. And some 
time after, writing to the same Corinthians, he 
recommends them to take care of Timothy, 
and send him back in peace. After this Timo- 
thy returned to Paul in Asia, who there stayed 
for him. They went together into Mace- 
donia; and the apostle puts Timothy's name 
with his own, before the second Epistle to the 
Corinthians, which he wrote to them from 
Macedonia, about the middle of the year of 
Christ 57; and he sends his recommendations 
to the Romans in the letter which he wrote 
them from Corinth the same year. 

W r hen Paul returned from Rome, in 64, 



TITUS. 



he left Timothy at Ephesus, to take care of 
that Church, of which he was the first bishop, 
as he is recognized by the council of Chalce- 
don. Paul wrote to him from Macedonia the 
first of the two Epistles which are addressed 
to him. After the apostle came to Rome, in 
the year 65, being now very near his death, he 
wrote to him his second letter, which is full 
of the marks of his kindness and tenderness 
for this his dear disciple, and which is justly 
looked upon as the last will of Paul. He de- 
sires him to come to Rome to him before 
winter, and bring with him several things 
which Paul had left at Troas. If Timothy 
went to Rome, as it is probable he did, he 
must have been a witness there of the martyr- 
dom of this apostle, in the year of Christ 66. 

The Church at Ephesus. 

If he did not die before the year 97, we can 
hardly doubt but that he must be the pastor 
of the Church of Ephesus, to whom John 
writes in his Revelations ; though the re- 
proaches with which he seems to load him for 
his declension in having left his first love, do 
not seem to agree to so holy a man as 
Timothy was, or show that men, eminently 
holy, may yet fall from their steadfastness. 
Thus he speaks to him : " I know thy works, 
and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou 
canst not bear them which are evil ; and thou 
hast tried them which say they are apostles, 
and are not, and hast found them liars ; and 
hast borne and hast patience, and for my 
name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. 
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, 
because thou hast left thy first love. Remem- 
ber, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and 
repent and do thy first works ; or else I will 
come unto thee quickly, and remove thy can- 
dlestick out of his place, except thou repent." 
The great number of interpreters think that 
these reproaches do not so much concern the 
person of Timothy, as that of some members 
of his Church, whose zeal was grown cool. 
But others are persuaded that they may be 
applied to Timothy himself, who made ample 
amends by the martyrdom which he suffered 



for the reproaches mentioned by John in this 
place. It is supposed that Timothy had 
Onesimus for his successor. 

TITUS. 

Titus was a Gentile by religion and birth, 
but converted by Paul, who calls him his son. 
Jerome says that he was Paul's interpreter; 
and that probably because he might write 
what Paul dictated, or explained in Latin what 
this apostle said in Greek ; or rendered into 
Greek what Paul said in Hebrew or Syriac. 
Paul took him with him to Jerusalem, when 
he went thither in the year 5 1, about deciding 
the question which was then started, whether 
the converted Gentiles ought to be made sub- 
ject to the ceremonies of the law. Some would 
then have obliged him to circumcise Titus, but 
neither he nor Titus would consent to it. Titus 
was sent by the same apostle to Corinth, upon 
occasion of some disputes which then divided 
the Church. He was well received by the 
Corinthians, and very much satisfied with their 
ready compliance, but would receive nothing 
from them, intimating thereby the disinter- 
estedness of his master. 

Thence he went to Paul in Macedonia, and 
gave him an account of the state of the Church 
at Corinth. A little while after the apostle 
desired him to return again to Corinth, to set 
things in order preparatory to his coming. Ti- 
tus readily undertook his journey, and departed 
immediately, carrying with him Paul's second 
letter to the Corinthians. Titus was made 
bishop of the isle of Crete, about the sixty- 
third year of Christ, when Paul was obliged 
to quit this island, in order to take care of the 
other Churches. The following year he wrote 
to him to desire that, as soon as he should 
have sent Tychicus of Artemas to him for 
supplying his place in Crete, Titus would come 
to him to Nicopolis in Macedonia, or to Nicop- 
olis in Epirus upon the gulf of Ambracia, 
where the apostle intended to pass his winter. 

The subject of this Epistle is to represent 
to Titus what are the qualities that a bishop 
should be endued with. As the principal 
function which Titus was to exercise in the 



GREAT MEN OF THE BIBLE. 



767 



isle of Crete was to ordain elders, it was 
highly incumbent on him to make a discreet 
choice. 

The Epistle to Titus has always been ac- 
knowledged by the Church. The Marcionites 
did not receive it, nor did the Basilidians, and 
some other heretics; but Titian, the head of 
the Encratites, received it, and preferred it 
before all the rest. It is not certainly known 
from what place it was written, nor by whom 
it was sent. 

Titus was deputed to preach the Gospel in 
Dalmatia; and he was still there in the year 
sixty-five, when the apostle wrote his second 
Epistle to Timothy. He afterwards returned 
into Crete ; from which it is said he propa- 
gated the Gospel into the neighboring islands. 
He died at the age of ninety-four, and was 
buried in Crete. We are assured that the 
cathedral of the city of Candia is dedicated 
to his name, and that his head is preserved 
there entire. The Greeks keep his festival on 
the 25th of August, and the Latins on the 4th 
of January. 

JOHN THE BABTIST. 

John the Baptist was of the priestly race 
by both parents ; for his father Zacharias 
was himself a priest of the course of Abia or 
Abijah, and his mother Elizabeth was of the 
daughters of Aaron. Elizabeth was cousin to 
Mary, the mother of our Lord, so that the 
forerunner was the near kinsman of the Mes- 
siah. 

It was the office of Zacharias to burn in- 
cense before the Lord in the Temple, and to 
pray for the public welfare of Israel, and it 
was while he was engaged in the discharge of 
these duties that the angel appeared to him, 
and told him that he was soon to become a 
father, and explained to him the Divine mission 
which should fall to the lot of his son; a mis- 
sion which was the subject of prophecy many 
centuries before the announcement of the 
angel. These marvelous revelations as to the 
birth of his son, which was not according to 
the laws of nature, and as to his character and 
career, were too much for the faith of Zacha- 



rias, and he openly expressed his doubts of 
the declaration of the heavenly messenger. 
For these doubts he was punished by the loss 
of his speech until his child's birth. 

And now the Lord's goodness tarried not. 
Elizabeth, for greater privacy, retired into the 
hill country, whither she was soon after fol- 
lowed by her kinswoman Mary. The birth of 
John preceded, by six months, that of Jesus. 

The Child Named. 

On the eighth day the child of promise was, 
in conformity with the law of Moses, brought 
to the priest for circumcision, and as the per- 
formance of this rite was the accustomed time 
for naming a child, the friends of the family 
proposed to call him Zacharias, after the name 
of his father. The mother, however, required 
that he should be called John ; a decision 
which Zacharias, still speechless, confirmed by 
writing on a tablet, ' His name is John." The 
judgment on his want of faith was at once 
withdrawn. 

A single verse contains all we know with 
certainty of John's history, for a space of 
thirty years, the whole period which elapsed 
between his birth and the beginning of his 
public ministry. " The child grew, and waxed 
strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the 
day of his showing unto Israel." There is a 
tradition, that when Herod sent forth to kill 
the children around Bethlehem, Elizabeth fled 
to the desert with the infant John, and died 
there soon after, and that the child was nur- 
tured in a miraculous manner from heaven, 
until he grew to be old enough to provide for 
himself. 

John was ordained to be a Nazarite from 
his birth. Dwelling by himself in the wild 
and thinly-peopled region westward of the 
Dead Sea, he prepared himself for the won- 
derful office to which he had been Divinely 
called. The very appearance of the holy 
Baptist was, in itself, a lesson to his country- 
men ; his dress was that of the old prophets — 
a garment woven of camel's hair, attached to 
the body by a leathern girdle. His food was 
locusts and wild honey. 



768 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 



At length, being fully prepared for his mis- 
sion, this great preacher of the approaching 
salvation came up out of the wilderness into 
the more thickly populated portions of Judaea. 
It was a time at which all the nations of the 
-eastern world, the Jews in particular, were 
looking for the coming of some great person, 
who should bring great good to mankind. 
Suddenly, while Judaea was waiting in this 
vague expectancy, there was heard " the voice 
of one crying in the wilderness," the wild, 
impassioned eloquence of John, calling on the 
people of the land to " repent, for the king- 
dom of Heaven is at hand." His wonderful 
eloquence and his strange appearance drew 
large crowds to hear him, and he taught them 
a doctrine which was new to them — that of 
repentance. 

The Voice in the Wilderness. 

The mission of the Baptist — an extraor- 
dinary one for an extraordinary purpose — was 
not limited to those who had openly forsaken 
the covenant of God, and so forfeited its prin- 
ciples. It was to the whole people alike. 
Jesus Himself came from Galilee to Jordan to 
be baptized of John. It appears that John 
immediately, as it were by a prophetic revela- 
tion, knew the Saviour of the world, for we 
find from the evangelist that he acknowledged 
His superiority, and declined the office : " I 
have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest 
Thou to me ? " Our Saviour's answer, though 
short, is very full and expressive : " Suffer it 
to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil 
all righteousness." As if He had said, Re- 
gard not the precedence at this time, but per- 
form thy office ; for it is necessary that we 
should, in the minutest point, conform to the 
Divine will, by which this institution is en- 
joined. This remonstrance removed the ob- 



jections of John, and he baptized Jesus in the 
River Jordan, in the presence of numerous 
spectators. 

But shortly after he had given his testimony 
to the Messiah, John's public ministry was 
brought to a close. Herod Antipas had taken 
to himself the wife of his brother Philip; and 
when John reproved him for this, as well as 
for other sins, Herod cast him into prison. 
He was confined in the Castle of Machaerus 
— a gloomy fortress lying on the eastern 
shore of the Dead Sea. 

Herod kept John a prisoner for some time, 
being anxious to put him to death, but being 
deterred from such a crime by his fear of the 
people, who regarded John as a prophet. His 
guilty wife, Herodias, was not so timid. John's 
stern denunciation of her criminal intercourse 
with Herod had aroused her fiercest resent-r 
ment, and she was resolved that the holy man 
should pay for his boldness with his life. 
While John lay in prison a great festival was 
held at the Castle of Machaerus, in honor of 
the king's birthday. 

After supper, Salome, the daughter of He- 
rodias, came in and danced before the com- 
pany, and so captivated the monarch with her 
grace, that he promised, with an oath, to give 
her whatever she would ask, even to the half 
of his kingdom. The damsel, prompted by 
her infamous mother, promptly demanded the 
head of John the Baptist. Herod still feared 
to put John to death, but nevertheless, for his 
oath's sake, gave orders for his instant execu- 
tion. An officer of the guard went at once 
to the prison, and, with his sword, struck off 
the head of the holy man, and brought it to 
the young girl, who carried it to her mother. 
The death of John is supposed to have oc- 
curred just before the third Passover, in the 
course of the Lord's ministry. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG, . 

COMPRISING CAPTIVATING 

NARRATIVES OF SCENES AND EVENTS. 




the earth. She in turn became the 
tempter of Adam, who yielded to 
her persuasions, as she did to those 
of the serpent. This is the Script- 
ural narrative of the fall of our 
first parents. Having been created 
holy in the image of God, by one 
great act of folly they lost their 
first estate. 

Adam and Eve Driven from 
Paradise. — The banishment of the 
guilty pair from the bowers of 
Eden followed their sin. They 
were startled by a voice which was 
heard in the garden in the cool of 
the day. Suddenly alarmed, they 
hid themselves among the trees and 
endeavored to escape. Fear was 
the fall of our first PARENTS.-Gen. iii. 6. awakened when it was too late, and 

The Fall of our First Parents. — The j the Lord God having called unto Adam, he 
Bible begins with an account of the creation | was put on trial for his sin, and both he and 
of the world. The sun, moon and stars, the land j Eve were driven forth from their happy home, 
and water, the trees, plants and an- 
imals, were made, and the whole 
work was pronounced to be very 
good. Then Adam was formed 
from the dust of the earth, a living 
soul was breathed into him, and 
Eve was given to be his companion 
and helpmeet A beautiful garden 
for their abode was planted east- 
ward in Eden, and they were per- 
mitted to eat of every tree of the 
garden with the exception of one. 
If they tasted the fruit of this tree 
they would die. Eve was tempted 
by the serpent, and was told that 
disobedience would not result in 
death, but she would become as a 
god, knowing good and evil. She 
listened and ate, and from that mo- 
ment the curse of sin came upon 




ADAM AND EVE DRIVEN FROM PARADISE 



770 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




BANISHMENT FROM PARADISE.— Gen. iii. 19 

After the Banishment from Paradise. — 
The exiles from Eden went forth into an in- 
hospitable world. Their life henceforth was 
to be one of toil and sorrow. Bereft of their 
fair Paradise, they were to learn the meaning 
of suffering and death. The fatal moment 
was past ; the early innocence could not be 
recalled ; on every side were signs of woe ; 
the dust to which the guilty ones 
were destined to return must be 
wet with their tears. The ground 
which, in its virgin state, could give 
birth to the bloom and beauty of 
Eden, now bore thorns and this- 
tles, and the ruined earth presented 
a pathetic contrast to the loveliness 
of the garden which formed the 
first abode. Yet it must not be 
supposed that no gleams of hope 
and mercy tinged the dark cloud 
which had so suddenly appeared. 
There was to be enmity between 
the evil tempter and the woman, 
and the assurance was given that 
the serpent should be bruised and 
his power finally destroyed. While 
we have in the first chapters of the 
Bible the unhappy narrative of a 



Paradise lost, we have in the clos- 
ing chapters a Paradise regained. 

Sacrifice of Cain and Abel. — 
Two sons were given to Adam and 
Eve, and in time they grew to be 
men. The name of the elder was 
{ Cain, whose occupation was tilling 
the ground; the name of the 
younger was Abel, who was a 
shepherd. The practice of worship 
and sacrifice had already been com- 
menced ; the smoke from the altar's 
flame had already ascended toward 
heaven. Abel understood quite 
well that an offering from his flock, 
the lamb, which is an emblem of 
innocence and purity, would be ac- 
ceptable to God. Cain also wished 
to make an offering, and so brought 
of the fruits of the earth, and was 
professedly as devout a worshipper as his 
brother. The Lord had respect to the offer- 
ing of Abel, but that of Cain was rejected. 
The anger of Cain was excited at once, and 
showed a sudden jealousy and hatred of his 
brother. God asked the occasion of his wrath, 
and assured him if he did well he would be 
accepted. Alas, he had done a great wrong. 

rr- ■- ■-■--■ . . - . y . .j... ,iu. + 




SACRIFICE OF CAIN AND ABEL.-Gen. iv. 4, 5. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



771 




was speedily pronounced, and the 
guilty criminal went forth to be a 
wanderer in the earth. 

Noah Commanded to Build the 
Ark. — Coming to the history of 
Noah, we find that during his time 
the earth had grown to be very 
wicked. A race of mighty men 
had appeared, but very little of good 
could be said concerning them. 
The statement is that every thought 
and imagination were only evil con- 
tinually, and that God resolved to 
send a flood of waters to sweep 
away the wicked generation. Noah, 
however, endeavored to be an up- 
right man, and preparations were 
made to save him and his family. 
He was commanded to build an 

DEATH OF ABEL.-Gen. iv. 8. ark which should float Upon the 

The Death of Abel. — In the very morn- great deep, and for the space of one hundred 
ing of creation the earth was stained with and twenty years he patiently worked upon 
blood. The fires of sacrifice kindled by these the huge vessel, receiving Divine direction as 
two brothers had gone out, but not the fire of to its construction. The kind of wood to be 
envy and revenge in the heart of one of them, used, the length, breadth and height, the num- 
Cain talked with Abel, and at the same timejber of stories, the position of the door and 
watched his opportunity to strike the fatal window, the method of stopping the crevices 
blow. When they were in the field together, to keep the water out, were all stated. 
Abel was slain, and now in the an- 
nals of the first family of the human 
race we have the first record of the 
greatest crime that can be com- 
mitted. The elder brother was a 
murderer. Sin had grown with 
startling rapidity, and had proved 
its desperate nature. Promptly, as 
appears from the narrative in Gene- 
sis, the Lord said to Cain, Where is 
Abel, thy brother? Cain, as if 
hoping like all criminals to conceal 
his guilt, replied that he did not 
know. No language could be more 
graphic than that in which his crime 
was stated. He was told that his 
brother's blood was crying from the 
ground. From that hour Cain was 
a marked man; swift punishment 
overtook him ; the Divine judgment noah commanded to build the ark— Gen. vi. 13-18. 




772 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




NOAH LEAVING THE ARK.— Gen. viii. i8, ig 

Noah Leaving the Ark. — Upon the com- 
pletion of the ark Noah and his family, com- 
prising in all eight souls, entered it, and took 
with them two of a kind, male and female, of 
beasts, fowls, and everything that creepeth, in 
order that life in the earth might not, be en- 
tirely destroyed. Then the foundations of the 
great deep were broken up, and the windows 
of heaven opened. Forty days and 
nights the torrents poured down, 
turning the land into a sea, filling 
the valleys, rising above the moun- 
tains, and carrying destruction far 
and wide. One world was drowned, 
but a new one was floating in the 
ark. A vivid picture is given in 
Genesis of the desolation which pre- 
vailed. Everything, even to the 
herbs of the field, perished. One 
hundred and fifty days the waters 
prevailed. During this period Noah 
took measures to ascertain whether 
the waters were subsiding. Wc 
have the picture of a dove going 
forth from the window of the ark 
and returning without finding a 
resting-place. Again it went forth, 
and came back with an olive 



branch, showing that land was 
somewhere to be found. On its 
next excursion it did not return, but 
settled itself in its new home. The 
wandering ark finally rested on 
Mount Ararat. 

Noah's Thank-Offering. — The 
first act of Noah and his family 
upon leaving the ark was that of 
worship and thanksgiving. An 
altar was erected and loaded with 
offerings. As the consuming fire 
flashed heavenward the Lord was 
well pleased with the fragrance of 
the sacrifice, His infinite pity was 
moved, and He resolved in His 
heart never to flood the earth again. 
Seed-time and harvest, cold and 
heat, summer and winter, were 
promised so long as the earth re- 
maineth. One of the most attractive parts of 
this scene of worship is the making of a cov- 
enant, and fixing the sign of it in the heavens. 
In this covenant every living creature was in- 
cluded, and was assured of the Divine protec- 
tion and care. The seven-colored rainbow, 
arching the sky, was made the pledge that the 
covenant never would be broken. 




NOAH'S THANK-OFFERING. -Gen. viii. 20. 






BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



773 




NOAH CURSES HAM.— Gen. ix. 24, 25. 

Noah Curses Ham. — Looking again at 
the history in Genesis we learn that Noah, 
after leaving the ark, followed the life of a 
husbandman. Broad fields were to be tilled, 
and the promise had been given that seed-time 
and harvest should not fail. The earth would 
yield its increase and labor would be rewarded. 
Noah planted a vineyard, drank of the fruit 
of the vine, and became drunken. 
Lying uncovered in his tent, he was 
seen by Ham, one of his three sons, 
who, instead of concealing his 
father's weakness and shame, called 
his two brothers to come and wit- 
ness it. This was showing a dis- 
respect which brought down the 
curse of the father upon the head 
of the son. The two brothers took 
a garment, and laying it upon their 
shoulders, went backward and 
covered their father's nakedness. 
This dutiful act stands in strong 
contrast to the conduct of Ham, 
who was ready to expose the shame 
of his father. When Noah awaked 
he knew what had been done by 
his thoughtless, ungrateful son, and 
he pronounced a curse upon Ham 



and his descendants, declaring that 
they should be servants unto their 
brethren. At the same time he 
gave lis blessing to Shem and 
Japheth. 

The Tower of Babel.— After 
the family of Noah took possession 
of the earth the number of inhabi- 
tants was soon greatly increased. 
All are represented as speaking one 
language which was easily under- 
stood. As the tide of population 
rolled eastward it came to a plain 
in the land of Shinar, where a set- 
tlement was speedily made. The 
people, not profiting by former ex- 
amples of sin, resolved to build a 
tower that should reach to heaven. 
Their plea was that they were anx- 
ious to make for themselves a name, 
lest they should be scattered abroad upon the 
face of the whole earth. They wished to found 
a city, and by the erection of a tower gratify 
their pride. The Lord, we are told, saw their 
ambitious project, their language was at once 
confounded, the tower of Babel was over- 
thrown, and from that time the human race 
spoke with many tongues. 




THE TOWER OF BAEEL.-Gen. xi. 7, 8. 



774 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND.— Gen. xii. 3-7 

Abraham Sees the Promised Land. — 
One of the best men whose lives are recorded 
in the Bible was Abraham, sometimes called 
" the father of the faithful." In the land of 
Ur, where he resided, idolatry was almost 
universally practised. He received Divine 
direction to go forth, and pursue his journeys 
until he should reach a land which the Lord 
would show him. He was to leave 
his kindred and his father's house, 
and in so doing the promise was 
made that he should have many 
descendants and become a great 
nation. He did not know the coun- 
try which was to be his future abode, 
nor the way to it, but being a man 
of strong faith he immediately de- 
parted to his new home, taking 
with him his nephew, Lot, and 
Sarah, his wife. The journey was 
long and was attended with many 
difficulties. They finally came to 
the land of Canaan, a country which 
during all the centuries since has 
been associated with the history of 
the Jewish people. Abraham passed 
through until he came to the plain 
of Moreh. The Divine promise was 



given that this land should belong 
to him and his posterity, and he 
built an altar unto the Lord. Pass- 
ing on he came to a mountain on 
the east of Bethel, and there erected 
another altar, carrying his spirit of 
worship wherever he went. 

God's Promise to Abraham. — 
Abraham was in a strange country, 
and was among people not alto- 
gether friendly to him and his re- 
ligion, but he was protected and 
dwelt in security. When a famine 
arose he and Lot went for the time 
being to Egypt, yet not intending 
to remain long. Upon their return 
they repaired to the plain of Moreh, 
where an altar had previously been 
erected. These men had met with 
great prosperity ; had become pos- 
sessed of many flocks, and had grown to be 
rich. Their herdsmen could not agree, and 
Abraham and Lot resolved to separate, each 
going his own way and selecting his own place 
of residence. Lot made choice of the plain of 
Jordan, and thus the peace was secured which 
Abraham earnestly desired. It seemed to him 
an unhappy thing to have any quarrel. 




GOD'S PROMISE TO ABRAHAM.— Gen. xv. 5. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



775 




LEAVING SODOM.— Gen. xix. 24-26. 

Lot and his Daughters Leaving Sodom. 
— In the plain of the Jordan two cities, Sodom 
and Gomorrah, had become notorious for their 
wickedness. After separating from Abraham 
we are told that Lot pitched his tent toward 
Sodom. This city was to be destroyed, and 
Abraham was told by angels what was com- 
ing. With great earnestness he interceded in 

behalf of Lot, and was told that if 

ten righteous men could be found 
in the city it would be spared. Lot 
was also visited by two angels, who 
warned him of the approaching 
danger, and urged him to flee to 
some other place. The angels took 
Lot, his wife and his two daughters 
by the hcnd and led them out of the 
city. They were told to escape for 
their lives ; to flee without any de- 
lay; to betake themselves to the 
mountain, for the city would surely 
be overthrown. The special request 
of Lot that he should be permitted 
to flee to a small place called Zoar 
was granted, and thither he and 
his daughters directed their hasty 
steps ; but the representation is that 
Lot's wife lingered in the plain and. 



stopping to look oack, was turned 
to a pillar of salt. The storm of 
fire descended from heaven and 
consumed the wicked cities. 

Jacob's Departure for Ca- 
naan. — Jacob had been instructed 
by his father Isaac not to take a 
wife from among the daughters of 
Canaan. He went to Padan-aram 
to visit Laban, his mother's brother. 
There, after a service of fourteen 
years, he obtained Rachel, one of 
Laban's daughters. Being thrifty, 
industrious and upright, he pros- 
pered and gained large possessions. 
The time at length came when he 
wished to return to Canaan to visit 
the relatives from whom he had 
long been separated. Laban sought 
to detain him, realizing that his own 
fortunes had been blessed through the Divine 
favor granted to Jacob, and had some harsh 
things to say concerning the contemplated 
departure. A Divine message which came at 
this time to Jacob determined his conduct and 
brought him to a decision. He prepared to 
leave, and take with him his wives, children 
and cattle. All finally reached Canaan. 




JACOB'S DEPARTURE FOR CANAAN —Gen. xxxi. 17-46. 



776 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL.— Gen. xxxii. 24. 

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. — All 
through the Bible accounts are given of the 
visits of angels, who are represented as bring- 
ing messages to men, befriending those who 
are in trial, protecting those who are in danger, 
and performing various offices of mercy and 
love. On one of his journeys Jacob found 
himself alone as night came on, and we aie 
told that a man wrestled^ with him 
until break of day. It was a re- 
markable contest, and the description 
of it forms one of the exciting inci- 
dents related in Genesis. Jacob was 
very much in earnest, for he was 
seeking a blessing, and when the 
angel wished to break away and take 
his departure, Jacob refused to let 
him go. The angel wished to know 
the name of the one who was so 
determined to detain him, and hav- 
ing received the answer he assured 
Jacob that a new name should be 
given to him, and he would be 
called Israel, the meaning of which 
is prince, for as a prince he had pre- 
vailed with God. The spot where 
the wrestling took place was consid- 
ered sacred by Jacob. 



Moses Destroying the Tables 
of the Law. — In a little bulrush life- 
boat beside the river Nile, a daugh- 
ter of Pharaoh one day found a little 
babe. It had been concealed by 
its mother to escape the decree of 
the king that every new-born son of 
the Hebrews should be destroyed to 
prevent them from becoming too 
numerous. The child was named 
Moses, was adopted by the princess, 
and brought up at the court of Egypt. 
Afterward hebecamea shepherd, and 
when the Hebrews were brought out 
of Egypt, where they had been in 
bondage for more than four hundred 
years, Moses was made their leader. 
They departed in a single night, 
passed the Red Sea, and soon came 
to Mount Sinai,, where they halted 
while Moses went up into the rugged mountain 
to receive from God his law, and also directions 
for building the tabernacle. During his ab- 
sence, which lasted forty days, the people 
became very uneasy, and wished Aaron to 
make a god for them to worship. He took 
the jewelry of the women and made a golden- 
calf, and the people worshipped it. 




MOSES DESTROYING THE TABLES.— Ex. xxxii. 19. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



777 




THE DEATH OF MOSES.— Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6. 

Death of Moses. — The account of the 
death of Israel's great leader and lawgiver 
brings to a close the history of a very remark- 
able man. He conducted the people during 
the forty years in which they were seeking the 
promised land, but he was not permitted to 
enter the land, and died before the great host 
he had led so long crossed over 
Jordan to their new home. We are 
told that he went up to Mount Pis- 
gah, and was there shown the fair 
country which the Lord had prom- 
ised to his people. From the sum- 
mit of this mountain he could look 
far away beyond the Jordan, and 
behold cities and plains, hills and 
valleys, palm-trees and shepherds' 
pastures. This was the goodly land 
which the seed of Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob were to possess. This 
was his last look upon earth. His 
work was done ; his departure was 
at hand. He was not old as age 
was reckoned in those days, when 
men lived much longer than they 
do now. His eye had not grown 
dim, when he fell asleep at the age 
of one hundred and twenty. 



Joshua Dividing the Land. — 
After the death of Moses the duty 
of settling the Hebrews in Canaan 
was intrusted to Joshua. He, with 
Caleb, had come out of Egypt forty 
years before, and on account of their 
uprightness and obedience were per- 
mitted to live, and enjoy the inheri- 
tance from which others had been 
excluded. When the people came 
into their new country, a large part 
of it was still in possession of the 
first inhabitants. Surveying parties 
were sent out to measure the terri- 
tory, and learn what would be re- 
quired in the attempt to conquer it. 
Forty-eight cities were set apart for 
the priests and Levites, and these 
they were to occupy. The people 
were also directed to choose cities 
of refuge. These would be places of safety to 
any one who by accident had killed another, 
provided he could reach a city of refuge in 
advance of his pursuers. Thus provision was 
made for the exercise of mercy. The land was 
partitioned and divided up according to the 
various tribes. By the casting of lots Joshua 
the river I determined where the tribes were to be located. 




DIVIDING THE LAND AMONG THE TRIBES. -Josh. xiii. 6, 7. 



778 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




JEPHTHAH'S RASH VOW.— Judges xi. 34. 

Jephthah and his Daughter. — In olden the li< 



Samson and the Lion. — In the 
book of Judges an account is given 
of Samson and his wonderful feats 
of strength. From his birth he 
seems to have been marked for an 
extraordinary career. As he grew 
up the Spirit of the Lord began to 
move him at times in the camp of 
Dan. On a visit to Timnath to obtain 
a wife from the Philistines, Samson 
performed his first great feat of 
strength. Being met by a young 
lion, the Spirit of the Lord came 
upon him mightily, and seizing the 
lion he rent him in pieces. Samson 
paid a visit to the daughter of the 
Philistines whom he was seeking, 
and she pleased him well. After a 
time he returned to take her, and 
turning aside to see the carcass of 



times a vow was considered as something 
very sacred, and having once been made, on 
no consideration could it be broken. Jeph- 
thah, we are told, was a mighty man of 
valor. A battle with the Ammonites was to 
be fought, and Jephthah made a vow that if 
the Lord would grant him the victory he 
would make a burnt-offering of 
whatever met him at his own door 
on his return from the battle. The 
forces fought with bravery, Jephthah 
proved his generalship, and victory 
perched upon his banner. To his 
surprise and grief, his only daughter 
came out with music and dancing to 
greet her father. He rent his clothes, 
and manifested all the signs of sor- 
row and remorse. He told his 
daughter that he had opened his 
mouth unto the Lord, and could not 
take back his word. With the most 
dutiful submission she answered that 
if he had made a vow he should do 
as he had said. She gave her life 
that her rash father might keep the 
word which never ought to have 
been spoken. 



he had slain, he found a swarm of 
bees had made a hive in it, and had deposited 
honey. He took away some of the honey, 
and, according to the custom of the young 
men of the time, made a feast and invited his 
companions. The story in Judges gives a full 
description of this feast, and the failure of 
the young men to guess Samson's riddle. 







SAMSON SLAVING A LION.— Judges xiv. 6. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




SAMSON SLAYS THE PHILISTINES.— Judges xv. 16 

Samson and his Enemies. — Having been 
deceived by his wife's father, the narrative states 
that Samson caught three hundred foxes, tied 
them together in pairs, attached a firebrand to 
each pair, set these on fire, and sent the foxes 
into the harvest-fields of the Philistines. The 
standing corn, "as well as that already cut, and 
also the vineyards and olives, were burned, and 
a great amount of injury was in- 
flicted. Samson fled to the top of 
a high rock and three thousand 
Philistines went to capture him. 
They promised him that if he would 
permit himself to be bound they 
would not put him to death. He 
was brought into camp bound with 
strong cords, but suddenly his great 
strength was aroused, and he broke 
the cords as if they had been noth- 
ing more than spiders' threads. Seiz- 
ing the jawbone of an ass he slew a 
thousand of his enemies, and carried 
■consternation through their ranks. 
We next find him at the city of 
Gaza, where he seized the gates 
and their posts and carried them 
away, proving that no city's gates 
•were strong enough to imprison him. 



The Giant Loses his Strength. 
— The Philistines tried to capture 
their foe and deprive him of his 
extraordinary strength. Here a 
woman whose name was Delilah 
appears upon the scene, and we find 
her in company with Samson for 
the purpose of ascertaining the 
secret of his power. If she suc- 
ceeded she was to be rewarded with 
a large sum of money. Samson 
told her to try tying him with seven 
cords made of the thin branches of 
trees. This was done when he was 
asleep, but on waking he was as 
mighty as ever. Then he told 
Delilah to bind him with new ropes, 
but these proved to be useless. 
Next he deceived her by requesting 
that his hair should be arranged in 
a certain way. This also failed. As Samson 
was a Nazarite, his hair had been allowed to 
grow, and here was the secret of his strength. 
In an unguarded moment he revealed this 
secret, and when he was asleep his locks 
were shaved off, his doom was sealed, and, 
having fallen into the hands of his enemies, his 



eyes were put out, and he was thrust into prison. 




SAMSON SHORN OF HIS STRENGTH.— Judges xvi. 21. 



780 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




SAMSON'S VENGEANCE AND DEATH. -Judges xvi 

Samson Slain. — The prisoner was rudely 
treated. His victories had been too many for 
him now to escape the revenge of the foes who 
had finally captured him. In his blindness he 
was made to grind the mills in the prison- 
house. Samson's hair had been shorn, but 
the roots remained ; it grew again, and his 
wonderful strength returned to him. It was 
the custom of the people to invite 
him to their merry-making festivals, 
and he entertained them and made 
himself a general favorite. The 
Philistines were idolaters, and after 
the capture of Samson they offered 
a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, 
because, as they supposed, Dagon 
had delivered their foe into their 
hands. A large number of the people 
were assembled in the temple, and to 
this place Samson was led by a boy. 
He asked to be allowed to feel the 
pillars of the temple. Then he 
grasped them in his mighty arms, 
and with a violent shake brought 
them to the ground. The building 
fell, large numbers were killed, and 
among them was Samson, who lost 
his life taking vengeance on his foes. 



Ruth and her Benefactor. — 
The beautiful account of Ruth given 
in that book of the Bible which 
bears her name represents her as 
strongly attached to Naomi, who 
was her mother-in-law. Each had 
lost her husband, and being com- 
panions, a warm affection existed 
between them. From wealth they 
had been reduced to poverty, and 
as Ruth did not wish to leave 
Naomi and return to Moab, her 
own land, she resolved to support 
herself by gleaning in the fields of 
Boaz, a rich man who was well 
known for his kindness to the 
poor. Boaz took a special interest 
in Ruth, told the workmen to show 
her kindness, and directed that she 
!9,3 °- should glean in no field except his 

own. In a short time Ruth became the wife 
of her benefactor, Boaz, and one of the an- 
cestors of Christ. The friends of Naomi 
were much pleased at the happy lot which 
had befallen Ruth, telling her that after all 
her trials she would find comfort in her 
daughter-in-law, and her old age would be free 
from care and sorrow. 




RUTH GLEANING IN THE FIELD OF BOAZ.— Ruth ii. 5. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



781 




PARTING OF DAVID AND JONATHAN.— I Sam. xx. 42 

David and Jonathan. — Saul, the king of 
Israel, was anxious that his son Jonathan 
should finally come to the throne, and as he 
knew David was likely to be made king, he 
wished to put David to death. David and 
Jonathan were firm friends. When Jonathan 
became aware of his father's plot, he sent 
David away from the palace. Saul was en- 
raged, declaring that his son could 
never be king so long as his rival 
was alive. But Jonathan was more 
anxious to insure the safety of the 
•one he dearly loved than he was to 
gain the throne, and they agreed 
upon a sign. David was to hide 
behind a rock, and Jonathan would 
shoot three arrows, and send a lad 
to pick them up. If Jonathan should 
•call to the lad that the arrows were 
on one side of him, David would 
know that Saul was no longer an- 
gry; if the arrows were on the 
other side, David must flee for his 
life. David was compelled to flee, 
and the two friends separated after 
promising to continue their love for 
each other, and each gave expres- 
sion to his grief at parting. 



David and Abigail. — We have 
here an interesting incident in the 
life of David. On one occasion he 
was encamped near the residence 
of a man named Nabal, who was 
noted for his meanness. He was 
unneighborly and ill-tempered. Al- 
though David's men were hungry, 
Nabal refused to allow them to take 
even one sheep from his flocks 
which were feeding near. When 
David sent some of his men to ob- 
tain food, they returned without 
|||| any, and reported that Nabal had 
! treated them and their master with 
contempt. The anger of David was 
aroused, and choosing four hundred 
men he set out to deal with Nabal 
as he deserved. Nabal's wife, a 
beautiful woman named Abigail, 
heard of her husband's insolence, and taking 
a number of asses and loading them with food, 
and mounting one herself, she started to meet 
David, to appease his anger, and save Nabal 
from the merited chastisement. In this she 
was successful ; her appeal to David was not 
in vain. A few days after this Nabal died, and 
David obtained Abigail to be his wife. 




DAVID AND ABIGAIL,. -1 Sam. xxv. 33.33- 



782 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR.-i Sam. xxviii. 16, 17 

King Saul and the Witch. — Saul was in 
great trouble because his enemies, the Philis- 
tines, were preparing to make war against him. 
They had a large army, and Saul was afraid 
they would obtain tlie victory. In his alarm he 
sought the Lord, but on account of his sins the 
Lord would not answer him. Saul consulted 
a woman at Endor who professed to have 
control over spirits that would come 
when she called them. Although 
Saul had sent many such persons 
out of the kingdom, maintaining 
that they were deceivers, yet he was 
ready to consult this woman. He 
disguised himself, went to her at 
night, and asked to have an inter- 
view with Samuel, who had been 
dead many years. Saul was told 
that the Lord had forsaken him, 
that he would lose the kingdom 
and it would be given to David, that 
the Philistines would obtain the 
victory, and on the morrow he and 
his sons would be among the dead. 
All this came to pass as had been 
foretold. David was an upright man, 
well fitted to reign, and he was made 
king in the place of Saul. 



Elijah and the Widow's Son, 
— The prophet Elijah came at a time 
when a dreadful famine was in the 
land. He was sent to a poor widow 
at Sarepta, with whom he was to live 
for a while, and share her scanty 
store. She had only a handful of 
meal in her barrel, and a little oil in 
her cruse ; but being requested by 
the prophet to prepare him some- 
thing to eat, she cheerfully com- 
plied, and was assured that her 
stock of food would not grow less. 
Neither the barrel nor the cruse 
failed, a happy instance of the re- 
ward that comes to those who are 
willing to bless others. At length 
the son of the widow died. In her 
distress and grief she appealed to 
Elijah, whose heart was touched by 
her sorrow. He took the child away to his 
own chamber, and called on God. The cry 
of the prophet was answered, and we have here 
the picture of a life restored, and a dead son 



returned to his mother to be her comfort and 
joy. Now more than ever the woman was 
convinced that Elijah was a man of God, and 
was endowed with miraculous power. 




THE WIDOW'S SON RESTORED TO LIFE.— 1 Kings xvii. 21. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



T.S.- 




GOD APPEARING TO ELIJAH. -i Kings xix. n, i 

Elijah at Mount Horeb. — Elijah in his 
flight from Jezebel, who was seeking his life 
because he showed how false was the religion 
of her prophets, came to a juniper tree in the 
desert. Here an angel brought him food that 



The Chariot of Elijah. — We 
are told that the manner of Elijah's 
departure from the earth was in 
keeping with his extraordinary- 
career. He had made a powerful 
impression upon the nation, remark- 
able deeds had been performed by 
him, and when his earthly life was 
ended he was translated without 
suffering death. He and Elisha. 
were walking together, and Elisha 
expressed the earnest desire that a 
double portion of the spirit of his 
friend and companion might rest 
upon himself. Elijah replied that 
this was a hard thing to be granted, 
but if Elisha should see him when 
he departed, the blessing which was 
sought might be obtained. Sud- 
denly there appeared a chariot of 
fire, with flaming steeds, and Elijah was soon 
lost to view. Elisha exclaimed, " My father, 
my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horse- 
men thereof! " The chariot and horsemen 
were emblems of power and victory, and the 
exclamation meant that Elijah was the great 

His mantle, 



gave him strength for forty days. He con 

tinued his flight to a rocky mount named j helper and defender of Israel 

Horeb. Here he lodged in a cave, and the 1 fell toward the earth, and Elisha secured it. 

word of the Lord asked him what 

he was doing there. He replied 

that he had been very jealous for 

the religion of the God of Israel, 

had thrown down the altars of false 

prophets, and his enemies were now 

seeking his life. He was directed 

to go and stand on the mount. A 

strong wind rent the mountains and 

broke the rock in pieces, but the 

Lord was not in the wind. After 

this came an earthquake, but the 

Lord was not in the earthquake. 

Then a fire appeared, but the Lord 

was not in this. When all these 

had passed there came a still, small 

voice, and the prophet knew that 

God was there. He was directed to 

return and finish the work that had 

been given him to do. 




THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH.— 2 Kings ii. i 



784 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN.— Dan. vi. 19, 2 

Daniel among the Lions. — At the time 
of the captivity, when the greater part of the 
Jewish nation was carried away to Babylon, a 
remarkable youth was among the number. 
Daniel secured the favor of the king of 
Babylon by his interpretation of dreams, and 
his sturdy, upright character. He believed in 
the religion of the Hebrews, and when com- 
manded to cease performing his re- 
ligious duties for a certain number 
of days, he flatly refused. Some 
jealousy had been excited against 
him on account of the power he had 
gained in the nation, and his enemies 
thought they would obtain ad- 
vantage over him by forbidding him 
to pray, under penalty of being cast 
into a den of lions. The king's 
heart was troubled, but having 
signed the law he was resolved to 
carry it into execution. Daniel -was 
cast to the wild beasts, and early in 
the morning the king hastened to 
see what was his fate. Daniel 
assured him that his God was 
able to shut the mouths of lions, 
and, by his angel, had already 
done it, so that he was unharmed. 



Judith and Holofernes. — Ju- 
dith was a Hebrew woman of strong 
will, great decision of character, and, 
in her blind zeal, capable of any deed 
which she thought would promote 
her religion and confound God's 
enemies. She was even ready to 
take human life, and commit the 
crime of murder, under pretence, 
of thereby accomplishing some 
good. Holofernes was considered 
to be the enemy of her nation, and 
believing she had authority to de- 
stroy all such she took his life. Pre- 
tending to be friendly, she gained 
access to his tent, fascinated him by 
her beauty and wit, gained his con- 
fidence by fair speeches, and soon 
had him completely in her power. 
When he was under the influence 
of wine she took down his falchion, and with 
a double blow severed his head from the 
body, and handed it over to her maid. Her 
plot had succeeded, and her deed was ap- 
plauded by her own people. When they saw 
her at the gate of the city with the head of 
Holofernes, they praised God for thus deliver- 
ing them from the hand of their enemy. 




DITH BEHEADS HOLOFERNES.— Judith xiii. 9, 10. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



785 




BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.— Luke i. 62-64. 

John the Baptist. — It was foretold by the ' people 
prophet Malachi that previous to the advent that 
of Christ a forerunner, or prophet, would 
appear to prepare the way for him. His duty 
would be to call the people to repentance, and 
announce that the kingdom of God was at 
hand. During the reign of King Herod in 
Judaea there was a priest named Zacharias ; 
the name of his wife was Elizabeth. 
An angel appeared to Zacharias one 
day in the Temple, and announced 
that he would have a son, and was 
to give him the name of John. 
Zacharias was told that he would 
be unable to speak until the child 
was born. The people wondered 
why the priest remained so long in 
the Temple, and when he came out 
they saw that he was dumb. The 
promised son was born, and when he 
was eight days old he was brought to 
the Temple. The people wished to 
name him after his father, but the 
mother insisted upon calling him 
Jolm. They objected because none 
of his kindred bore that name, but 
Zacharias wrote on a tablet that John 
"was to be the child's name. 
50 



The Amukl Announces the 
Saviour's Birth. — In Judaea, near 
the village of Bethlehem, there were 
shepherds who watched their flocks 
by night. The time had come for 
Christ to be born. As far back as 
the days of Adam and Eve the 
Divine assurance had been given 
that the seed of the woman should 
bruise the head of the serpent, and 
sin would be destroyed. The birth 
of John the Baptist was the sure 
sign that one greater than John 
would soon come. As the shep- 
herds were guarding their flocks 
one night an angel suddenly visited 
them. They were afraid, but were 
told by the angel not to fear, for a 
message of great joy had been sent 
to them, which was to be for all 
The happy announcement was made 
a Saviour was born in Bethlehem. 
Suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host 
appeared, praising God, and saying, " Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
will toward men." The shepherds hastened to 
Bethlehem, and, to their surprise and joy, found 
that what the angel told them was true. 




THE ANGEL AND SHEPHERDS. -Luke 



786 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.— Luke ii. 10-12. 

The Nativity. — The shepherds who had 
heard the song of the angels and the statement 
that a Saviour had been born, left their flocks 
and went to Bethlehem to see what had come 
to pass. Naturally excited over the glad 
tidings brought to them, they made haste, and 
when they arrived in the village they were re- 
warded by a sight of the new-born child. 
There they found Mary and Joseph, 
and the babe lying in a manger. 
The shepherds having satisfied 
themselves of the truth of the mes- 
sage brought by the angel, hurried 
away with the joyful news, and 
spread the glad tidings to others. 
All who heard what had happened 
were filled with wonder. We are 
told that Mary, the mother of Jesus, 
kept these things in her heart, and 
thought about them. The shep- 
herds returned to their flocks, glo- 
rifying and praising God for all the 
things they had seen and heard. 
This is the beautiful description 
given us of the birth of Jesus. 
Every Christmas we celebrate the 
advent of Christ, whose name is 
Wonderful. 



The Flight into Egypt. — The 
parents of Jesus brought him to 
the Temple at Jerusalem. They 
could not remain there ; their first 
concern was to save the young life 
committed to their love and care. 
They knew the cruelty of Herod, 
and his wicked design to slay the 
children, in the hope that Jesus 
would be among the number. They 
obeyed the Divine warning, and 
taking their young treasure fled 
with all possible speed to Egypt, 
a country which was outside of 
Herod's dominions. There was a 
place of safety, and having reached 
it, they remained until the death of 
Herod put an end to his ambition 
and cruelty. Then the angel of the 
Lord appeared again unto Joseph, 
assured him that those who sought the life of 
the child were dead, and directed him to return 
to his own country. He did so, and made his 
home in the despised town of Nazareth, where 
the early life of Jesus was spent. Thus the 
prophecies were fulfilled that Israel's ruler 
would come out of Egypt and would be a de- 
spised Nazarene, one of the poor and lowly. 




THE FLIGHT INTO E3YPT.-Matt. ii. 14, 15. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



787 




DEATH OF THE CHILDREN OF BETHLEHEM 

Putting the Children to Death. — It 
was expected by Herod that the wise men 
who were seeking the child, whose name, ac- 
cording to the prophet Isaiah, was Wonderful, 
would return to him at Jerusalem after their 
visit to Bethlehem. They found the mar- 
velous babe, presented their gifts, and wor- 
shipped at His feet. They did not return, 
however, to Jerusalem. The history 
tells us that they were warned by 
God in a dream not to go back to 
Herod, and so they departed to their 
own country by another way. This 
apparent slight on the part of the 
wise men made Herod very angry ; 
it looked very much as if one had 
been born who was expected to be- 
come king of the Jews. He gave 
orders for all the male children in 
Bethlehem and in all the borders 
thereof to be put to death. There 
was great sorrow in the land, and 
the prophecy of Jeremiah was ful- 
filled that there would be weeping 
and mourning. The object of the 
horrible massacre was not accom- 
plished, although many lives were 
sacrificed. 



Jesus Brought to the Temple. 
— As already stated, when Jesus 
was eight days old His parents 
brought Him to the Temple to make 
an offering of two pigeons, accord- 
ing to Jewish custom. There was 
a good old man at Jerusalem named 
Simeon. It had been revealed to 
him by the Spirit that he should 
not die until he had seen Jesus. 
He was directed to go to the 
Temple, and when Joseph and 
Mary appeared with their child, 
Simeon knew that he was to be 
gratified by a sight of the infant 
Saviour. The old man took the 
child in his arms, blessed God, and 
said, " Now lettest Thou Thy servant 
depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
seen Thy salvation." The parents 
of Jesus wondered at the things which were 
spoken concerning Him. Simeon blessed the 
child, and told His mother that through Him 
many would receive a blessing, while a woe 
would come to others. A prophetess, named 
Anna, was also present, and she, too, gave 
thanks. The Jews had the happy custom of 
taking young children to the Temple. 



Matt. ii. 16 




THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE.— Luke ii. 27, 28. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




-Luke ii. 46, 47 



Jesus and the Money-Changers. 
— At the feast of the Passover offer- 
ings were made as a part of worship, 
and persons who desired to make a 
profit by the sale of animals offered 
in sacrifice had gone to the Temple, 
taken possession of the court of the 
Gentfles, and converted it into a 
place for buying and selling. There 
were also those who made a busi- 
ness of exchanging Roman money 
for Jewish money, and gained some- 
thing by the transaction. Jesus was 
very indignant when He found that 
one part of the Temple was used for 
a market. Seeing those who were 
engaged in the business of selling 
offerings and changing money, He 
made a whip of small cords, and 
drove them out, telling them it was 
written that the house of God should be a 
place of prayer, but they had made it a den 
of thieves. The tables were overturned, the 
money was poured on the ground, the animals 
were driven away, and all unlawful traffic 
ceased in the courts of the Lord's house. He 
had a better right to drive out the " thieves " 



than they had to carry on their trade there. 



CHRIST TEACHES IN THE TEMPLE 

Christ in the Temple. — The most im- 
portant feast of the Jews was the Passover, and 
the parents of Jesus were accustomed to go to 
Jerusalem every year to attend it. When Jesus 
was twelve years old He accompanied His 
parents. After the feast was over they started 
to return to their home, but He remained be- 
hind. It was not long before they missed 
Him, but supposed He was in com- 
pany with their relatives, who were 
with them on the journey. Failing 
to find Him, they became very 
anxious, and went back to Jeru- 
salem in search of Him. After 
three days they discovered Him in 
the Temple talking with the learned 
doctors, and showing such wisdom 
as astonished His hearers. They 
were amazed that one so young 
should have such knowledge and 
understanding of the Scriptures. 
When His parents asked Him why 
He had forsaken them, He replied : 
" Do you not know that I must 
be about my Father's business ? " 
Thus early in life He showed the 
spirit of obedience to His Father's 
will, and set us a good example. jesus drives out the money-changers 




-John ii. 15, 16. 



BTBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



789 



The Woman of Samaria. — Jesus 
had been in Judaea, and was return- 
ing to Galilee. On his way He 
passed through Samaria, and He 
and His disciples came to Jacob's 
well. Being weary with His jour- 
ney, He sat down to rest while the 
disciples went into a village not far 
away to procure food. A woman 
of Samaria came to the well, and 
He asked for water to drink. The 
woman was surprised at this request 
because the Jews and Samaritans 
had no dealings with one another. 
Jesus made use of the water as an 
emblem of the water of life, assur- 
ing the woman that those who 
drank of that would never thirst 
again. She asked that this water 
might be given to her. Then He 
Christ and Nicodemus. — One of the rulers] spoke of her past life, and by convincing her 

of the Jews, a man named Nicodemus, came 1 that He knew all about it, convinced her also 

to Jesus one night to learn more of Him and . that He was a prophet. She told Him she 

His doctrine. Jesus began at once to instruct 

him, told him many things he did not know 

before, and some things hard to be understood, 




CHRIST TEACHES NICODEMUS.— John iii. 2,3. 



among them the mystery of the new birth. 
When Nicodemus was not able to fully under- 
stand what was said to him, Jesus 
spoke of something that happened 
a long time before when the chil- 
dren of Israel were in the wilder- 
ness. The people had been bitten 
by poisonous serpents, and to save 
them from death Moses was di- 
rected to make a brazen serpent, 
place it on a pole in the camp 
where all could see it, and those 
who looked upon it would be healed. 
Just so, said Jesus to Nicodemus, 
the Son of man must be lifted up, 
and those who turn the eye of faith 
to Him .will receive the blessing of 
life and forgiveness. We read of 
Nicodemus after this, and are told 
that he was among the friends of 
Jesus who stood by Him faithfully 
to the last. 



knew Messias would come, who is called 
Christ. He answered, " I that speak unto 
thee am He." Many people in the city be- 
lieved on Him on account of what He said to 
this woman, and became His followers. 




CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA.— John iv. 25, 



790 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




CHRIST RAISES THE WIDOW'S SON.— Luke vii. 14, 15, 



The. Daughter of Jairus. — A 
ruler of the synagogue, Jairus by- 
name, came to Jesus and informed 
Him that his daughter was lying at 
the point of death, and requested 
Him to go to the house and lay His 
hands upon her that she might be 
healed. Soon certain persons ar- 
rived who told Jairus that his 
daughter was already dead, and 
asked why he should trouble the 
Master any further. Jesus told him 
not to fear, but to believe. He took 
with him Peter, and James, and 
John, and went to the ruler's house, 
where a number of persons were 
assembled. When Jesus asked why 
they wept, and assured them that 
the maid was not dead, but only 
asleep, they laughed Him to scorn. 
The first thing to do was to put the scoffers 
out of the house. This He did, and taking 
the father and mother, and the disciples who 
were with Him, He entered the room where 
the damsel was lying. Grasping her hand, 
He called upon her to arise. To the astonish- 
ment of all she immediately obeyed, arose to 
her feet, and walked as well as ever. 



The Widow's Son Restored to Life. — 
The Biblical narrative points in numerous 
instances to works of Christ which showed 
that He was possessed of all power. One day 
He came to the city of Nain, and was accom- 
panied by His disciples and a large number 
of people. 'As He approached the gate of the 
city a funeral procession was passing out. The 
only son of a widowed mother had 
died, and the relatives and friends 
were on their way to bury him. 
The scene touched the heart of 
Jesus, and with great compassion 
and tenderness He said to the be- 
reaved mother, " Weep not." He 
put His hand upon the bier, and 
those who were carrying it stood 
still. Then He said, " Young man, 
I say unto thee, arise ! " His omnip- 
otent voice pierced the ear of death, 
and new life quivered through the 
body which a moment before was 
cold and stiff The young man sat 
up, and began to speak. Jesus 
gave him back to his rejoicing 
mother. This miracle, which was 
performed in the presence of a large 
company, filled them with awe. christ raises the daughter of jairus. 




-Matt- v. 41, 4*- 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



791 




SENDING FORTH THE TWELVE APOSTLES.— Matt. 

The Twelve Apostles. — The time had 
come for the glad tidings to be made known, 
and Jesus sent out His disciples, telling them 
to go first to the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel, because they were the chosen people 
of God, and the Gospel must be preached to 
them first. They were to announce that the 
kingdom of heaven was at hand. Power was 

given them to cure diseases, and do rm. ~ar- 

many other wonderful things. A 
good Providence would watch over 
them, and therefore they were not 
to take any money in their purses, 
nor were they to provide themselves 
with two coats. They were to go 
without shoes for their feet, and 
without even a staff for the journey. 
When they entered a city they were 
to find out who were worthy, and 
there make their abode. On enter- 
ing a house they were to salute it, 
and their peace was to rest upon it, 
if it was worthy ; if not, the blessing 
of peace was not to be given. If 
they were not well received, they 
were to depart, and, as a sign of 
righteous resentment, they were to 
shake off the dust of their feet. 



Jesus and Peter on the Water. 
— Jesus had directed His disciples to 
get into a boat, and cross to the other 
side of the Sea of Galilee. The wind 
that night was high, and the disciples 
were in danger. During the fourth 
watch of the night, or some time 
after three o'clock in the morning, 
Jesus went to them, walking on the 
water. They saw Him, and were in 
great fear and trouble. They sup- 
posed they had met a spirit, and 
they were alarmed. Jesus at once 
quieted them by saying, " Be of good 
cheer ; it is I ; be not afraid." Peter 
replied, " If it be Thou, bid me come 
unto Thee on the water." Jesus 
took him at his word, and told him 
to come. Peter stepped out of the 
boat and made the attempt, but 
finding the wind very boisterous, and the 
waves very high, his courage failed, and he 
began to sink. Jesus immediately stretched 
forth His hand and caught him ; and rebuked 
him for his lack of faith. When they had 
entered the boat the wind ceased, and the dis- 
ciples worshipped Jesus, saying, " Of a truth 
Thou art the Son of God." 




JESUS SAVES PETER FROM SINKING.— Matt. xiv. 30,31- 



792 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




THE GOOD SAMARITAN.— Luke x. 33, 34. 

The Good Samaritan. — A certain lawyer 
asked what a person was to do to inherit 
eternal life. Jesus told him to love God with 
all his might, and his neighbor as himself. 
The lawyer immediately asked, " Who is my 
neighbor ? " The reply was stated in the form 
of a parable, namely, that a man who was on 
his way from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among 
thieves, and was not only robbed, 
but was severely injured. The high- 
waymen fled, leaving him half dead. 
A priest came along, a man who 
might have been expected to he- 
friend a sufferer, but he passed by 
on the other side. A Levite did 
the same, and left the wounded man 
to his fate. Then cam~ a Samar- 
itan, and although the Samaritans 
had no dealings with the Jews, he 
took pity on the poor sufferer, had 
him conveyed to the nearest inn, 
directed that he should receive good 
care, promising on his return to pay 
all the expense. The lawyer saw 
at once from this story who was 
the neighbor, and was directed to 
go and show to others a similar 
spirit. 



The Lost Found. — We have 
here the picture of a wanderer who 
went away to another country. 
There he fell in with bad company, 
became a spendthrift, and at length 
his money was all wasted. A dis- 
tressing famine came upon the 
country, and he was in great want; 
he would have been glad to get the 
husks that were eaten by the swine, 
but no one gave him even these. 
His condition was very different 
from what it had been in the com- 
fortable home he had forsaken. 
Having returned to his senses, he 
began to think of the hired servants 
in his father's house who had more 
than enough for all their wants, 
while he was perishing with hunger. 
He resolved to go back ; and when 
his father saw him coming lie ran out to 
meet him, gave him the kiss of love, and 
welcomed him home. The best robe and 
ring were put upon him, and there was great 
rejoicing in the household. Nothing was 
too good for him now, for " he that was lost 
was found, and he that was dead was brought 
to life." Both father and son were happy. 




THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON. -Luke xv. 22. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



793 




JESUS BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN.— Mark x 

" Suffer Little Children to Come Unto 
Me." — The Jewish mothers naturally wished 
to bring their children to Jesus that they might 
receive His blessing. This was something 
that pleased Him, yet gave offence to His dis- 
ciples. They appeared to think He could not 
be expected to take any notice of little chil- 
dren, and so they attempted to prevent the 
mothers from gaining His attention, 
and were ready to rebuke those who 
were seeking His blessing. When 
Jesus saw this He was displeased. 
He knew that childhood, which is 
the forming period of the whole 
life, was not to be despised ; and, 
besides, there was too much love in 
His heart to exclude even a little 
one. The words spoken by Him 
on this occasion are familiar to all 
readers of the Bible. Having said, 
" Suffer the little children to come 
unto me," He took them in His 
arms, put His loving hands upon 
them, and blessed them. The 
Jewish mothers were made very 
happy that day on account of 
the love shown by Jesus to the 
little ones. 



The Box of Ointment. — Jesus 
came to Bethany, a little village 
a short distance from Jerusalem. 
There was the residence of Martha 
and Mary and Lazarus, in whose 
house He had frequently been a 
guest. Here, on this occasion, a 
feast was made for Him in the house 
of Simon, the leper. He received 
a beautiful expression of affection 
from Mary, who, we are told else- 
where, had sat at His feet, heard 
His words, and chosen the good 
part which would not be taken away 
from her. Mary brought a box of 
ointment of spikenard, very pre- 
cious, and anointed His head and 
feet. It appeared to the disciples 
to be simply a waste of money. 
*4' Jesus commended her act, saying 

she had come to anoint Him for His burial, 
which was near. She had done what she 
could, and this offering of her heart was grate- 
fully accepted. Wherever the Gospel should 
be preached this anointing by Mary would be 
spoken of for a memorial of her. This has 
come true, for whoever has heard the Gospel 
has heard of this act of Mary of Bethany. 




MARY ANOINTING JESUS. -Mark xiv. 3. 



794 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




CHRIST'S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.— Matt. xxi. 8,9. 



Washing the Disciples' Feet. 
— There had been a dispute among 
the disciples as to who should be 
greatest, and Jesus wished to show 
them that His true followers are 
humble, and to serve is their highest 
calling. The Jews had the custom 
of washing the feet of their guests; 
this was something commonly done 
by the servants of the household. 
The last supper being over, Jesus 
took a towel and basin of water, and 
began to wash the feet of His dis- 
ciples. Peter was surprised that 
Jesus should do such a thing, and 
said he would not allow it. Jesus 
replied that although what He did 
now was not understood by Peter, 
it would be hereafter ; He also as- 
sured the impulsive disciple that he 



could have no place in the new kingdom 
unless he was submissive, and willing to have 
this act of service performed. Peter then told 
Jesus to wash not only his feet, but also his 



Christ Welcomed with Hosannas. — The 
narrative in the Gospels states that when Jesus 
and His disciples came nigh to Jerusalem, He 
sent two of them to bring Him a colt on which 
no man had ever riden. If the owner asked j hands and his head. Christ assured the dis- 
any questions, or made objection to their j ciples that He had done this to set them 
taking the colt, they were simply to say that i an example of humility, and show them how 
the Lord had sent them. This proved to be | they ought to love and serve one another, 
sufficient, and having obtained the 
colt the disciples put their clothes 
on him and placed Jesus thereon. 
As He rode along He was greeted 
by a great multitude who spread 
their garments in the way, while 
others cut down branches from the 
trees and strewed them in His path, 
seeking thus to show their respect. 
Crowds went before Him, and others 
followed. We are told that they 
cried, saying, " Hosanna to the Son 
of David ; blessed is He that cometh 
in the name cf the Lord; ho- 
sanna in the highest ! " He passed 
through the gate, and found the 
people were greatly moved on ac- 
count of His coming. His tri- 
umphal entry was ended.. Soon the 
.sadcry was heard, "Away with Him!" 




CHRIST WASHES HIS DISCIPLES' FEET.-John xiii. 2-5. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



795 




THE END OF JUDAS ISCARIOT.-Matt. xxvii. 3-5 

A Traitor. — There was one disciple who 
was unlike all the others. He was fond of 
money, and was willing to do anything to 
obtain it. This man betrayed Christ, and for 
thirty pieces of silver sold Him to the chief 
priests, and aided in His arrest and condemna- 
tion. A sign was agreed upon between Judas 
and the men who came to take Jesus. This 
sign was a kiss. When the hour 
arrived, and the men were ready to fe^C L 
make the arrest, Judas went to Jesus, [ ;.": - " J. g 
exclaimed, " Master, Master," and 
kissed Him. Jesus said to him, 
*' Judas, dost thou betray me with a 
kiss?" Then the men laid hands 
on Jesus and took Him. At this 
moment all the disciples left Him 
and fled. Judas, seeing now that 
his wicked act of betrayal would 
result in the death of Jesus, became 
alarmed, and bringing the thirty 
pieces of silver threw them down 
before the high priest, saying he 
had betrayed one who was innocent. 
The history states that he then 
went away and hanged himself. No 
name is more despised than that of 
Judas Iscariot. 



Christ Bearing His Cross. — 
After Jesus was sentenced to death, 
the Roman soldiers took off His 
purple robe and put upon Him His 
own clothes. He was scourged, and 
was made the victim of every pos- 
sible insult and indignity. The ex- 
cited crowd jeered and mocked Him, 
and in derision called Him the king 
of the Jews. When the hour ar- 
rived for Him to be put to death 
His cross was laid on Him, and He 
was led away to Golgotha, the place 
where criminals were executed. He 
was already weary with His suffer- 
ings, and His strength was not equal 
to bearing the heavy load ; He sank 
down under it, exhausted and help- 
less. A certain man named Simon, 
a Cyrenian, was there, and the mob 
laid hold of him, put the cross upon him, and 
made him carry it. A great company of 
people, including women, followed, and ex- 
pressed their sorrow at the sufferings of one 
whom the}' had come to love. Jesus told the 
daughters of Jerusalem not to weep for him. 
Two thieves were in the company, who were 
also sentenced to death. 




CHRIST FALLS UNDER THE CROSS.— Luke xxiii. 26. 



796 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




THE CRUCIFIXION.— John xix. 28-30. 

Christ Crucified. — In his last hour Jesus 
showed His love for His mother, and His 
anxiety for her future welfare. He asked her 
to henceforth look upon John as her son, and 
told John to regard her as his mother. John 
afterward took her to his own house, and gave 
her a home. After this Jesus said, " I thirst." 
A sponge filled with vinegar was offered Him. 
In the accompanying engraving may 
be seen an inscription of four letters 
written upon the cross ; the meaning 
of these is, " Jesus of Nazareth, King 
of the Jews " — an inscription placed 
there in mockery. On each side of 
Him was one of the thieves who had 
also been condemned to death. One 
of them asked the Lord to remem- 
ber him when He came into His 
kingdom. He was assured by 
Jesus that he would be in Paradise 
that day. One of the most remark- 
able utterances of Christ on the 
cross was His dying prayer for His 
enemies, asking His Father to for- 
give them, for they knew not what 
they did. The crucifixion lasted 
from the morning until the middle 
of the afternoon. • 



Jesus Buried. — It was contrary 
to Jewish custom to allow the 
bodies of those who had been cruci- 
fied to hang upon the cross over 
the Sabbath. A request was there- 
fore made to Pilate, the Roman 
governor, that the body of Jesus, 
with those of the malefactors, 
should be removed. The soldiers 
came to break their legs, as was 
customary, but Jesus being already 
dead, His body was not molested, 
and so the prophecy was fulfilled 
that not a bone of Him should be 
broken. A rich man, Joseph by 
name, had a new tomb in a gar- 
den near Golgotha, and having ob- 
tained the body of Jesus, he- 
wrapped it in fine linen, and laid 
it in his sepulchre. Jesus had said 
that after three days He would rise again; 
Pilate feared the disciples would come and 
take away the body, saying He had risen 
from the dead. To prevent this he sent 
soldiers to guard the sepulchre. They took 
every precaution to make the sepulchre safe. 
This was a sad ending to the life of Jesus, 
which was employed in doing good to others. 




THE BURIAL OF CHRIST.-John xix. 41, 42. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



797 




THE RESURRECTION.— Matt, xxviii. 2-4. 

Resurrection of Christ. — The soldiers of 
Pilate who were sent to watch the tomb in 
which Jesus was laid met with a sudden fright. 
The narrative states that on the night of the 
third day after the crucifixion an angel came 
down from heaven and rolled the stone away 
from the door of the sepulchre. His counte- 
nance was like lightning, and his raiment was 
white as snow. The keepers who 
were guarding the tomb shook with 
fear, and became as dead men. It 
was but natural that they should flee 
from the place. In the early morn- 
ing some of the women who had 
been the firm friends of Jesus, and 
were mourning His death, came with 
spices to the sepulchre. To their 
surprise they found the stone rolled 
away, and as they entered they saw 
an angel clothed in white. The 
angel quieted them by bidding them 
not to fear, telling them he knew 
they were seeking Jesus. Then he 
assured them that He was risen, 
and asked them to come and see 
the place where the Lord lay. He 
then directed them to go and tell the 
glad news to the disciples. 



The Women at the Tomb. — A 
full account is given of the visit to 
the sepulchre on the morning of the 
third day after Jesus was crucified. 
Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary 
the mother of James, all came to- 
gether. It was a practice among 
the Jews to prepare the bodies of 
the dead for burial by anointing 
them. These women hastened to 
the tomb at the early dawn of the 
third day, bringing with them sweet 
spices. They knew a great stone 
had been placed at the door, and as 
they came near and looked, they 
were amazed to find that the stone 
was removed. They ventured in, 
and there on the right side saw a 
young man of startling appearance, 
clothed in a long white garment. 
They were frightened, but were told by the 
angel not to be afraid. Having assured them 
that the Lord had risen, and was not there, he 
sent them away to tell the disciples, Peter es- 
pecially, that Jesus would go before them into 
Galilee, and they were to meet Him there. 
Quickly the women departed, for they trembled 
and were amazed. 




THE WOMEN AT THE TOMB OF CHRIST.— Mark xvi. 



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BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 




CHRIST APPEARS TO TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES.— Luke xxiv. 15 

The Walk to Emmaus. — On the day when 
the resurrection took place, it is related that 
two of the disciples went to Emmaus, a village 
a few miles from Jerusalem. While they 
were engaged in earnest conversation Jesus 
drew near and walked with them ; but they 
did not know Him. He asked them what 



they were conversing about, and 
appeared so sad. Cleopas inquired 
if He had not heard of the things 
that had come to pass. He asked, 
" What things ? " They answered, 
" Concerning Jesus of Nazareth." 
Then they spoke of the crucifixion, 
and said they had trusted that Jesus 
was the one who would redeem 
Israel. They also related the visit 
of the women to the tomb, and the 
fact that they had found it empty. 
Jesus told them these things seemed 
strange because they did not under- 
stand what had been foretold by 
the prophets. When they arrived 
at the village He accepted their in- 
vitation to tarry with them, and as 
they were breaking bread together 
He vanished from their sight. Then 
they knew who He was. 



why they 



The Ascension. — A full account 
is given us of the departure of 
Christ from the earth. According 
to His promise He met His dis- 
ciples, and told them to go and 
preach the Gospel to all nations. 
He assured them that all power 
was given Him in heaven and earth, 
and He would be with His people 
even unto the end of the world. 
Not only did He have interviews 
with the apostles, and make Him- 
self known to them, but we are told 
that He appeared to five hundred 
brethren at once. The closing 
scene was quite, as extraordinary 
as any of the miraculous wonders 
that preceded it. After forty days 
had passed Jesus met His disciples 
again at Jerusalem. He told them 
to tarry there until they were endowed with 
power from on high. The hour had now 
come for Him to be separated from them; He 
was to be with them no longer in bodily shape 
and presence. Then He led them out to 
Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed 
them, and while doing this He was parted 
from them and carried up into heaven. 




THE ASCENSION.-Luke xxiv. 50, 51. 



BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 



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PAUL AND BARNABAS AT LYSTRA.— Acts xiv. 14, 15 

Paul and Barnabas. — At Lystra there was 
a cripple, a man who had never been able to 
walk. Paul and Barnabas, who were on a 
missionary tour, came to Lystra, and as Paul 
was preaching this lame man heard him. The 
attention of the apostle was drawn to the poor 
sufferer, who evidently had faith and believed 
the words that were spoken. Paul therefore 
felt convinced that there was a 
blessing for him and, calling to him 
with a loud voice, told him to stand 
up. The impotent man obeyed, 
and leaped to his feet, although he 
had never done such a thing before 
in his life. It is not strange that 
the people who saw what had 
been done were greatly amazed ; it 
seemed to them that more than 
human power had been employed 
in curing the lame man, and they 
looked upon Paul and Barnabas as 
gods. The priests went to the idols' 
temple and brought oxen to sacrifice 
to them, but the apostles rent their 
clothes, and ran among the people, 
forbidding any sacrifice, as they 
were only men. They had difficulty 
in preventing their worship. 



Paul Parting with the Elders. 
— A Church had been planted at 
Ephesus, and Paul was anxious to 
visit it, but being in a hurry to reach 
Jerusalem, he sent to Ephesus for 
the elders of the Church to come 
down to the sea-shore where the 
vessel in which he was making his 
journey was waiting. The greeting 
they gave Paul was very hearty and 
affectionate. He told them he knew 
very well that afflictions and perse- 
cutions awaited him, but he could 
not remain with them, for duty 
called him away. He assured them 
that he was not only willing to go- 
to Jerusalem, but was ready to even 
die for the Lord Jesus. He spoke 
of his fidelity in declaring the whole 
truth, said he had coveted no man's- 
silver or gold, and with his own hands had 
worked for his support. Then he kneeled 
down and prayed with them all. The parting 
was with sadness and tears. The elders wept 
as they bade him good-bye, and were espe- 
cially sorrowful at the thought of seeing him 
no more. They went with hi in to the ship,, 
and he pursued his journey. 




PAUL TAKING LEAVE OF THE ELDERS.— Acts xx. 37, 38. 






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BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. 







OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL.— Rev. vi 

The Seventh Seal. — The book of Reve- 
lation is mostly taken up with the visions of 
the apostle John. He saw many wonderful 
things, the meaning of which is not in all 
instances very plain. The opening of the 
seventh seal in heaven was followed by 
silence for the space of half an hour. Seven 
angels were seen, and to them were given 
seven trumpets ; these are repre- 
sented in the foreground of the 
engraving. Another angel came 
with a golden censer, and stood at 
the altar. We have in the picture 
a cloud of incense ascending from 
the censer in the angel's hand. 
Then lie filled the censer with the 
fire of the altar, and cast it into the 
earth. This was followed by voices, 
and thunderings, and lightnings, 
and an earthquake. The trumpets 
of the seven angels then sounded, 
one after another, and there were 
tenible signs in the earth. When 
the seventh angel sounded it was 
announced that the kingdoms of 
this world had become the king- 
doms of our Lord and of his 
Christ. 



The New Jerusalem. — The apos- 
tle John also tells us that in one 
part of his vision he saw a new 
heaven and a new earth. He draws 
a beautiful picture of the glory of 
the heavenly world. The city of the 
New Jerusalem, in other words the 
redeemed Church, was seen coming 
down from heaven, adorned as a 
bride for her husband. A great 
voice said that the tabernacle of 
God was now with men, and He 
would dwell with them, and would 
wipe away all tears from their eyes. 
A glowing description is given of 
the peace and joy of the new Para- 
dise. A river of water of life flows 
from the throne, on the banks of 
which the tree of life is growing. 
The servants of God serve Him 
day and night in His temple. They behold 
the face of the King in His beauty, and are 
sealed with His name. The inscription at the 
top of the accompanying engraving announces 
that they are blessed who are called to the 
marriage supper of the Lamb, and the one 
near the bottom says, "Alleluia, for the Lord 
God omnipotent reigneth ! " 




THE NEW JERUSALEM.— Rev. xxi. 1,2. 



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